Computer Rendering

12 AUGUST 2008

An audience of more than three billion people watched in awe as giant footprints outlined in fireworks proceeded through the night sky from Tiananmen Square to the Bird’s Nest stadium - except they weren’t fireworks, the audience was watching a 3D computer graphics sequence that took almost a year to produce.

It even featured fake “camera shake” to mimic the effect of filming from a helicopter and added haziness to reproduce the polluted Beijing skyline. The scam was revealed by China’s Beijing Times.

Speaking to the paper, Gao Xiaolong who was responsible for the animation said he was pleased with the result.

“Seeing how it worked out, it was still a bit too bright compared to the actual fireworks. But most of the audience thought it was filmed live - so that was mission accomplished.”

The olympic organisers said that the footprint fireworks were there for real, but thought it unsafe to try to film them - so they recreated them instead.

The ceremony has also been strongly criticised by architect Ai Weiwei, who helped design the Bird’s Nest stadium alongside Swiss architect firm, Herzog and de Meuron.

Writing on his blog, Mr Ai described the ceremony as “a recycling of the rubbish of fake classical culture tradition; a sacrilegious visual garbage dump and an insult to the spirit of liberty; low class sound play that’s just noise pollution.”

Article by Caroline

3D Rendering by Computer-Rendering.com

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