Drift

Drift is a personal environment and compositing project designed to capture the feeling of being lost at sea, with only a distant glimpse of land visible on the horizon. The scene places the viewer directly at water level, creating a first-person perspective that evokes both isolation and a sense of hope.

The ocean surface was created and animated in Blender using a procedural, code-driven approach to generate natural wave motion and realistic water behaviour. This allowed for rapid iteration while maintaining control over the scale, movement, and overall appearance of the sea.

The final camera movement was developed in Nuke, where the shot was transformed into a subtle bobbing POV, simulating the experience of floating amongst the waves. Additional compositing work included relighting the scene, introducing atmospheric depth, and replacing and refining the sky to better support the mood and storytelling of the piece.

The aim of the project was not only to create a believable ocean environment, but also to explore how compositing can enhance and reshape a rendered scene, using lighting, camera motion, and atmospheric effects to create a stronger emotional response.