Derek Lau, a designer/animator currently working at BUCK in Sydney, takes time out from client work to transform his love of historical Chinese martial arts films into a painterly and carefully choreographed short film called Wanderer.

Derek Lau: “Wanderer is a loving tribute to all of my favorite wuxia films, cut together to resemble a trailer. The main focus was to treat it as a tone and mood piece over an action one, choosing shots from films for their movement, aesthetic, and compositional qualities.
 

“The process of creating the film also reflected a certain ethos of martial arts regarding patience, craftsmanship, and expertise.”

 
“It was a labor of love to recreate iconic shots through rotoscoping and other animation techniques in After Effects to create a unique look and feel, treating it like a moving painting. The process of creating the film also reflected a certain ethos of martial arts regarding patience, craftsmanship, and expertise.

“Film references include Ashes Of Time (1994), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004), and The Grandmaster (2013) from Wong Kar Wai, Ang Lee, and Zhang Yimou.

“Hopefully you’ll come to enjoy these films as much as I have. A special mention to Ambrose Yu for his incredible sound design and composition that brought my piece to life.”
 
 

 
Director/animator: Derek Lau

Music/sound design: Ambrose Yu

Special thanks: Marni Jacobson, Bryce Pemberton, Jin Hien Lau, William Beattie, Kayu Leung, Buck