BlogCadre users see no ads!  Popular topics: humor, video, links, cool, wtf.  Go create an account!




Beijing Olympic fireworks were digitally faked

Were you floored by the fireworks display at the Beijing Olympics?  Turns out an almost 1-minute sequence of the display was digitally faked.

The opening to the Bejing Olympics featured a staggering fireworks display, but those watching at home were tricked into thinking what they saw was real. Some of it was actually CGI.

The fakery was unearthed by a local Chinese newspaper, The Beijing Times, which revealed that a 55-second sequence was created by a visual effects team, which included a series of giant footsteps made by fireworks.

Confusingly, this actually took place in the real ceremony, but the organisers felt that the sequence of 28 footprints would not be accurately captured live, so they faked it.
Link

beijing beijing! wo ai beijing!

kelly's picture

hahah. it was reported here, but not front page. it was more like at the very bottom of a random article. i'm not sure many people know about the fireworks...and if they did know, they wouldn't care. nor would they care about the lip synching or any other pre-produced things for the opening ceremony.

from my humble idiot foreigner-in-china perspective:
that sort of authenticity has little value compared to perfection. chinese people would rather see a perfect and fake show, then a real show with 2 fireworks out of cue. not to mention that a tiny mistake would be BEYOND shameful. a huge losing face situation. so shameful that the beijing olympic committee would do anything to prevent one from happening. hence, cg, lip synching, etc