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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 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!
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.
And, as I recall, the announcers talked about "computer generated" during that sequence. They were talking about the guy who orchestrated the whole opening ceremony, and his use of computers for this sequence. Admittedly, they did not clearly state "this is not really happening". Would have to go back and re-listen to that on the DVR to get exactly what was said.
The blocks (allegedly symbolic of wind, water, etc.) looked real (I mean physically existing), but controlled by hydraulics. The "unveiling" of the fact that they were supposedly operated by people inside them, and the info-bit from the announcers that it wasn't hydraulics or motors, etc., seems obviously false.
At a few points, I though I could see the hydraulic pistons moving up and down. Especially near the end when the blocks were raised very high and you could see underneath them.
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. :-(
The NBC announcer said something about " virtual flythrough" or somesuch as it was shown, which made my wife and I discuss why they were showing us simulated film. Those steps looked obviously faked up until the few near the stadium.
I'd get the exact wording, but we've already deleted it from the DVR.
I don't know why this is news. It was said on air and obvious at the time.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
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. :-/
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
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 #!
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.
What you saw wasn't hydraulics, but a scissor mechanism that was used to keep the "boxes" square and on a vertical axis. Otherwise, because they were human powered, the up and down action could have caused them to bang into each other.
Capish?
The NBC commentator specifically said, as the footage was being shown, that the event's producers were using a cinematic interlude to convey the concept of the fireworks. 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 . . .
the notional ground speed of the POV of that FX shot was faster than anything short of military jets.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
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.
What about sporting events? If you watch NFL, a lot of what you see is faked. From the artificial lines, to the CGI projections of the field. Even the advertisements along the sides are not real - the banners are resold to local broadcasters so that people watching will get local (or regional) advertisements. This is easy to see when you watch the same NFL game on Canadian and American channels - two completely different advertisements. Even the blimp is digitally altered.
None of that gets a disclaimer.
Tesla was a genius. Edison however was a overrated hack who liked to torture puppies.
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.
Again, where exactly is the line drawn? If the opening ceremonies can be fake, why not the competitions as well?
Who's metric is better for judging the issue, yours or mine? Or that guy over there, perhaps? His brother maybe?
By your only guideline revealed thus far 'entertainment produced for effect' is fair game. Are not the games themselves entertainment as well? If not, why have audiences at all? Why award the medals on podiums, why not just by mail?
The entire 'games' event is an entertainment spectacle, and has been since the very first time they were held. What makes the ceremonial part of it more or less worthy of realism than any other part of it?
There were 29 real 'big foot' fireworks firing at 2 seconds interval. The first firework began at the Wing Ding gate, spanning a distance of around 13500 meters. So for a helicopter to cover the filming of firework, it has to fly some where around 225 meters per second. A tough job for the helicopter pilot.
I think, if the smog and cloud wasn't much a problem that night, there might be some crazy Chinese guy filming the process high above.
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
My bad. I just went back and watched that part in the DVR recording.
Yes, they did say something about it being "a cinematic device" and how they'd talked about the Olympics being "real-time cinema" and that this was "really cinema", "almost animation." But, in my opinion, one could be forgiven for thinking that "a cinematic device" meant some special camera mounted under a helicopter and all the other comments were just waxing poetic on the quality of the scene.
They could've just come out and said, "This is a computer-generated simulation that took a year to develop." They didn't.
Add to that that a lot of us try to tune out the dorks talking and it'd be easy to not realize that it was faked.