http://zennie2005.blogspot.com -- Last Friday's Olympics Opening Ceremony in Beijing Olympics Stadium was without a doubt the greatest event of its kind in the history of the Olympic Games. It was China's "coming out" party, and the organizers $300 million was well-spent.
The results showed in China Olympian Li Ning's levitating speed-skater style "walk" around Olympic Stadium and his lighting of a giant torch, which in turn caused what had to be the largest fireworks display in the history of the Olympic Games, if not the World.
A spectacle that looked tremendous, and even animated, and that's because it was.
The organizers of the event admitted that computer graphics were used to "replace" the actual fireworks images because the fear was that the "haze" -- read: smog -- was so bad that a great camera shot of the pyrotechnics would have not been possible.
Still, it was controversial because it took away from the overall historic effort and also took the wind out of the sails of the China Olympics, and sadly.
I write that because regardless of that country's problems, we're all fans of the Olympics and want to see it go well. Period.
But what was done reminded me of the movie "Wag The Dog". That flick, which starred Robert De Nero and Dustin Hoffman, was about a war that was staged on a television set and never happened at all.
With China's actions, we're a massive step closer to that possible occurence. China not only faked the fireworks, but the singer employed in the Opening Ceremony.
Seven-year-old Yang Peiyi, "who was deemed not attractive enough to go on stage" according to the article, was replaced by nine-year-old Lin Miaoke. One thing's for sure, that will scar Yang Peiyi for life, the fact that her own China told her she was not attractive enough to be seen singing on the biggest stage in the World, even though they love her voice!
Toward Laws Preventing This In The Future
I think we need to craft a series of International Laws to prevent or at least discourage (which is the best we can do) the occurence of the use of digital technology in this way. It's far too dangerous a possibility to ignore, especially in the wake of the fake fireworks scandal.
fake fireworks? whats all of these? its like you are accusing someone of a bad crime, has there been rules prohibiting using of real and animated fireworks for an opening ceremony?, they want their ceremony to look good so they use some animated fireworks. Lin Ning levitate and you know what it was also fake so why not make a sensationalism out of it like "Fake Lin Ning Levitation in CHina Olympic Ceremony", fire works are only there to make good and exciting olympics, real or animated for whatever reasons if it reaches the same goal to make the ceremony awesome i cant see why not
ReplyDeleteIt's not just the fire works though. Underage gymnast, telling a girl she is good enough to sing but not cute enough to perform. Not to mention the string of communist lies in reguards to human rights and Tibet. So all together the Olympic Committee is to blame, for allowing the games to take place in a place where the government finances are more important the the life and welfare of fellow humans.
ReplyDeleteFirst, you have your facts completely wrong here. The only fireworks that were faked were the 29 or so footsteps that led up to the stadium before the ceremony started, which were computer animated because real fireworks were deemed too dangerous for helicopters to film, or some sort or another. NBC knew about this but decided to cover it up anyway.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, DURING the ceremony, the fireworks around the Bird Nest were perfectly real, as can be proved by the accounts of several atheletes and other attendees of the event who personally saw them explode in the sky. I forget exactly who, but one American athelete even ethused about there being at least six different displays during the ceremony. So the footage you claimed were fake were actually - real. Come on, do you think people in the stadium wouldn't have noticed if they went online and suddenly saw fireworks where there weren't any before? Didn't think so.
Secondly, I think that everyone is taking this too seriously. This is called "special effects," guys. Even here, in Perfect United States of We Can't Do Wrong America, there are lip-synchers and *gasp* animation. Loosen up.
Thirdly, how does using some special effects suddenly classify an entire country, an entire people, an entire culture as evil communists who don't care squat about human rights? I'm not saying China and its government is perfect - far from it - but where are you guys basing your opinions off of? Ever tried to view the situation (fireworks, Tibet, or otherwise) from an unbiased, carefully researched, media-un-influenced, fair perspective? Didn't think so. Why don't we just all classify the Chinese as evil suppressors and move on, okay? No, it's not okay. If you know any history, recent or otherwise, that's not solely about the West, you'd know that China has been improving greatly. There's still room for more, but we here in the USA could also do with some.
Let's try to be fair and stop stereotyping. Please, thank you.
Dear Zennie,
ReplyDeletePLEASE do some research before you write this article.
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 footprint firewoks WERE going off at the same time, and in much the same way... tourists and people in Beijing saw the footprint fireworks fired above sky.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbZrI8onelg
but there was simply no way to be sure they could show it well on TV - since it was hard to capture all those 29 footprint fireworks on a helicopter, and it was hard to predict the weather or other cirumstances, and following those footprint fireworks could endanger the safety of the helicopter pilot. So, they showed a 55-second CGI illustration for the people watching TV. They weren't hiding anything, they came right out and SAID what they were doing. The whole thing was REAL, there were indeed 29 footprint fireworks fired in the city above the sky at the beginning of the opening ceremony, only what you saw on TV was simulated.
Besides, China informed the commentators from around the globe beforehand that the footprint fireworks on TV is just a rendition, many countries' commentators during the live broadcast did comment to family audience that the footprint firework on TV is just a CGI rendition to convey what's happening in Beijing. Since China came upfront with this, why the western media still condemned China afterwards, it seems the western media have to exploit every opportunity to besmirch China, and even misguided and misled the western public into believing the footprint fireworks were fake, into believing Beijing not firing those footprint fireworks, into believing Beijing was deceiving, by intentionally leaving out part of the facts in their news report.
In fact, it is the western media, that are deceiving, misguiding and intentionally distorting fact to delude the western public.
As for the lip-synched girl, this is not the first time it happend in the Olympics and you are all silly to believe this. Salt Lake City Winter Olympics is a prime example. As the furry white creatures sang during the opening ceremony, it was actually pre recorded by SLC's, Cathedral of the Madeleine's choir school.
And others like pre-recorded Lang Lang music, presenting China's 56 ethnic groups without those ethnic groups. These are no big deal.
Politics aside, Beijing's opening ceremony is the most stunning and imposing show on the planet. Can London 2012 beat it or as good as it? Sorry, I don't think so.
Please take a look at the following videos shot by japanese tourists:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbZrI8onelg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D2_C2ie4t0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w-e8BS4LVQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5QTodt8f6E
Besides, there is huge difference between the movie 'Wag the Dog' and the Beijing Olympics, the war footage in 'Wag the Dog' was simply edited, while no one present to bear witness. Beijing opening ceremony was totally different, over 90,000 attendees inside the Bird Nest Stadium witnessed the fireworks going off, tourists and people in Beijing outside of the Bird Nest Stadium also witnessed the fireworks exploding in the same way as those on TV, some of the fireworks were even recorded by tourists, and uploaded to YouTube to share with the others.
I'm sorry to disagree with you, but the whole thing (all the fireworks) were REAL, even those 55-second simulated footprint fireworks on TV were actually going off at the same time in Beijing.
The following is a hand-held home video of the Beijing opening ceremony fireworks:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mla4KvkEzU