Olympic opening faked

Apparently part of the opening ceremony fireworks spectacular were faked. When I saw it on TV, I was amazed at how they did that. Well, what I did not realize was that I was watching computer graphics, created over a period of months and inserted into the coverage electronically at exactly the right moment.

Apparently the fireworks were there for real outside the stadium. But those responsible for filming the ceremony decided in advance it would be impossible to capture all 28 footprints from the air. The main problem with trying to shoot the real thing was the difficulty of placing the television helicopter at the right angle to see all 28 footsteps in a row.

It took almost a year to create the 55-second sequence. They even went as far to duplicate what the sky would be like that night with the smog. They even inserted a slight camera shake effect to simulate the idea that it was filmed from a helicopter.