Alex Roman: Transcendent CGI filmmaking

The Third & the Seventh

As a writer, it's not often that I'm lost for words. But that's what happens when I try to describe Alex Roman's CGI film, The Third & the Seventh.

This short piece redefines the viewer's relationship with CGI. It is beyond photo-realistic. It is almost transcendent, with a hyper-realistic quality that is normally only found in dreams.

What's even more remarkable is that Roman has built this piece around assets that you can easily find on the internet. In fact, in his "making of" film to accompany this, he shows you exactly how he did it, and then gives you a compositing breakdown showing the layers he used to fabricate this reality.

This is state-of-the-art CGI filmmaking. It's surprising, then, that it was made in 2009.

The making of The Third & the Seventh

Compositing Breakdown

We've already featured this other example of Alex Roman's work.