Opening Ceremony's Footprint Fireworks Faked For TV Audience

Telegraph:

As the ceremony got under way with a dramatic, drummed countdown, viewers watching at home and on giant screens inside the Bird's Nest National Stadium watched as a series of giant footprints outlined in fireworks processed gloriously above the city from Tiananmen Square.

What they did not realise was that what they were watching was in fact computer graphics, meticulously created over a period of months and inserted into the coverage electronically at exactly the right moment.

The fireworks were there for real, outside the stadium. But those responsible for filming the extravaganza decided in advance it would be impossible to capture all 29 footprints from the air.

Read the whole story: Telegraph

Comments

[waiguoren]

11:48 AM on 08/12/2008

That is one stupid headline.

It was faked??!!

You mean like in Gone With the Wind the burning of Atlanta was "faked."

You mean Humphrey Bogart wasn't a gangster?

It was a SHOW for god sakes. What you saw WAS THE SHOW!

[Blayne]

07:36 PM on 08/11/2008

Anyone who watched and listened to the American broadcast, as I am sure most of you here did, should remember the commentators saying that the "footprints" were NOT real. They went on to say that the opening ceremonies would be like a cinematic production as you might expect from an acclaimed cinematic producer!

[masha2008]

05:00 PM on 08/11/2008

duh?!! it was clearly computer graphics. this writer is stupid.

[dzent1]

04:49 PM on 08/11/2008

Hey, short-term thinkers. The idea is to see how much of this bullsh*t they can get away with so that eventually, you will NEVER be certain that what you see on the screen is real or not. The "Holy Grail", so to speak, is the ability to so completely manipulate the "news" that it becomes an even greater weapon of control over a citizenry than ever before. This is not an empty observation: my father ran two television stations and this is the way of the future. Get ready to be one of the continually milked and permanently attached pod people, a la The Matrix.
For God's sake, start filtering out these guys before you are milked dry. Put on your BS detecting-super-x-ray specs for a change. Really.

[barackobama4prez]

03:53 PM on 08/11/2008

So what? We figured it was technology at work....lol...U.S. hasn't done anything like this.....GIT TO WORK PEOPLE!

[montanadan]

03:41 PM on 08/11/2008

How embarrassing to find that there were people who thought this was real.

Now tell people that Homer Simpson is a cartoon!

[realityczech4u]

03:22 PM on 08/11/2008

Big friggin deal. Better that they had endangered the life of the helicopter pilot so that the viewers could have an 'authentic' experience, eh?

[Rockwell]

02:40 PM on 08/11/2008

I feel vindicated. I told my family that the helicopter flyover looked fake to me. They told me I was just hating on China.

[ZimboChick]

01:38 PM on 08/11/2008

oh gees want some cheese with that WHINE. You just had to say that didnt u? Well some of us who saw the opening live heard that they were computer generated....geesh u guys...chase Methuselah or something coz all this hating on China is getting old. I appreciate a good thing when I see one and this was just mind blowing

[Harrier]

11:21 AM on 08/11/2008

I live on the West Coast and the coverage is so horrible, I've stopped watching. There is nothing that is live. Everything is over 24 late. When I was watching Swimming and was watching earlier heats, I learning the Gold medal was already awarded and never saw that victory because it was not broadcasted on the West Coast. In addition, all the commentary is done over after the event is completed. Coverage skips so often is it difficult to follow. A mens cycling race started, a couple of 5 minutes busts of video, but the commercials, Gymnastics, rowing all over ran it and nothing was shown. An introduction to Girls gymnastics was put in over actual competition over the finals. Even the Gymnastics made no sense. The first gold medal for philips was never shown. The West Cost viewers are forced to get web feeds in other countries. No necessarily ethical, but when NBC is trying to take advantage of you and not delivering a final product or providing real events, it's things like this that really show that NBC does not care about providing anything that is real. everything is exaggerated.

Thank goodness with Technology and globalization I don't need Silverlining of NBC to enjoy the entire event without the NBC schizophrenic coverage, I cannot understand. I found my solution to work around NBC and keeping to myself. Easy to do and find

[papla]

11:09 AM on 08/11/2008

I see china has raised the bar now and all you guys are running scared and hating..let's see what USA will do in chicago 2012. stop hating China. that was the best olympic opening ceremony ever, they have great a lot cultures to display.

[barackobama4prez]

03:54 PM on 08/11/2008

I agree... Don't hate, PARTICIPATE!

[papla]

11:07 AM on 08/11/2008

stop hating..this was said during the broadcasting

[ozmagic]

11:03 AM on 08/11/2008

Had no idea it was fake. Wag the dog eh? Manufacture a war next? Wait a minute they already did that with Iraq.

[normalkid0615]

09:06 AM on 08/11/2008

umm they said this during the broadcast, they said that the director of the opening ceremony rendered this on a computer during the shot. This is NOT news. Listen to your televisions before you blog.

[BearsLeft]

12:26 AM on 08/11/2008

Even if they couldn't do the live shot, it was still VERY cool!