As dawn breaks over the open sea, a small skiff
carries a man in red towards a forgotten island. Once
ashore, he finds his quarry’s trail and soon comes
face to face with him. This man in black, who had
found brief serenity under the pillars of an antiquated
temple, quickly proves to be a worth adversary for our
persistent hunter.
A fast and furious battle ensues as duel-sword
swinging clashes against the agile artistry of the
rapier. The man in red’s power and tenacity seems
well matched against his opponent’s acrobatic
antics, but what drives these two warriors to combat?
Is this really a fight to the finish?
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THE DUEL was produced during the spring of
2005. Raf and Steve Anzovin helped the idea
evolve after Raf had begun experimenting with toon-
shading in Animation:Master. The man in black,
nicknamed “Inigo”, was created for Raf’s first tests and
set the standards for the short’s character design.
In fact, Inigo was the first test character for the TSM2
for Animation:Master. Since Raf was looking for
exaggerated and fantastic motion, both Inigo and Edrin,
the man in red, would require a new rig design that
would allow for their bodies to squash and stretch.
Once the concept and the characters had been
finalized, the rest of the Anzovin team got to work on
building a world for these two combatants. Tim Dwyer
handled concept art and color tests while William
Young created the ocean waves and tree wind effects.
Tim and William also worked with Morgan Robinson
and Nat Stein to build the temple.
Raf worked with Nat, Morgan, David Boutilier and
Cristin McKee to animate the piece and create the
right fighting style for each character.
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THE DUEL has a running time of a little
over four and a half minutes (4:37). You can
watch the entire battle unfold at Atom Films
or A:M Films.If you get a chance, check out
all the audience reviews on Atom Films as
well.
The Anzovin team is interested in
what you have to say. So please drop
either Raf Anzovin or David Boutilier
an email and let them know what
you think of THE DUEL.
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Raf Anzovin
Director
Character Design
Character Modeling
Character Animation
Steve Anzovin
Producer
Voice of the Man in Red
David Boutilier
Character Animation
Voice of the Man in Black
Tim Dwyer
Art Direction
Sound Design
Sound Editing
Modeling
Cristin McKee
Character Animation
Modeling
Morgan Robinson
Technical Director
Software Development
Character Animation
Nathaniel Stein
Effects Animation
Character Animation
Modeling
Renderwrangling
William Young
Effects Animation
Techinical Direction
Character Animation
Modeling
Sound Design
SCORE
Baba Yaga Op 56
By Anatol Konstantinovich Lyadov
Performed by the Slovak
Philharmonic Orchestra
Mangled By Raf Anzovin
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Janet Podel
David Whitehead
Carole Zakrzewski