China fakes the Olympics

Spectators watching the fiery footprints trekking across Beijing's sky for the opening day of the Olympics Friday saw a digitally enhanced tapestry of images, according to several news agencies.

In fact, the images had been created up to a year in advance and were superimposed onto live footage of the event to embellish what might have been a less dramatic show if the city's hazy weather had put a damper on the ceremony, said MSNBC.com, which said that the Beijing Times first revealed the enhanced video.

The Daily Telegraph said Beijing Olympic Committee members had also reasoned that the pilot in any helicopter that would have followed the route of the fireworks display, which consisted of 29 footprints walking along the city to symbolize 29 Olympiads, might be at great risk.

The 55-second display took almost a year to create, visual effects team leader Gao Xiaolong told the Daily Telegraph. It consisted of fireworks and massive footprints appearing as if walking over the city. While the display did in fact take place, the organizers wanted to be sure the effect would not be plagued by weather issues that could have distorted the view.

It was not only seen by millions of television watchers, but attendees at the ceremony seeing the fireworks display on giant screens at the Olympics arena, Bird's Nest National Stadium, were also treated to the elaborate, if fake, display.

"Meticulous efforts were made to ensure the sequence was as unnoticeable as possible," the Daily Telegraph reported Xiaolong as saying. "They sought advice from the Beijing meteorological office as to how to re-create the hazy effects of Beijing's smog at night, and inserted a slight camera shake effect to simulate the idea that it was filmed from a helicopter."

Text from News Day.

Picture from Kotaku.