Final Frontier Crafts Mixed-Media Sporting Showcase for Naraka: Bladepoint

Final Frontier produced a supercharged mixed-media sporting showcase for NetEase title Naraka: Bladepoint, featuring the game’s heroes furiously competing in eleven events, all disciplines at the concurrent real-life Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.

Directed by Paulo Garcia and brought to life by Zombie studio, the film is a blistering mixed media mash-up of live action, 3D CG characters, traditional Chinese-style 2D ink-style animation, and paper-cut stop-motion.

Based on a concept by Shanghai agency Spark, the film enlists Naraka’s most iconic characters to do battle in the sporting arena and help shed light on familiar events like Squash, Dragon Boat, and Ju-jitsu, as well as more obscure disciplines, like Kabaddi, Kurash, and Sepaktakraw. Each scene is accompanied by information about the sport’s origin and history in the Asia-wide competition.

The 2023 Asian Games were particularly notable for video gamers, as the first in which e-sports have been included among the 40 disciplines, with players of the martial arts driven Naraka: Bladepoint no doubt paying special attention to the real life Wushu event.

Final Frontier executive producer Eric Zheng said, “Authenticity was key for all aspects of the project. We studied extensive references of each sport to ensure we were getting the specific actions and moves absolutely right. Of course, Naraka is predominantly a Wushu title, so we worked particularly closely with the client to nail those scenes, sharing references, and acting out moves over con-calls.” 

Zheng added, “With the Asian Games in Hangzhou, the film needed a distinct Chinese flavour. That gave us the chance to explore not one, but two traditional art styles, namely ink style, and paper cut. The latter was particularly exciting, giving us a rare opportunity to get physical and animate in hand-made stop motion. We had fun throwing in a lot of Chinese elements and easter eggs about Hangzhou into those 2D sections.” 

Naraka: Bladepoint is a battle royale PC game launched in August 2021 by 24 Entertainment under technology company NetEase. Taking place against the backdrop of the battle between two ancient gods, the game tells the story of heroes from across the world coming to the legendary Morus Isle to compete for the immortal mask.  

The film launched on the eve of the Asian Games’ opening ceremony. It marks the latest in an ongoing collaboration between Final Frontier and NetEase, with the companies previously teaming up to produce two short cel animated Naraka: Bladepoint promo films (Crimson & Winter, and Showdown) and a trailer for the Naraka Championship international esports tournament.