The Third & The Seventh

This is a short film produced by Alex Roman in 2009. He modelled, textured, lit and rendered the whole film by himself. Even the sound design, which although was based on some more well known scores, was sequenced and orchestrated by Roman.

I recommend watching on Vimeo for an uncompressed experience with the beautiful and haunting audio.

https://vimeo.com/7809605

I've clipped a few shots into gifs rather than screenshots due to the animated nature of most of the shots in the film. I've noted why some of these shots were of particular interest to me or if I think they could be useful in how I approach some of the shots in my project piece.

Crane camera movement with interesting reflections

Camera moves from dark to light

Out of focus objects close to camera pass across the frame - Adds depth the the scene while also allowing for a creative way to cut to a new shot.

Leaves in the wind add interest and mood - These leaves in particular tell the viewer immediately that it's an Autumn scene in a moderate climate.

Pulls focus and contrasts sky with sharp building lines

Large focus pull - Allows for a static shot to still have variability

Revealing shots using consistent camera movement and focus pull

Vibrant colours with very shallow depth of field with constant reflection

Contrasting colours with out of focus background

Storytelling using shadow

Wide field of view with moving reflections, leaves and birds adding atmosphere and interest

Consistent pan with a change of focus to reveal more of the shot - Adds depth

Showing the passage of time with shadow/light

Using only reflections to show the scene

Simple camera enhanced by moody sky

Simulated camera shake, focus change

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Alex has also put together a Compositing Breakdown - https://vimeo.com/8200251 - showing how he layered each shot with different passes of light, colour, shadows, matte backgrounds and post effects.