''Codehunters'' is a 2006 short film directed and written by Ben Hibon, animated by Axis Animation, and music by Joris de Man. It was commissioned by MTV Asia and shown at the MTV Music Awards, it has been viewed over 400 million times.

Plot

Codehunters tells the story of four heroes: Shen, Lawan, Zom and Nhi as they join forces to battle corrupt gangs, dirty cops, rampaging monsters and the tyrannical Khann in the crumbling port city of Lhek. Codehunters is set in the not too distant future and uses a mix of eastern anime & western animation techniques.

Style

A variety of techniques were used to achieve the appearance of Hibon's 2D drawings. The use of

cel shading Cel shading or toon shading is a type of non-photorealistic rendering designed to make 3-D computer graphics appear to be flat by using less shading color instead of a shade gradient or tints and shades. A cel shader is often used to mimic th ...

, 2D textures to create a drawing appearance, and character outlines to keep true the pencils of the artwork.

Borderlands

Gearbox Software's ''

Borderlands A borderland or borderlands are the geographical space or zone around a territorial border. Borderland or borderlands may refer to: Places * Borderland, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in Mingo County, West Virginia * Borderland (ele ...

'' is claimed to be inspired by the film.

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

reported on the subject, debating how much inspiration was actually taken. Ben Hibon said he was in talks to work on the project, but contact ceased: When Kotaku inquired into the similarities between Borderlands and Codehunters, Randy Pitchford responded, "artists and designers at Gearbox were inspired and influenced by it." Earlier versions of Borderlands used a more generic science fiction style before being revamped to the cel-shaded style it was published with.

Reception

The film has received positive reception with praise going towards the artstyle, animation, and music.

References

{{Reflist 2006 short films 2006 films British animated short films 2000s British films