Oil Storm

Oil Storm is a television docudrama portraying a future oil-shortage crisis in the United States, precipitated by a hurricane destroying key parts of the United States’ oil infrastructure. The program was an attempt to depict what would happen if the highly oil-dependent country was suddenly faced with gasoline costing upwards of $7 to $8 per gallon (as opposed to the national average of around $2 per gallon when the show first aired). Directed by James Erskine and written by Erskine and Caroline Levy, it originally aired on FX Networks three months before Hurricane Katrina hit the state of Louisiana, this feature-length docu-drama proved eerily prophetic.
Oil has been the life blood of America for the past 100 years but in September 2005 a hurricane blew into the gulf of Mexico and severed the supply of oil to the nation.
As the financial markets spiral out of control and prices rise no family in the country is untouched by the crisis and desperate measures are called for….

We created a 3d cgi oil puddle in the shape of the US map and reflected the stars and stripes into the liquid. We then made a droplet of oil react with the puddle when it hit the surface and set off the live action wave of fire. The title was comped onto a tarmac texture. The sequence was made using Autodesk Maya and Discreet Flint.

Client: Wall To Wall / Outright Distribution