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Olympic Opening Ceremony Fireworks Were (Partly) Faked
A complete newb writes "London's Telegraph newspaper reports that some of the fireworks which appeared over Beijing during the television broadcast of the Olympic Opening Ceremony were actually computer generated. But — hold on — it's not necessarily as bad as you think. The faked fireworks were actually set-off at the stadium, but because of potential dangers in filming the display live from a helicopter, viewers at home were shown a pre-recorded, computer-generated shot." To me, the reasoning behind the faked display is no consolation or excuse — it seems hard to swallow that NBC was unaware of this televised deception. I'm glad that it was good-naturedly "revealed" this weekend (according to that Telegraph article), but it's disheartening that such a large crowd can watch (in person, and around the world) such a display and have no reason to realize they've been duped. What about when weightier events are at issue? There's also a slightly more detailed story at sky.com.
I watched the opening ceremony on NBC here in the U.S. There was a part of the ceremony called something like 'A walk through Beijing'. It showed a fly-through video of Beijing with "footsteps" made of fireworks popping up along the street/path. Those footstep fireworks looked pretty obviously computer-simulated. All other fireworks shown did not have that simulated appearance.
It sounds to me like these footsteps part were all that was simulated.
Does anyone know if the footage we saw on NBC (of the whole ceremony) was from an International common video feed or did NBC have their own cameras there? I ask because at large International events like this, there is often a common video feed and the commentators simple talk about what they see on their screen (which is the same thing we see, minus the fancy NBC info graphics and overlays.)
(I wrote this looking at the subscriber early-post version. A link to a sky.com article was later added to the summary which answers my question.)
I personally hate watching fireworks on TV. They always dub some annoying song over top of the show so I can't hear the explosion and cheering. Especially over the fourth of july. I hate watching fireworks with "America the Beautiful" over top of the explosion. I want to hear the bang!
... just switch to a live video feed from South Ossetia?
Have gnu, will travel.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
...my wife fakes her fireworks all the time and it doesn't bother me.
Error reading device 'Signature'. (A)bort, (R)etry, (F)ail?
Hey captain obvious, I vividly remember the NBC announcer stating they were computer generated as it was happening.
Off your high horse please.
Unaware? obviously weren't listening during th broadcast. The NBC announcers were talking about how some of the effects were computer enhanced. They specifically said there were "digital pyrotechnics" used during the camera shot that zoomed across the city showing fireworks exploding all around.
What's the problem? You want a series of impressive images on your screen. What's the issue with having them in CGI instead of real-life fireworks? The end result is the same. I could get your argument if we were talking about some olympic discipline being duped, with doping, corruption or otherwise, but fireworks are just eye candy. How it gets to your retina is quite irrelevant.
And by the way, doing it in CGI is also more environmentally friendly: compounds used in fireworks are not always of the most benign sort.
Victims of 9/11: <3000. Traffic in the US: >30,000/y
This isn't a first for the networks. They have fudged the painting on a building in NYC (as seen by home views) during the New Year's Eve celebration.
Worry about them fudging the actual events. For that matter, worry about them broadcasting someone stepping out of a hotel room an 2AM.
In other news, last year's Super Bowl was actually two guys playing Madden '08.
When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
You mean the media outlets are putting up fake fireworks right after rearranging the opening announcements of the teams and so on? All over something as trivial as the Olympics?
It blows my mind that people aren't more concerned about this type of stuff in the real news. They have watched all manner of modern special effects and other kinds of impressive visual trickery in the movies. Hell, even the weather map thing is a greenscreen type trick. Yet, noone believes that this type of thing would happen on the news when so many people are watching events that could have economic impacts even as high as the trillion dollar range. Only that it happens during movies in the millions of dollar range.
The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
As far as I understand, the announce said that some of it was CG. And since when is using CG considered faking? When China does it?
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Ok? The idea is for the entire world to be entertained at which should be a truce among the nations of the world bringing its best athletes to the tables. Putting on a good show for the olympics is part of the drill.
I'm always looking for a good shot at China but I think this time around we should cut these people a break. They've done a good job with the Olympics so far.
This is my sig.
Slow day on Slashdot? I don't know where the conspiracy nuts get their information - were they actually watching the programme? The NBC commentator stated quite clearly that the 29 displays across Beijing that signified the 29 olympiads were simulated. They didn't got into detail about it but they certainly didn't hide it.
Now shut the hell up and watch what they tell you to watch...or else. :)
But seriously, the level of paranoia here about the country "losing face" if things don't come off exactly as planned is simply difficult to describe if you're not here on the ground to see it first hand. I'm sure the environment in Berlin wasn't much different in 1936. The city is crawling with army, police (in uniform and plainclothes), and civilian brown shirt.....er...I mean "helpers" complete with red armbands (sound familiar)?
So even if nothing really goes wrong, people are seeing the true nature of the Chinese government these days. It's really sad because normally Beijing is a very pleasant city and offers a lot rich cultural sites to visit along with fantastic food. Sigh...
The fly-over of the city during the fireworks was way too fast for a helicopter. I remember thinking it looked weird.
I live in a place with an awful lot of fireworks (Valencia, Spain) so some of the fireworks looked odd, too - all the same weird shape.
It didn't occur to me that it was all computer generated though, I mean ... why would they?
No sig today...
If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, did it make any noise?
If you weren't there in person, did it really happen? Apparently not. Seems like we should apply this to a lot of the news being reported by MSM these days. I don't care for sports and don't think the US Athletes, never mind the president, should be there in China. I *WOULD* have liked some coverage of the Russian fighting. I could only find that on the Internet. MSM? meh They seem like nothing but tosspots and whitehouse mouthpieces.
Science fiction turning into reality now. 1984 started late. I wonder what Capital W was actually doing in China? When not smacking volley ball players on the ass.
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This seriously is getting out of hand. All of this Anti-Chinese hate is making our nations look awefully stupid. But keeping it on topic; This has been going on for years. Watching it on the television is a digial image anyway. If you want the real thing, you should go there. Television networks have been using image enhancing computer techniques for years now. This is not a new thing. It was in good nature and in the name of safety that this was done. As well, fellow posters have already mentioned that the reporter mentioned the CG enhancements to the show. It will remain the best opening ceremony in history, like it or not.
I watched the opening ceremonies twice and the commentators did state something to the effect of "They want this ceremony to be cinema in real time, but what you're watching right now is actually cinematic, it's all animation of these footsteps leading to the National Stadium." They did not outright say "hey this is prerendered CG" but they DID state that this was "true cinematics" and that it was animation.
They were well aware of it and did a poor job of communicating it to viewers. I can tell how most people would have missed it.
I didn't realise Fantavision was one of the events!
Back in 1992, the Olympic torch in Barcelona was supposed to be lit by an archer shooting a flaming arrow. Yeah... no. He shot it towards the cauldron, but it was set to be lit on its own via pyros. The flaming arrow passed way over the cauldron, safe from setting any of the audience on fire or perforating them, and the torch lit anyway.
OR MAYBE IT WAS AN OLYMPIC MIRACLE AND HE HIT IT
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Kurt Vonnegut: "If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind."
...and eventually, this kind of deficit spending will bankrupt the media.
I do wonder why they keep pushing the edge of the envelope like this, though. The urge to alter reality doesn't really resonate with me. Just show it how it really happened. People are tuning in to experience a real event, not some imagined account of what the fireworks might have looked like.
If things continue to trend this way, the media will eventually find it far easier to simply fabricate all the news. They'd never have to leave the studio, and could script out events over and over until they got just the right shot. I mean seriously, if they're not going to have 100% journalistic integrity, why have any at all?
To me, the reasoning behind the faked display is no consolation or excuse
Then next time, Timothy, we'll let you fly the helicopter while fireworks are being shot at it.
I want a new quote. One that won't spill. One that don't cost too much. Or come in a pill.
Yep, the pic in the article is the suspicious one. Every firework which went up made *exactly* that shape in the air.
You can make shapes in the air (we do hearts, stars, etc). When I saw it I figured it was the shape of China or something.
It seems odd, precisely the sort of thing a computer artist wouldn't do.
No sig today...
Wait. Are we seriously going to complain about this? If this doesn't count as much ado about nothing, I don't know what does. This isn't manipulation of the media - this is simply enhancing the televised broadcast of a ceremony for the opening of the Olympic games. Good gawd, get some perspective.
DoD producing propaganda for foreign (wink) audiences. Good evidence just came out that the White House forged a war-justification document. Stovepiped intelligence. Hush money to truth-tellers. Known-false public WMD claims. "This isn't about intelligence, it's about regime change." "Fuck Saddam, we're taking him out." Facts fixed around the policy. Leaks to "billboard" media to punish truth-tellers' families. Embedded reporters, sent home for publishing actual war photographs. Talking points piped from the White House to the top news corporations, often repeated as directives to the "journalists" who frame each day's news. Seven years of lapdog media pundits laughing along with the right-wingers who call for their assassination while they seriously discuss whether the 60% of Americans who still somehow hold political beliefs at odds with the ruling administration are traitors.
But the fireworks show China is deceptive.
If this is the standard of reporting NBC employs to bring purportedly "real-world" events to its viewers, I'm starting to understand how the US wound up in Iraq, why so many people believe evolution is "just a theory" and why huge corporations unblushingly stand in the welfare line while homeless veterans beg on street corners.
What's the harm in a little "enhanced reality" if it helps to keep people glued to the television, comfortable and distracted and plumply satisfied with their lot?
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
This was clearly explained by the commentators during the broadcast. I thought it was pretty neat.
Seriously though does any of this surprise you? NOTHING on Television should be believed! Have you ever heard the phrses: "smoke and mirrors"? TV invented it! And OF COURSE NBC knew!
Wasn't there a movie out a while back about this? It involved a faked moon walk-and one astronaut showing up at his funeral-they killed the other two.
that reordered the opening ceremony? http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/09/2231231
Do you have ESP?
I watched on live YLE 1 in Finland, and the commentators explained as the fireworks were let off that part of the footage of of the giant footsteps before they reached the stadium were generated, but the fireworks at the stadium were live.
Seems to me someone is trying to sensationalize a non issue.
If it took a year to simulate the fireworks, it would have been cheaper to put the camera in a remotely piloted vehicle.
China's gov't is learning some valuable lessons about the world, namely that fooling your own population does not scale to the freer outside world.
Table-ized A.I.
First the flag march was shown out of order and now some of the fireworks were faked?! What's next, the color of the video was enhanced? The sound was boosted? They cut away from boring shots to exciting ones?
Who knows?! Maybe this extends into regularly scheduled programs, too! I bet they cut out bad scenes and let the actors/actresses redo their lines when they mess up! I bet they add in sound effects and laughter, too! Ha! Good thing we're on to their conspiracy!!!
[/sarcasm]
Dear Lord. It's called a "show" for a reason. I would actually be disappointed if they didn't try to keep it as interesting as possible.
The announcers for NBC said there were digital fireworks during the broadcast a couple times.
When are people going to realize that just because you have a picture (or a video clip) of something that what you're seeing is "real" or "the truth."
Media companies embellish things to make better story? More at 11
The Chinese Olympic officials fake some fireworks and slashdot immediately turns it into "what did NBC know and when did they know it?"
What the hell is going on here?
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
Just as long as the ATHLETES are NOT on steroids, and the COMPETITION ITSELF is real... that's all I care about.
The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
how, exactly... is this news for nerds?
Is this just a vain viral attempt to drum up interest in the World's singularly most overrated sporting event?
Or simply yet another attempt to discredit the Chinese to distract US and UK readers from caring about the human rights and privacy abuses committed their own countries. Just remember, anything bad that happens in China in 2008 is going to be blown out of the water by the the London Olympics -- it'll make the 1936 Olympics look like Woodstock.
In one of the past olympics, one guy lightened his flamable arrow with the olympic torch. Then he pointed to the big - whatever its name - and blam! There was the olympic fire.
According to my sources, the arrow flew over the whole stadium, and that the olympic fire was lightened electronically. The archer said he could actually aim at the exact spot, but he was ordered to shoot the arrow over it so that people wouldn't be disappointed if the arrow didn't make it. :-/
I mean this one had "Made in China" written all over it! "Made in China" and faked? Never!
EvilCON - Made Famous by
china fixes Xscreensaver Fireworkx. "that thing works now??" says Jamie Zawinski.
film at the olympics.
Good people go to bed earlier.
...the coziness between China and Iran. China shares advanced missile technology with Iran who reciprocates with advanced computer-generated rocket-launch capability.
If they can fake fireworks.... Maybe they could have faked the moon landing!!!!! ...well someone had to say it
Answer: Ancient Chinese Secret
Calgon take me away.......
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
Will the city of Beijing ever recover from the pollution created by those fireworks? How many sweatshops have to be idled in order for China to get a carbon offset for this display?
I need trepanation like I need a hole in the head.
Wow, how incredibly offensive.
Go ahead and scream about it all you want.
One fact will remain true.
China, does not care.
Wah, wah, OMG OMG the fireworks are fake. Cry me a river.
ironic Pronunciation: \-rä-nik also i-rä-\ Function: adjective Date: 1576 1: relating to, containing, or constituting irony 2: given to irony 3: China, the inventor of fireworks, faking fireworks at the opening ceremony of the Olympics
it's disheartening that such a large crowd can watch (in person, and around the world) such a display and have no reason to realize they've been duped.
Yeah, next thing you know there will be athletes that don't meet the age requirements and artifically enhanced results due to performance enhancing drugs. Maybe the finish in the American swim relay last night was 'cinematic'.
Will the fakery of the Olympics never end? Next time I think they could save a lot of money and just have George Lucas create an animated 20,000 hour film of the Olympics.
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Real sports are the ones you do yourself.
The link to the telegraph article is incorrect. Here's the real link
Here's to losing my Karma Bonus again....
This day in age, where things like this (CG fakes) are easily cooked up and served to the masses makes the concept of "real" fade into a gray area. It's really sad for me to hear that things like this are being done - Why not, at the VERY least, let the people know officially that they weren't real fireworks? Why try to give people a false sense that anything at all you are presenting is real, when it isn't? People will understand the danger involved with whatever. It's not like people are going to be pissed off that there weren't huge fireworks. It's the Olympics - where everyone in the world get to come together and root for their locale.
I guess you really *can't* trust anything you see on TV - even the Olympics. That is sad.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
"To me, the reasoning behind the faked display is no consolation or excuse -- it seems hard to swallow that NBC was unaware of this televised deception. I'm glad that it was good-naturedly "revealed" this weekend (according to that Telegraph article), but it's disheartening that such a large crowd can watch (in person, and around the world) such a display and have no reason to realize they've been duped."
So the safety of the spectators is "no excuse"? You'd prefer they endanger the spectators for no reason other than to satisfy your sense of propriety?
What WOULD be a good excuse guy?
As to your "I can't believe NBC was unaware..." line, you're right, they DID know. And they TOLD US repeatedly during the broadcast.
Is it possible to mod an article submission "offtopic"?
caused the Blue Screen of Death?
http://gizmodo.com/5035456/blue-screen-of-death-strikes-birds-nest-during-opening-ceremonies-torch-lighting
All those Bushisms must be glitches in the speech rendering software! I knew it!
The Chinese government announced that all the pollution hanging over the city of Beijing is really just a computer generated effect.
NBC censored the crap out of the opening ceremonies. They rearranged it a bit, blocked millions from watching, delayed it by hours and you expect them to honestly portray what happened? HA Ha ha ha ha ha
Thanks for the Beijing, Australian, German and other web sites that had the decency to be honest and allow the world to see the ceremonies in real time and as they happened.
Banjo - The more I know about Windoze, the more I love *nix
Just as long as the ATHLETES are NOT on steroids, and the COMPETITION ITSELF is real... that's all I care about.
Considering the attention some of the female athletes are getting for their looks, I wouldn't bet surprised if in the next Olympics they get some other "enhancements" to look better in bathing suits. You know, to get those big $$$ endorsement and modeling deals. Who needs medals these days?
Just makes it all the more impressive that they'd go to all that trouble for the TV broadcast. Face it, those ceremonies kicked all other olympics' asses. The footprints were shot off at the actual stadium too, just not filmed. They didn't have to bother making CGI ones at all, but they did, which was cool.
I'm surprised by the number of people who don't consider this a problem. I was watching the opening ceremonies on CBC, and unlike those who were watching NBC, I don't recall any mention of the flyover being CGI. I could be wrong.
Either way, I did not watch the Opening Ceremonies to be amazed by digital fireworks. Perhaps we should save a bit of money and do the whole ceremony in CGI for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.
The first Olympic fake-out was back at Olympics 776 BC. In 720 BC it was discovered that olympian Ephorus Pausanias was actually wearing "artistically enhanced" tights.
--- What?
The Olympics in Beijing is just a ploy to gather up the world's best athletes, political figures, and some talking heads so China can clone them and send us back the properly educated versions.
Those who...
didn't like faked fireworks display prefer unaugmented, "real", breasts.
did like faked fireworks display prefer augmented, "fake", breasts.
Of course it matters.
There is no such thing as a "harmless deception," particularly in news coverage
They put up a gazillion statistics about an athlete on the screen in real time. They could have put a little banner in the corner of the picture of the fireworks saying "computer simulation." It wouldn't have cost a nickel. It wouldn't have held up the flow of commentary.
Why not? Because they wanted people to believe what they were watching was real... because they know darn well people do care about whether what they see is real or fake, and put less value on something that's faked.
The proof that people care is that it was not disclosed.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Politicians: If their lips are moving, they must be lying.
Television: If it flickers at 50/60Hz, it must be faked.
Audience: If you believe politicians or TV, you must be naive.
Now, I didn't watch the opening ceremonies; I didn't really care all that much. But the way I see it is, that by subtly altering the actual events shown and not being upfront about it, is flat out BS. If they're going to report computer enhanced images as real world events, what the fuck is next. Full blown CGI as real news, computer simulations as actual fact.
I have a real damn problem with this not because of the use of computer graphics in images shown on TV, but in the deceptive way they were used even if that was trivial in this case. This was a "Test Case" whether it was meant to be or not and if this sort of shit doesn't get a lot of flak the news-tainment industry will continue to use this technique to gather eyeballs, and the public won't know the difference, at least in a timely manner.
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Next on NBC, how to win the heart of your computer generated relationship. Because human interaction within nature is so passe.
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Talk about no credibility. Several times I've read on the Web "so-and-so wins gold!" only to see it 30 minutes later on NBC with the "live" logo on the screen. WTF? If it already happened, it ain't live. Another way NBC is misleading people.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
It's a commentary on the faking of something fluffy for the masses on the one hand--computer-generated entertainment--and the very real deaths and war and land-grabbing on the part of a major world power on the other.
The accomplishment of Olympic athletes--the ones who aren't doping--and the Olympic ideal itself are fantastic and amazing and to be commended. But there is still a very poignant statement about both mankind and the state of our media when we watch the coverage of a computer-generated opening ceremony rather than responding to the deaths of thousands on the other.
Whether it's a hopeful choice, a selfish choice, or an ignorant choice is another question. (Or a contractual or financial choice, in the case of the media.)
being "real" like Tom Brokaw's "resonant voice", or Sarah Jessica Parker's "beauty regimen"?
"..and eventually, this kind of deficit spending will bankrupt the media."
So, all those television productions that have been done for the last 60 years have been bankrupting the media?
Or did you just post your opinion before you realized that this is just one more television show, and it's no different from soap operas or sitcoms or any other produced entertainment?
"If things continue to trend this way, the media will eventually find it far easier to simply fabricate all the news. "
Please explain how you get from an activity that has been occurring for 60 years (television production) to "the media will eventually find it far easier to simply fabricate all the news". Since this activity is neither new nor covert, please explain how you arrived at your poorly thought out conclusion?
"I mean seriously, if they're not going to have 100% journalistic integrity, why have any at all?"
Ok, this is too much. THEY TOLD US IT WAS CG DURING THE BROADCAST. But you complained to whore karma before you knew that didn't you? MOre importantly, when you watch a soap opera, WHY THE FUCK AREN'T YOU COMPLAINING THAT IT'S FAKE?
Because it's entertainment that you know is produced for effect. Yet somehow, you've convinced yourself that the opening ceremonies aren't ceremonial displays done for entertainment purposes, and then complained about it.
And sounded sill doing so.
So earlier, when NBC edited to re-arrange the entrance of nations in the opening ceremonies, this was a blasphemy on par with claiming Richard Stallman owns an iPhone. But now, with the information coming from the UK, this information is "good natured"?
There was a small segment that looked like some fireworks had been composited over the Beijing landscape. It doesn't matter. It was only used because it would have been dangerous to film from a helicopter, and the display that actually took place was identical to the CGI one.
Those using pirated Tinysoft signatures(TM) are a real threat to society and should all be thrown in jail.
Seeing as though the Olympic games are the most fake, pretentious and commercialized show on earth, that even the setup is fake ("it's about the sport, not the politics"), that the host country did 0 about the preconditions to host them save for the glitzy part, I'd say that a fake fireworks is perfectly pertinent.
Oh, add also a fake lack of rain to the list ;o)
I know I'll be modded down, I don't care. Fuck the Olympics.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
But, who cares if they were CG'd? The Feng Shui/Footprint portion of the Fireworks display was obviously CG'd. It would be impossible to get permission to do so in the areas where they were supposedly launched. And with the smog, err fog problem in Beijing... having real fireworks only added to the problem and been environmentally irresponsible. :) SCC
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A Chinese website reported over the weekend that the opening swoop over Beijing was a computer simulation:
http://cd.qq.com/a/20080809/000059.htm
It says the computer simulation took over a year to make, and that only the final set of footprints was real. The simulation was created by a Beijing firm, Crystal Digital.
http://www.crystalcg.com/
The media prints the fake material uncritically. Happened time and time again in the leadup to Iraq invasion, is happening again with the Ivins anthrax story, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
you had me at #!
I thought I saw Jar Jar Binks in the opening ceremony, but wasn't sure. This explains everything.
Do the goons have stairs in their house?
China hasn't done well with nutjobs: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/09/olympics.murder/index.html
They've got some catching up to do before they beat the US: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/09/olympics.murder/index.html
I suggest increasing the number of victims using CGI.
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
Surprised all the events are not being reported won by the Chinese. I mean we all know how open and honest the Chinese Gov is. With them censoring what the journalists are reporting, I am surprised this is not the headline around the world.
Why does anyone expect it to be factual?
Engineering is the art of compromise.
...the Chinese invented the art of pyrotechnics. Having them fake the fireworks with CGI is like finding out your American flag was made in Mexico. Pretty ironic if you ask me.
and admit the whole space race was really just a bunch of Hollywood screen tests. I'll bet you anything ILM does alot of work for them on the down low. Besides, if you look closely, the shadows are all wrong on the Challenger thing, and you can see where they just copied and pasted particle effects and the same debris over and over.
why can't they fake a clear blue sky?
I definitely saw legs, but I also saw some sort of supports. I imagine that the blocks had some kind of contraption to make it easier for the people to lift them up and down with such fluidity. Not to mention that they would all have to be constrained to move up and down; I didn't see them wobble at all.
China is a country that had made an art form out of misinformation and manipulation. Couple that with the near-mafia that is the IOC, and this shouldn't be surprising in the least.
Ed R.Zahurak
You know, oblivion keeps looking better every day.
When she was filming the 1936 Olympics (Olympia) she took aerial photographs by attaching cameras to balloons. The lesson for filmmakers today? If you can't risk flying people, use a drone. (Caveat: a number of the balloons crashed. But I like to think nowadays we could achieve better results.)
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
During NBC's broadcast they pointed out that the fireworks were in fact, using their own words, an "animation".
Does anyone even bother to check the facts before they write an article these days?
You're clearly smarter than the entire country of China.
I haven't turned on the tv, or even been in the same room with a tv since before the olympics started.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Yep, the "50 million bubbles in every bottle" are injected by machine. Just like the flaming iridescent streamers over Beijing were injected by a machine into the vid.
The spring water *is* naturally carbonated. But the gas is drawn off separately by Perrier, stored, and re-injected when they bottle the water. Supposedly the carbonation level in the bottle is precisely adjusted to match the level in the source, the Vergèze spring.
I hope all you "left-wing liberal freedom fighters" who are infuriated and want "something done" about this dastardly deception and corruption of our human rights recognize the similarities you share with those "right-wing religious zealots" who have the _exact_ same reaction to harmless nudity, language, or sexual situations on television.
And, as it usually the case, the "facts" are completely wrong here as well: the CG simulation WAS disclosed and nobody was "duped". This is just more of the up-in-arms reactionary BS coming from people desperately in need of something to get worked up about.
Maybe if the two sides would see how similar they really are, this kind of idiocy will stop.
But thanks, Slashdot - this is like the third story today that was either deliberately misleading or completely fabricated. Seems like the only people getting "duped" are those who believe Slashdot story summaries.
...and when it's here, no one will know what is real or what is fake...
If a baby duck is a "duckling," why would anyone want to eat "dumplings?"
If it was too dangerous for the fireworks to be filmed live because there was a risk of the fireworks injuring the cameramen, why not use an unmanned radio-controlled camera?
Now only were the fireworks computer generated, they were also shown in a different order than they really happened!
The Games have been rigged for years, and we're pissing about the firecrackers?
Never argue with a man carrying a water buffalo
Let us not forget Microsoft's relationship to NBC.
Anything marginally related to Microsoft is fair game for rants.
Well, didn't work in Georgia, did it?
Well, I think the USA should just launch a massive nuclear attack on Russia and China, right -after- the Olympics is over. I argue thus:
a. The attack on Georgia is utterly terrible, and the Georgians fought in Iraq for us and so we should fight for them.
b. The USA is doomed anyway. The Chinese have more people. Our leadership is inept.
c. A great way to reduce greenhouse gasses. If you kill 5 billion people in an all out nuclear war, then, the earth would be spared all the ravages of that evil CO2... at least after all the forests stop burning.
d. Cools the planet. Everyone knows that nuclear winter would reverse the horrific ravages of global warming, benefiting coastal people everywhere.
Really, why wouldn't we want to have a nuclear war ?
This is my sig.
When I was watching NBC follow the "foot print" fireworks, they mentioned that it was a computer generated walk-through of the fireworks. If people were unaware it is because they are retarded and were not paying attention, it is not because China/NBC tried to pull a fast one.
Respect the Constitution
WTF are you whining about ?
For god's sake we are the nation that created FOX,
and feed reality warping special fx to the rest of the world.
Jingoistic idiot.
it's disheartening that such a large crowd can watch (in person, and around the world) such a display and have no reason to realize they've been duped
If the Chinese can successfully fake a fireworks display in-person (with a massive hologram, I assume), then color me impressed with China's modern technology.
But I doubt it. They tried seeding the clouds to clean up the atmosphere and couldn't even do that.
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
I don't care, because it was disclosed. NBC mentioned the "foot print" fireworks over Beijing was a computer generated event for viewers, the fact that people failed to listen and comprehend is their own fault.
Respect the Constitution
Yes, but still the most original one: Fake at 1:20.
-- Ne me laissez pas tellement triste: écrivez-moi vite qu'il est revenu...
I want to clarify: so were there really fireworks going off all over Beijing that were footprint-shaped, being set off in synchronized sequence moving closer and closer to the Bird's Nest stadium? Or were they all set off near the stadium, and the part about it going off in other parts of Beijing were computer simulated?
From the sky.com article, it seems like they were really there, so I have no problem with that. Complaining about it would be like complaining about CG views of the space probe Voyager as it swings past the rings of Saturn --"Wow, how did they get someone to take pictures of that spaceprobe up close as it goes past Saturn?" If the fireworks weren't really there , then I'd complain.
404555974007725459910684486621289147856453481154 in hex is "You sank my Battleship?"
[GPG key in journal]
The shot of Dubya talking to Vladimir Putin was obviously fake. Vladimir was busy doing something else at this time.
NO!!!!
http://www.oregonlive.com/olympics/index.ssf/2008/08/if_it_looks_too_good_to_be_tru.html
Still, http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzg1MTYyMDQ=.html see?
Wait 'till you see what they can do with election day coverage.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
Bob Costas specifically stated that it was a computer generated fly through during the NBC broadcast of the event on Friday.
This isn't "news" to me either.
I went back and looked at what NBC showed on television here in the United States of America.
The following quote is exactly what the commentators, Today Show host Matt Lauer and NBC Sports broadcaster Bob Costas, said as the footage was being shown:
So it was quite clear to me at the time that we weren't watching real fireworks.
Makes you wonder what other inaccuracies abound in reporting of the news and what how editors choose headlines.
I knew there are enough China haters on Slashdot. Still, I login, searched the video out from massive Olympic videos, then, there you go: footprint fireworks video taken by a volunteer right outside Bird nest
Faked moon landings?
What?
The whole Olympics is a glaring reminder of how willing capitalism is to walk in lockstep with totalitarianism.
The western media is handing the CPC a colossal propaganda victory by portraying China as just another modern, well-run Asian country, instead of as a totalitarian state that is willing to imprison people for speaking out on issues like why their kids were killed when shoddy schools collapsed.
(Sorry, USA haters, but this is real, old-fashioned, "Darkness at Noon" totalitarianism, and no, the US actions in the "War" on terror don't even come close.)
would be better than this stuff :P
As me and my family watched the opening of the Olympics (which was FUCKIN' AMAZING - with or without fireworks) and our jaws were firmly on the floor the whole time a friend of mine turned to me and said:
"Well... I guess we should feel sorry for whoever is next in line for 2012 Summer Olympics.
Like... how do you top THAT off?
Have the opening ceremony filmed on the Moon?
Or at the bottom of the ocean?"
Fireworks or no fireworks - the opening show was amazing.
All that wirework with people flying through the air, and all those performers working in unison...
And then the ground opens and the globe comes out.
With people on it.
Running around the globe.
But like I said... How do you top that off if you are say... London? Bugger me...
I guess it is MUCH simpler to have newspaper headlines shout "Fireworks were fake, man! It ain't real!" ("Olympic Fireworks Faked For TV", "Some Opening Ceremony fireworks were faked") and then at the end of the text have that short paragraph saying it did really happen, but we were shown CGI for security reasons.
("Organiser said that the footprint fireworks were there for real, but thought it unsafe to try to film them - so they recreated them instead.")
Not very sporting from the Brits, no sir.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
"But most of the audience thought it was filmed live - so that was mission accomplished."
Sorry, their intent was to deceive the audience all along. Besides, regardless of what the announcers may have attempted to convey the Chinese television feed did not have any caption indicating the images were simulated.
Whether or not the cat was let out of the bag after the fact, the deception was in poor taste. It reflects on China as a host nation and can only perpetuate the reservations many hold against the Chinese government.
The worst part is, I don't understand the need for the deception in the first place...
I went back and looked at what NBC showed on television in the United States of America.
The following is exactly what the commentators, Today Show host Matt Lauer and NBC Sports broadcaster Bob Costas, said:
At the time, I fully understood that I was watching a movie. It's not "news" to me.
Welcome to Slashdot, your home for overblown news and overreacting people. The only place in the world where computer generated fireworks are considered a problem.
I love my sig.
he who controls the past controls the future
he who controls the present controls the past...and the fireworks! :D
"If god did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him" --Voltaire
Interesting that while we're talking about media duping and censorship, the "nonstory" tag for this article has mysteriously vanished.
But no, I'm sure that's not Slashdot trying to hide the fact that they posted this alarmist crap under the guise of it being news. No way, they believe in truth and free speech! So much so that I have to post this as an AC or risk having my karma destroyed!
the rest of the Olympic coverage. I think NBC is HORRIBLE.
When first turning on the Olympics last night, and seeing nothing but Bob Costas and these side pieces, my thoughts were "I know there are Olympic events going on right now, why the hell am I watching Bob talk about the same crap that's been in the media every day leading up to the Olympics". (Nothing against Bob specifically)
My memory may be fuzzy, but I remember watching the Olympics on TV and enjoying a "day of sports", watching sports I normally don't see, and seeing the best athletes in these sports compete. Instead NBC shows ONLY the most popular sports in the US, and in between (when they could break to Judo or weightlifting or shooting), we get soft stories on athletes that all sound the same to me at this point. (And these side stories seem to be from an industry manual on "how to do sports casts in the US", because they seem pretty similar to what I get on any other sports broadcast, any other time.)
It gets boring, fast. If NBC wants to keep me from channel surfing, put on the stuff that I am there to see in the first place.
END RANT
SPORTS ARE ENTERTAINMENT!
Will people ever learn that there is no difference between 'news' about a the latest movie and 'news' about the latest sports?
There is already so much information about forms of entertainment INCLUDING each network following their 'news' with a whole entertainment gossip show.
My local news is about 20min long and is mostly sports,weather and advertiser press releases. Padded with idle chatter of the teleprompter readers. Throw in frequent human interest stories and you end up with less than 5 min of short RSS like news feeds.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
I saw this for the first time on youtube too, after being told by people who saw it live that he actually hit the cauldron. I thought maybe they released a bunch of gas before he shot, and by passing over the cauldron the flames from the arrow ignited it. Seems weird that they would not let the main flame there not be "true" olympic flame. The very wikipedia article you linked to backs this up.
What an utter NON-story!
It sounds like out of a hundred replies, three people actually listened to the broadcast.
The announcers on NBC clearly stated several times that the entire footprint fireworks segment was a "cinematic" presentation, not live, not real, not journalism, just pretty-pretty eye candy. Mmmm! Sparkly!
But some people never get anything into their heads except through a fracture. Clearly, listening to the broadcast was not enough.
I agree with everything that has been said about how nasty this would be if it were not disclosed as a fake, and I'd be hollering as loud as they are if I had not been listening, and were similarly clueless that it had been disclosed completely.
Then, like them, I would have been caught with my head up something it did not belong.
The Olympics are an EVENT. Shows are staged, REAL sports events are not. The idea wasn't to entertain the world, the idea of the Olympics was for bringing the known world together for peaceful competition. Even some wars were totally stopped due to the performance of an Olympic athlete.
Quit saying that the Olympics are something that they very specifically ARE NOT.
And the point is?
The purpose of fireworks is nice visuals. There's nothing "special" differentiation live/real fireworks from CGI. What difference does it make, really?
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Is it just me, or does the "were actually computer generated" main article just a dude writing on his webpage, with no reason, proof, pictures or validity?
The "sky.com" article seems to actually have some substance.
But I must say that the footsteps in the sky part was pretty ridiculous, we were all saying "how is this possible that they got this shot?"
That's what my sources are telling me.
Over here in Finland teh evil communist state-controlled pedophile-loving public broadcaster's announcers were quite clear about the footsteps being CGI...
I want to play Free Market with a drowning Libertarian.
Gotta love idiots in Arkansaw (139.55.197.19) rewriting history.
link to BBC source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics2000/926190.stm
I haven't watched any of the TV coverage so far outside of a couple of minutes during the opening ceremony when they did that human-LED display on the floor of the stadium. I was long gone by the time there were any fireworks.
To me the olympic spirit has been usurped over the last 40 years to the point now where it's all about the money. This latest revelation says to me that I am on the right track with my "who gives a fuck?" attitude. They - NBC, Chinese communists, advertisers, the corrupt IOC - they certainly don't give a fuck about me. So fuck them all. I feel bad that the athletes work so hard for their own glory and, in the end, are just exploited like any other commodity. That doesn't change my opinion of the entire olympic farce.
Ok, thought experiment. Next time, just have all the solo athletes do their runs at home in front of special-issue cameras, then mesh them together digitally. It would resolve a lot of travel and security issues, not to mention mitigating wear and tear on the athletes. Martial arts and team events can be held at existing venues with a modicum of additional monitoring equipment and staff. Instead of building a central stadium, build a mock-up in an art studio somewhere and take pictures of it to build a computer model. Throw a few million at it, and the opening ceremonies could be more spectacular than anything Hollywood has ever put out -- at a fraction of the Olympics' current cost.
Or, here's a better idea:
Fuck. That. Shit.
I'm a grown-up, mostly rational human being. I can understand a simple statement that says, "Unfortunately, due to safety concerns, no aerial photography will be available of the fireworks; therefore, we will provide [real] video from the best available land feeds [including, perhaps, shots from the tower next door we paid tens of millions of dollars to set up in]." I can live with that. Indeed, I can accept a lot of things as necessary evils. Advertising. Not enjoyable, but it pays the bills, and then some. Network packaging -- stone-ignorant announcers, dorky graphics, poor camerawork -- includes things that I don't like, but they are usually just a result of staffing limitations. I, too, live and work in the real world; I get it.
ON THE OTHER HAND, this "cinematic animation" is not mere shrink-wrap. It cost extra money and effort to accomplish, and it was planned far in advance. It is pure spite towards the audience. This particular breed of condescension is among the most despicable aspects of the media. It's belittling, and an insult to both the viewer and the subject.
Well, forget it. So long, and thanks for all the fish, NBC; it's past time for me to brush up on my German anyway.
Oh yeah, and while you're at it, you can stuff your non-fullscreen, platform-dependent, resource-hog, DRM-security-theater toy media player, too. Ludicrous.
The fireworks that were computer generated were the footprint fireworks. Bob Costas clearly stated that these fireworks were computer generated. I can't believe people are complaining about this. Nothing better to do? Your stupid and self-important, thinking your uncovering a major thing. Get a life.
How about Atlanta?
So will they be selling fake fireworks for the next 4th July? They are all made in China...
Ok, the fireworks in the 'footprint' sequence themeselves looked suspiciously rendered, but what really made me question it as I watched it was that as they flew towards the stadium, the roads were busy - plenty of cars.
After 7 years waiting, I guess most Beijingers would have been at home watching on TV.
Other shots outside the stadium later showed the roads virtually deserted (and totally deserted in the immediate vicinity of the stadium, of course).
Jolyon
Please read my Canon EOS tech blog at http://www.everyothershot.com
The footprint firework is computer generated as announced in NBC broadcast as it is unsafe to film. Period. End of the story. What's the big deal about this? How did it even this news made to the Slashdot frontpage??
I can understand the op having missed any statement that was made while the fireworks were broadcast, since the op seemed to miss the text in the post. "...because of potential dangers in filming the display live from a helicopter, viewers at home were shown a pre-recorded.." So here we have rather clearly stated that the fireworks were set off for the live viewers, but did not think the fireworks of a helicopter falling out of the sky would have added to the event. The op then comments "..it's disheartening that such a large crowd can watch (in person, and around the world) such a display and have no reason to realize they've been duped.." Maybe I took the wrong pill this morning and am unaware of the matrix we live in, or missed a leak of Hogwarts technology. I would say it would be even more specatcular to have computer generated fireworks live over the stadium that people viewing believed were real.
i knew this i said it when it was 'live' nobody believed me. wankers
WWIII is starting over in Georgia. You know, with the Black and the Caspian Seas on either side. --You know; where the OTHER big oil treasure trove happens to be.
Oh, and there just happens to be the largest buildup of U.S. and European naval might ever in the area. Just in case anybody was interested.
But do go on and pay attention to the distracting lights. Even if some of them happen to be fake.
-FL
Oh get over yourselves. How about you get no televised fireworks at all, and fork out for a ticket to Beijing like the other people who went there themselves and actually saw the real fireworks.
And if this "reveal" pissed you off - Batman uses a stuntman, Crow is a puppet, not a real robot, and Jamie Hyneman is, in fact, computer generated. All fake.
In other news, a giant BSOD was spotted on the roof during the ceremony..
Repton.
They say that only an experienced wizard can do the tengu shuffle.
The Chinese invented fake fieworks.
The actual firewoks WERE going off at the same time, and in much the same way... but there was simply no way to be sure they could show it well on TV - since it was impossible to predict the weather or other cirumstances. So, they showed a CGI illustration for the people watching TV. The weren't hiding anything, they came right out and SAID what they were doing.
This is no excuse. They get obscene budgets and monopoly rights. This is like getting a cheap happy meal toy car instead of a real one when you go to the dealership.
They could have choppers waiting on the pad until the last minute, and/or develop new camera and/or firework launching rigs.
Yet another example of how copyrights dont really provide any incentive for high quality production.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
ha ha ha ha ha :~) ha ha ha ha
He shot it towards the cauldron, but it was set to be lit on its own via pyros.
From the link you provided:
Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo lit the Olympic Flame by firing a burning arrow towards the cauldron. The arrow passed high above the cauldron, which was emanating gas at that moment.
Either you're wrong, or the Wikipedia article is wrong (or both). Link to your REAL source please?
Homonyms are fun!
You're driving your car, but they're riding their bikes there.
Seriously, It would be worldwide talk about how they pushed the envelope and broke it if the remote controlled chopper-cam got shot down by the fireworks.
The cams are relatively inexpensive though (about 30-50k a piece), so they could have dozens.. and a moderate attrition rate complete with final feeds would only add to the spectacle.
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
I was actually pretty shocked to learn that the footstep part wasn't known to be CG. I figured it had been a video presentation that led into those real fireworks seen from inside the stadium. Other Olympics have had a marrying of video segments leading into real things in stadium and I assumed it was another one of those. I just didn't know it was believed to be real until I saw these articles popping up.
I mean, really, they were poorly mapped onto the vision (they moved around a bit in respect to the moving camera motion), they didn't have a 'real' look, they looked too 'smooth', and I figured it was just a given there was no way to marry the flight path and fireworks that well reliably.
But there you go... people will believe anything.
Just wait a week and someone will create a kml file that will let you watch them in google earth.
The UK olympic committe must have been wetting themselves. The UK show will look like a one-man band compared to this. Either that or we'll spend our GDP on it.
I shall summon the difference between revisions for the 1992 Summer Olympics article, which shows the text as it looked when I referenced it compared to the text as it was edited roughly an hour later.
The citation for the Wikipedia article is (was) from the BBC: "Ceremonial hall of shame."
Barcelona restored dignity four years later with an archer dramatically lighting the Olympic flame with a burning arrow flying through the night sky.
Billions of people around the globe gasped in admiration as the archer bravely found his target with unerring accuracy.
Or so it seemed.
In reality, he had not actually landed the arrow in the middle of the cauldron - he had fired it way outside the stadium as instructed.
Organisers dared not risk his aim failling short and landing into the grandstand and instead told him to fire it directly over the target area... some pyrotechnics-helpful camera angles would take care of the visual effect.
There you have it.
Kurt Vonnegut: "If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind."
why can't be computer generated?
so do u see films?
c'mon......enjoy the show......
not scientific times......
Excellent, ta. ;)
Homonyms are fun!
You're driving your car, but they're riding their bikes there.
Try this: http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2008/08/another-olympic-secret-who-was-actually-singing-as-the-national-flag-entered-the-stadium/ and now tell me how offtopic I was?
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
I have a friend living in Beijing right between Tian'anmeng and the Bird Nest. If you know Beijing, that is a big military compound in the "Yellow Temple" area. When the Foot Print fireworks went up, she stuck her head out and saw the foot print right over her building. And then the image is on TV. So the fireworks of foot prints did go up but could not get filmed on helicopters so CGI went on TV instead. Remember guys, this is a show, not a competition where no doping is allowed. So I am going to turn around and enjoy some gymnastics and Phelps.
[valid citation needed]
Your chosen citation states, "Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo lit the Olympic Flame by firing a burning arrow towards the cauldron. The arrow passed high above the cauldron, which was emanating gas at that moment."
There's nothing about pyros other than the flaming arrow being used to light the torch by passing through a gas plume.
I'm sure everyone's ranting on about this because they are afraid of China's power, but know there's no realistic prospect of engaging them militarily.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
OR MAYBE YOU HAVE NO CLUE HOW ACCURATE ARCHERS ARE
Try watching the archery event sometime for an illustration. Duh.
(Also, the lameness filter can suck my balls for making me add more to balance out the caps.)
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
This is too stupid to be on Slashdot.
Could it be that the slashdotted-ers are ganging up against us by posting these stoopid articles ?
Man, we're not in a movie, we're talking about the real world!
Do you really see no difference smelling a plastic flower and a real one?...
Why not to make computer simulations of the athletes' doing their performances then?...
This story just shows how China is accustomed to manipulation and how it doesn't hesitate to use it whatever the reason is, including unimportant fireworks...
Amazingly, it looks so usual to China, that it tried to fool the entire world in the same routine as it does it with its own citizens...
Here we're in Orwell's 1984, not less. And if we think it's not that important that it was fake, then we're servile sheep ready to swallow anything that comes from any "official" source, including in our own countries.
And really: I see no interest in admiring a fake firework when it's supposed to be the real thing. Same as for plastic flowers!
... this is not a show but a simulation of the show.
God, I hope my girlfriend doesn't simulate orgasms...
I'm in Beijing right now. I'm not sure that anyone on the supposed "footstep path" actually saw any footstep fireworks. Additionally, if you watch many of the shots of fireworks above the stadium, you can tell that there are fake fireworks mixed in with the real ones: the fake explosions have a much faster expansion speed than real fireworks. So even the non-footstep shots weren't as crazy in real life... I also doubt they launched fireworks from as many places across the main Olympic sites as they showed in the footage.
Am I the only one who payed attention to the announcer when they said that the footsteps shot was an animation? They said it in a round-about way so to make it hard to catch, but DVR is a wonderful thing, and I backed it up after thinking the footsteps flyby shot looked a little off. Don't get me wrong; I think it was a shady thing to do. I'm just wondering why nobody paid attention at the time, and why people are making such a big deal of it.
I'd think they'd want what really happened to be what was televised. Not some fabricated crap designed to pull in more advertising dollars.
Blar.
Are you seriously comparing people pissed off about human rights violations and dishonest news reporting practices that keep people ignorant of the actions of governments....are you really comparing that to repressed ritualists who are all pissed about seeing a tit or hearing a tasteless word?
Really?
Get over yourself, you right-wing nutter.
Blar.
I think this is sort of worse :(
I want to play Free Market with a drowning Libertarian.
I watched the ceremony as it was broadcast on NBC. I heard the talk about how cinematic the ceremony would be and took it to mean: "The theatrics are so magnificent, so sophisticated, and so finely rehearsed that they look like a movie performed live."
When they said the footsteps are actual animation that meant that there was an illusion of motion created not with film but with real, physical fireworks. That was cool, that was something I had never seen before, and that was awesome. The part that seemed incredible is that they shut down so much of the city for the vast fireworks and that they managed to get a helicopter or a sky wire to follow the series of fireworks so accurately.
I feel betrayed by the fakery. What's next? Enhanced cheers so that the audience seems more excited? Enhanced thuds to add impact to tackles and falls? Enhanced crowds to make public events look more popular?
What difference does it make if they where computergenerated.. nobody complained about cutting up the opening alltogether by NBC just so americans could see their team walk into the stadium just around the time when they got home from work.. pfff... there is so much computergenerated manipulation going on onscreen these days, especially during sportevents.. so who cares.. as long as it is entertaining...
During the initial broadcast, NBC announced that the flyover shot of the 'footsteps' fireworks walking back to the Bird's Nest stadium was actually pre-rendered CG (it looked nice, but was obvious). They didn't mention why at the time, but I think they just didn't want some ugly, mis-timed, shakey-cam footage mucking up their HD visual-orgasm. And I certainly wouldn't want to be in or below the helicopter that's chasing fireworks across the city.
/Best use of my HDTV to date. I hope they sell it on Blu-Ray.
If it's one of the stationary shots that was faked, that might be a story. CHINA is the last country on Earth that needs CGI to pull off a pyrotechnics display.
Well, NBC has done a pretty piss-poor job of covering the games so far as is.
I really don't care if they faked some fireworks, but honestly the majority of the American public thought the opening ceremonies were being broadcast live, unaltered. Sliding in a brief mention that it is 'cinematically enhanced' is a lot different than saying "We computer-generated some of the fireworks" which people know is 'faked'. So they were less than upfront and they knew it.
So far they have done a miserable job on actually covering events. I have seen multiple events where the scores were never posted, and the whole time the commentator is running off at the mouth about some feel-good story about the athlete's pet monkey or some crap. I'm shouting at the TV "Just tell me the damn score already".
The commentating so far is just horrible, these people seem to have no clue about the events they are covering.
I have no questions about his skill or accuracy. He's a champ. However, you might want to take your sarcasm detector to the repair shop and have it looked at.
Kurt Vonnegut: "If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind."
First you say
"I would ask, "Do they think we're that stupid", but alas, many folks are willing to ignore facts observed by their own eyes if a credible TV person states something different. :-("
Then you say
"Could've been people. Just stating what I thought I saw. Certainly eyewitness evidence is not to be relied upon."
"Again, where exactly is the line drawn? If the opening ceremonies can be fake, why not the competitions as well?"
Because one is a theatrical production and one is an athletic competition. The purpose of the theatrical production is to entertain, the purpose of the athletic competition is to win.
There is no comparison, so your question of "where is the line" is just more karma whoring. If you can't see the difference, you don't belong in the discussion.
"Who's metric is better for judging the issue, yours or mine?"
Irrelevant, THERE IS NO METRIC. ONE IS AN ATHLETIC COMPETITION (WHOSE GOAL HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH BEING WATCHED, AND WOULD OCCUR EXACTLY THE SAME WAY REGARDLESS OF AN AUDIENCE) AND ONE IS A PRODUCTION THAT EXISTS FOR THE PURPOSE OF BEING WATCHED.
"By your only guideline revealed thus far 'entertainment produced for effect' is fair game."
Nope, you're using a stupid straw man, knock it off or this will get ugly.
"Are not the games themselves entertainment as well?"
As a side effect, but that is not their primary goal. THEY WOULD OCCUR EXACTLY THE SAME WAY EVEN IF THEY WEREN'T BEING WATCHED.
"The entire 'games' event is an entertainment spectacle"
That has nothing to do with anything.
"What makes the ceremonial part of it more or less worthy of realism than any other part of it?"
AGAIN, because you appear to be incredibly dense, THE CEREMONIES ARE NOT AN ATHLETIC COMPETITION.
DO you fucking ge tit now? Or are you still too thick to get that there is an irrefutable difference?
And whoever modded you up is a fucking moron.
You might want to take your sarcasm generator to the shop. Stating "maybe he hit it" in a sarcastic manner would indicate that you don't believe he could.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
Or it might indicate that many people thought that he hit it when, in fact, he hadn't.
Kurt Vonnegut: "If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you're a one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind."
Very simple.
Trust no religion, no television, no radio, no books, no gov't, nothing.
Once you trust someone, you will probably be betrayed. Humans love to stab people in the back.
TRUST NO ONE!
Given that this was the video going out on the international stream, perhaps the issue here is that foreign media didn't bother informing their viewers. Can any non-American Slashdotters confirm that their own national broadcasts made this distinction? I clearly remember that the US broadcasters clearly pointed out that these were animated fireworks, even giving the name of the person who created the animation, and then remembering how fake they looked.
Perhaps the real issue here isn't the dishonesty of the American press but the dishonesty, ignorance, or laziness of non-American broadcasters. This story is after all presented in a UK newspaper.
and China's repression, propaganda, etc still compares well, no news here...
I was hesitating using another less evident reference, such as The Simulacra from Ph. K. Dick where the president himself is a simulation.
My point is:
China's problem is that they don't hesitate to try to fool everybody _including_for_futile_things_ such as the olympic games. This, in my pow, is extreme, and it gives an insight on how it should be for more serious things. "oh, it doesn't look like we want? Let's manipulate it and make it look real so that people will swallow it without noticing. Simple.".
I've no problems with computer simulations. When I watch a fictional movie, I'm amazed. But when TV reports a real life's event but fiddles the images and shows me a simulacra, then I'm fooled and I'm not happy because what I see is not what it's said to be.
I know it occurs everywhere that Information gets manipulated, but I'll never think it's acceptable.
More than ever, veracity of Information is a hot subject.
You said: "People who sat on their couch at home and watched _it_ for free".
Actually, this sentence is not true because people at home didn't watch _it_, they saw something else that resembled. There's a world of difference.
As I said in another post here: if my girlfriend simulates orgasm or not is definitely not the same thing to me!