Label Storm
In this project, I was primarily responsible for creating the storyboards and handling some of the visual effects for the shots.
Firstly, regarding the storyboard, I begin by breaking the entire narrative down into individual shots, then proceed to draw the storyboard based on these shots.
Shot 1: On a somewhat oppressive afternoon, thick clouds fill the sky, blocking direct sunlight. The whole atmosphere feels stormy, as if dark clouds are pressing down to crush the city. Everything appears in cold, muted tones, with only a faint breeze in the air. In this heavy mood, the protagonist walks alone down an empty, ordinary street.
Shot 2: The protagonist’s appearance doesn’t matter—what matters is the deep exhaustion and oppression they carry. On the upper back, near the spine and slightly toward the right shoulder, there’s a tag stuck to their body reading lazy (semi-transparent, 3D acrylic letters). It feels as though this tag is the source of their fatigue.
(Subtitle/Voiceover: “Some words stick before you know they exist.”)
Shot 3: As the protagonist drags their heavy steps forward, they suddenly stop, as if sensing something, and lower their gaze to the bottom left side.
Shot 4: The ground along their path begins to change—word labels start seeping up, as though they were always part of the pavement.
Shot 5: Among them, one tag reading noisy gradually emerges, slowly floating upward.
Shot 6: The protagonist watches as this tag drifts weightlessly, finally settling just below the lazy tag, indifferent and unmoving.
Shot 7: With a numb expression, the protagonist simply turns their head upward toward the sky again.
Shot 8: At some point, countless words have begun flying down from the sky toward the protagonist.
Shot 10: Soon, the words grow dense, forming an impenetrable “wall” right in front of them.
Shot 11: The words then start spinning, rotating from the protagonist’s right side toward the left.
Shot 12: From a distant city view, beneath the oppressive clouds, a massive spherical tornado of words takes shape.
(Subtitle/Voiceover: “Their voices became a storm—twisting me into someone I don’t know.”)
Shot 13: Inside the tornado, the protagonist does not appear panicked. From outside, looking through gaps in the swirling words, we see them standing firm—one arm raised to shield their face, body leaning forward, legs braced, struggling against the storm. Their clothes and hair whip violently in the wind. Suddenly, a voice calls from outside the tornado:
(Subtitle/Voiceover: “You are not their words. You are your own form.”)
Shot 14: As soon as the voice fades, a hand reaches into the tornado, grabs the protagonist’s wrist (the one shielding their face), and pulls them out with force.
Shot 15: During this moment, the cowardice tag on their chest begins to change—shifting from a 3D acrylic label into a pink sheet of paper with handwritten words on it.
Shots 16–17: The moment the protagonist is pulled free, the tornado halts abruptly and collapses. The words degrade, transforming into rose petals. As the storm loses its strength, it can no longer hold its shape. The petals scatter in all directions, carried by the fading winds.
Shot 18: The protagonist stands still as sunlight begins to shine—first illuminating only them, then spreading outward in a circle.
Shot 19: The storm has dissolved, the light grows warm. The protagonist looks at the friend who pulled them out—still shaken. Crooked 3D word labels remain stuck to their body, fragments that didn’t turn into petals.
Shot 20: Regaining composure, the protagonist looks forward. In addition to the friend, three to five others appear—the friend’s companions.
Shots 21–22: The friend rests a hand on the protagonist’s shoulder, gently leading them onward. As they walk, the others gather around, helping peel off the remaining tags and straighten the protagonist’s clothes. As the camera rises, the sky fills with the final caption:
(Subtitle/Voiceover: “To be undefined is a right. We are each our own design.”)
Then there are the special effects concerning the shots.
I am primarily responsible for creating the special effects for five shots.
The first shot depicts sticky notes falling from the sky.
Production Approach: I approached this with the concept of creating a rainfall effect. A Grid was employed as the particle emission source, with particle trajectories subsequently controlled. A V-OPS node was then used to apply noise to the polygon faces, simulating the sensation of paper fluttering in the wind. Random noise was applied to each individual face, ensuring each one appeared distinct. Finally, each polygon face was duplicated onto the particles.
The second shot depicts the falling sticky notes forming a wall of paper.
Production approach: I first constructed a wall and scattered dots across it, then duplicated sticky notes onto each dot, randomising the size of each note. Subsequently, I employed a pop effect to simulate the notes being blown apart and converging. By reversing the animation and utilising the id attribute, I controlled the notes to converge from left to right.
The third involves forming a spherical storm from the drifting sticky notes, enveloping the protagonist within it.
Production approach: I began by extracting a horizontal line from a sphere and irregularising it to form the initial storm’s trajectory. Particles were then set to follow this path, with sticky notes replicated onto each particle to ultimately create a spiralling storm of notes.
The fourth shot depicts the storm’s distortion and destruction as the protagonist is pulled out of the paper storm, alongside the shattering and subsequent reformation of the sticky notes into petals. This shot incorporates two special effects.
Production approach: I first rendered the sticky note as shattering and then dissipating, before having the petals gradually form from particles. The core concept here was to transition the sticky note from a tangible object to an intangible one, whilst the petals evolved from intangible to tangible. This achieved the effect of the sticky note shattering to form petals.
The fifth shot shows petals drifting down from the sky.
Production approach: This shot’s creation mirrors that of the first, primarily involving modifications to the particle drift trajectories to better simulate the sensation of petals falling.
Reflection
During this team project, I acquired considerable expertise in practical filming techniques. As my prior studies and production experience had primarily focused on CG, my knowledge of live-action production was relatively limited, making this experience a novel challenge and valuable learning opportunity for me. Within the project, I was primarily responsible for storyboard illustration and special effects shot processing, which significantly enhanced my command of cinematographic language and my ability to integrate special effects with live-action footage.
Through practical application, I recognised that visual effects extend beyond isolated post-production work; they demand seamless integration with live-action footage. For instance, when crafting effects, I had to consider multiple factors: whether live-action scenes required adjustments to accommodate the effects, whether lighting and environments harmonised, and whether the visual style aligned with the overall aesthetic requirements. This process reinforced my understanding that the final visual outcome necessitates effective collaboration between pre-production and post-production.
Naturally, shortcomings emerged throughout the process. Some visual effects shots lacked sufficient refinement, leaving room for improvement in their final presentation.
Moving forward on similar projects, I shall prioritise more thorough pre-production planning, ensuring storyboards and visual effects proposals align seamlessly with the live-action team. Concurrently, I must deepen my understanding of live-action fundamentals—such as lighting control, camera movement, and scene coordination—to foster more comprehensive consideration during visual effects design. Furthermore, I aim to continuously enhance my technical proficiency in VFX production and explore new tools and methodologies. This will enable a more natural and convincing integration between visual effects and live-action footage.
Personal breakdown
Final work
Group breakdown