“U2 and Green Day – The Saints Are Coming” by Sway Studio

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Conference:


SIGGRAPH Video Review:


Track:


    14

Title:


    U2 and Green Day - The Saints Are Coming

Company / Institution / Agency:


  • Sway Studio

Description:


    Sway Studio’s compositors integrated many photo-real CG elements, including Harrier jets, Apache helicopters, Stealth bombers, and tanks into existing news footage from Hurricane Katrina to produce a thought-provoking and emotional video that illustrates what it might have looked like had the government responded differently to the disaster in New Orleans.

    Working closely and meticulously with director Chris Milk, the Sway Studio team ensured that all shots were done to a very high level of detail and quality. The overall goal was to make the Iraqi Desert Storm aircraft and tanks look like they were actually in New Orleans for rescue and mass evacuation missions. Each shot was scrutinized, worked, and reworked to ensure its believability, all within a tight timeframe.

    Sway also added video degradation to the CG elements so that they would match the original footage, which varied substantially from shot to shot. The most challenging problem was taking a shot of a flooded main boulevard and adding rows of tanks rolling through the water.

Software:


    The team used 3ds Max with rendering in V-Ray for realism. Compositing was done on Flame, NUKE, and After Effects. All of the water effects were done with Real Flow 4.

Additional Contributors:


    VFX Supervisor/Flame Artist: Ben Looram

    VFX Producer: Matt Winkel

    CG Supervisor: Wayne England

    Digital Artist: Graham Flyffe

    Compositors: Maciek Sokalski, Ryan Gibson, Chris Bankoff, Feli di Giorgio, Lauren Mayer-Beug

    CG Artists: Rob Meyers, Rob Glazer, Richard Wardlow, Daniel Buck

    VFX Coordinator: Daughn Ward

Animation / Video Overview:


Type: