Cracking in the faces as the couple is dying was achieved using a combination of filmed elements, two dimensional debris and 3D dust and shards rendered in LightWave.

Then we find the young couple in their twenties standing on a sidewalk facing each other, and the dolly begins.

The collapsing elements were warped to match the last shot where the couple is face to face for a moment on a sidewalk. Then the youthful pair now resumes their real lives going in opposite directions with their friends.

The shot, involving the complicated dolly removal, was 3D tracked in Synth Eyes. A replacement sidewalk was rendered in LightWave and then composited back into the shot using After Effects.

"This was a very painstaking process," Zapara concludes. "Any frame that was off would show. With the whole thing being so close-up and tight, there was no room for error and no place to hide."

The effects team at HAL spent an entire month on the production and four months on post-production. All in all, their expertise resulted in an amazing use of visual effects to dramatically convey and enhance the emotional impact of the music and lyrics.

J. Paul Peszko is a freelance writer and screenwriter living in Los Angeles. He writes various features and reviews, as well as short fiction. He has a feature comedy in development and has just completed his second novel. When he isn't writing, he teaches communications courses.