According to the Beijing Times, the fireworks seen on television in the opening ceremony of the 2008 summer Olympics were computer generated. Twenty-nine fireworks were lit for the ceremony, one each second, and in a 55 minute sequence from Tiananmen Square to Birds Nest Stadium. The fireworks were in the shape of footprints to symbolize the 29th Olympic games arriving in Beijing.
The design team spent a year on the digital fireworks, according to the United Kingdom report in The Telegraph. Apparently the Olympics event organizers were afraid that they wouldn’t be able to film the fireworks, that it would be too dangerous to film from a helicopter and impossible to film from the ground. The impressive display used both previously recorded fireworks along with digitally generated fireworks. Only the last firework in the line up on screen was real. An impressive fake haze was added to mimic China’s polluted skies. The graphics team also created a shaky appearance to make it look like the ceremony was being filmed from a helicopter. The head of the visual effects department, Gao Xiaolong, said that the mission of creating a believable film was successful.
The actual ceremony was authentic. The marchers lit real fireworks and walked to the stadium. What people saw on TV, though, wasn’t live footage. Many opinions on both sides seem to be floating around. Some viewers think it’s another event that reveals why we should not trust China. Others think that everyone is being too hard on China. Many more believe that if China had just been open and honest about the computer generated fireworks in the first place, no one would have cared, at least as much as they seem to in the current situation.
Recent Comments