The Typhoon is my degree film at USC, currently still in production. The film tells the story of an unlikely friendship between an anthropomorphized wave and a little girl during a typhoon. Inspired by where I grew up, the environment is set on a fisherman harbor in my hometown, and include some whimsical characters who lives on the same street as the littler girl and are all reacting to the typhoon in different ways. I wanted to further my explorations into stylized CG renders, so I designed my world in a graphic style.
Pre Production
I grew up in Xiamen, a Chinese city by the ocean across from Taiwan. The story is set to happen in Shapowei, an old fisherman harbor known for its rich traditions as well as its vivd colors.
L: A quick 3D mock up of some of the buildings made in Blender.
R: Shapowei in real life.
Color Test for the environment during different times of day.
Some scenes that did not made into the final film! I had a lot of fun designing the homes for the some of the background characters. Even though their screen time is very limited, I still wanted to extend this world that I'm building beyond the screen.
The one on the left is the kitchen of a foodie living on the street, who loves to cook and is obviously obsessed with sea food since he lives right on the harbor. The one on the right is the room of a religious man with anexcessive amount of shrines to pray during the storm.
The colorscript of the whole film! For the final result I want to keep the style relatively simple and illustrative.
Production
I'm still tying up loose ends in the film, but here are some finished shots! Fun fact I've never done 2d fx animation before, and I learnt from scratch for this project. It does help that I live by the beach, and I'm able to take a walk and observe the waves whenever I feel stuck.
