I'm currently looking for a music composer for my thesis film!

This film will have little to no dialogue, so the music will be the most important element to carry the story. The runtime of this film is just over 2 minutes, though around the 1 minute 42 second mark, the remainder of the film will be just rain/storm sounds.
For the current version of the film, I've used a placeholder musical number from Bambi that starts around 15 seconds in - though class feedback says that this has made the film seem comical (to be fair, there are a few funny boards I added, though the final version will be much more serious). So I’d like to go for something more original that would make the film seem less of a slapstick, but has punctuating sounds to accompany certain moments of the action. I think the soundtrack I have from Bambi gets what I'm looking for across, but the final track can be as similar or different to this substitute as long as it gets the increasing intensity across.
The film starts out very chill, no music, just a breeze and flapping sounds. I'm open to a few piano notes possibly playing here, maybe some kind of gentle violin, but the quiet at this point works just fine as well. It's when the tree comes into view I'd like some sort of steady tone to start, maybe something that even starts out sort of whimsical, but from that point on gets louder and more dramatic - especially as soon as the main cast engages with the griffin.

I'm looking for/okay with: string instruments, wind instruments, possibly percussion instruments.
I'm NOT looking for: electronic, 8-bit video-game-esque, vocal/lyrics.

If you're selected to be my composer, you will be paid $200 for the completed music (I definitely wish I could offer more, but that's really all I have to offer on a college student budget). Your chosen name/credentials will be listed in the credits of the film, and fingers crossed this film will be released into a film festival circuit if everything goes well!

I'll be doing the rest of the sound design/foley, but I'm holding off just a bit on that to see what music I'm working with first - see what sounds I can fit in there or wouldn't be necessary paired with the song.

I need a finished track as soon as possible - by late February at the absolute latest. I'm already in the post production phase, but the soundtrack was decidedly unfit at the end of my previous semester. Please keep this in mind when applying! And thank you so much for reading.