(22 November 2006 7:40 pm)

MUMBAI: SWAY Studio, one of North America’s visual effects studios has announced its contribution to the new U2 and Green Day music video titled The Saints are Coming.

For this production, SWAY has integrated many photo-real CG elements, including Harrier jets, Apache helicopters, Stealth Bombers and tanks into existing news footage from hurricane Katrina. The result is a thought-provoking and emotional video that shows what it might have looked like had the government responded differently to the disaster, asserts an official release.

Directed by Radical Media's Chris Milk this video was produced to raise funds for Gulf Coast musicians affected by the hurricane Katrina disaster. The Saints are Coming has been featured on newscasts such as CNN and is currently airing on VH1 and MTV. It can also be viewed online at mtv.com or vh1.com.

SWAY Studio owner and creative director Mark Glaser said, “This project had a very tight deadline of two and a half weeks from start to finish. This made our work particularly challenging because the CG elements that were integrated into existing news footage needed to have a very high degree of photorealism to be successful.”

SWAY’s main challenge was to make the Iraqi desert storm aircraft and tanks look like they were actually there in New Orleans for the rescue and mass evacuation. Every shot was scrutinised, worked and reworked to ensure its believability, adds the release.

“SWAY also added video degradation to the CG elements so that they would match the original footage, which varied substantially from shot to shot,” added Glaser.

SWAY utilized a variety of off-the-shelf and proprietary hardware and software to compete the project. The most prominently used tools were 3ds Max, V-Ray, Flame, NUKE and After Effects. All of the water effects were done using Real Flow 4.

All proceeds from the sale of The Saints are Coming will go to Music Rising, an instrument replacement fund for musicians located on the Gulf Coast.