Frank DanCoolo: Paranormal Drug Dealer Short Film Review

I honestly didn't care much for this film. I can appreciate that it is a fairly well executed powerhouse whirlwind of special effects and compositing, but I just couldn't get into the story or the characters at all. I found the lead actress far too abrasive and I'm no really a fan of the over-the-top cartoon style that was used in this film.

The special effects themselves were impressive at times and not so great at others. Virtually every shot in the film is a mashup of various composited elements. The dialogue and action jumps around like an anime or grindhouse kung-fu film. It seems to me that the filmmakers just tried to cram every cool thing they could think of into a film and I don't think it worked out.

The Third and The Seventh Short Film Review

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

I'm a big fan of both architecture and quality artistic CGI  so this film was a real treat for me. The Third and the Seventh is a breathtakingly rendered film with a haunting atmosphere; presented with an attention to aesthetics that gives the piece an amazing professional polish.

The film features an almost surreal succession of shots of incredibly realistic CGI architecture and objects. The visuals seem to be influenced  by photography and composition theories. Many of the shots seem to hang suspended like a painting or a photograph on the wall, beautiful works of art even standing alone from the rest of the film.

The animators made expert use of the relatively new technology that allows simulation of depth of field within a CGI environment. Rack focuses over very natural looking organic surfaces seemed very natural to me and not at all like the stiff and rigid artificial camera work usually found in animation of a lesser caliber.

The CGI in this film is so realistic that some apparently doubted that it was even animation at all. The filmmakers have released a "Behind the Wireframe" film to lay any doubts to rest and you can watch it below.



Compositing Breakdown (T&S) from Alex Roman on Vimeo.