So how much ELSE of the Olympics is being faked for TV?

Story updated with another sordid tale of Olympic fakery ...

The amazing sequence you see below appears to have been perfectly tracked by a helicopter-cam. If you didn't know these were fireworks "footprints" being shot off through Beijing, you might think you were seeing an opening shot from the hit TV show "CSI."

But it turns out, that comparison is unfair ... to "CSI."

As was revealed this weekend in a Beijing newspaper, and then reported in the UK's Telegraph newspaper, those footprints were faked. An Olympic official defended the visual trickery, citing safety concerns of all things — this is the country that still puts up with appalling sweatshop conditions even as it assembles seemingly 90 percent of the Western world's merchandise.

I must hand it to NBC, however, for figuring out a way to be truthy about the sham fireworks without really calling attention to their shamminess. You heard Matt Lauer refer to it as "a cinematic device employed by Zhang Yimou," the action-film director who oversaw the opening ceremony (and who denied reports of a $300 million budget for the ceremony).

Lauer then referred to the sequence as "almost animation." Well, no, Matt ... it was more like ACTUAL animation. As in, someone in an effects lab painstaking duplicated the actual fireworks going off — allegedly — across Beijing as if we were watching it from the sides and above, all set in perfect, too perfect motion. Just like they do in the action films.

UPDATE 8-12-08: The New York Times is reporting that the voice of the 9-year-old pixie who floated across the stadium on a wire during the opening ceremony was also faked. Taking a page out of the "My Fair Lady" movie adaptation, Communist officials decided that the girl's voice was "not suitable" for the public and had it dubbed with the voice of another girl. I'm not sure about this but I believe her first name was Marni.

Sometimes I think TV producers overdo when they should underdo. It is possible to create visually stunning images using old tech. Here's an example of what I mean: Take a look at this wonderful piece from Al Jazeera English (remember them?) about a Chinese man who's taken thousands of pictures of the national stadium in Beijing, aka the Bird's Nest, during and after its construction:

NBC's Brian Williams is one of the TV news types who has rediscovered the beauty and impact of still photographs, and he uses them often on the "Nightly News." A camera, an infinitely interesting object, and abundant natural light. You don't need to fake anything when you've got those three things. Sadly, if there's one thing in this world that's universal, it's the values of Hollywood.

Also, I don't get why, with all the money NBC throws at this production, it can't figure out a way to fly in their soccer announcers to call the matches. Instead, JP Dellacamera and the rest were ensconced in the studio in New York, just as Jim McKay was way back in 1960, and talking over the video.

Then again, isn't that exactly what Bob Costas and Matt Lauer were doing, talking over video? How else could this moment have occurred:

The invasion of Georgia was broken by the AP mid-Friday afternoon in the U.S. With the 13-hour time difference between Kansas and China, that would mean the reports were received in Beijing around 4 a.m. Saturday — hours after the ceremony was over.

So how did Lauer get a mention in? As with everything that emanated from NBC on Friday night, it was all done with voiceovers after the fact. Think "DVD commentary track" and you're not too far off — two guys in a room commenting on pre-edited video ... and cutting to commercial right on cue. Indeed, the opening ceremony that took place in 50 minutes of real time was magically elongated to 1 hours 17 minutes on NBC. (Of course, no such luxury was afforded the Parade of Nations, which was speeded up.)

You'll notice that Costas spent almost as much time discussing doping issues with the Russian team as Lauer did discussing a military battle with "significant casualties." I think the doping talk could have waited. I think NBC could have cut away for a brief update from Brian Williams or Tom Brokaw. This was an OK cover, but given the gap between the parade and the actual broadcast, NBC could have and should have done more.

Back to my original point: NBC did disclose that its soccer announcers weren't in NYC, though it didn't exactly underscore the announcement, which had all the impact of legal copy being read during a commercial for an erectile dysfunction product.

The good news is that at least one moment in the Beijing Olympics so far has not been faked. Team USA men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski could not, would not disguise the fact that he is a total jerk. As my colleague Joe Posnanski pointed out, there were many ways Coach K could have chosen to answer the question: Why did your players dunk so much against the Chinese team? Krzyzewski chose the least diplomatic and, coincidentally, least truthful answer to the reporter — as Joe writes,

He then glared at the person who asked the question, a reporter with an accent. And he said: "Maybe it’s a difference in our languages. Maybe in your language playing hard means showing off." And the show was over. Krzyzewski had won, of course. He had managed to belittle and crush someone who dared ask a question in what was obviously his second language. And for what? Did he really think that Dwyane Wade did a 180-dunk on a breakaway because he was worried that Yao Ming would materialize in front of him and block it? ...No. He didn’t like the question, so he rejected it. That’s his right. The thing is, he is supposed to be leading a different kind of American basketball team. That, supposedly, was the whole point behind the 2008 Olympic team.

The lesson of the men's team wasn't lost on the ladies' team, at least.

The fact that Coach K is an asshat isn't, I suppose, news. But his inappropriate answer, for which I'm sure he will apologize if he hasn't already, did make for a strikingly unvarnished moment at an Olympics that is already setting new standards for airbrushing reality.

Comments

[Mark Jeffries]

Obviously, NBC has decided that since its most experienced soccer commentator, Andres Cantor of Telemundo, has spent most of his career calling matches from LA or Miami studios (with TEL and Univision before that) and has become an icon thanks to his "GOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLL!" call, then it's OK. I guess.

[bob smith]

Actually the news of the Russian-Georgian conflict broke on the BBC channel on my television late Thursday night (I am in Dallas TX so central time). Sounds like YOU first heard of it Friday morning, but the news of the 'war' was updated through the night Thursday and all Friday morning.

Don't be so quick to belittle NBC for non-existent voice overs if you don't have your facts straight.

[NOTE: Of course they were voiceovers. But your timeline may be correct, although as I tried to reassemble the timeline it appeared to me the BBC upgraded the story from "conflict" to "invasion" later.--AB]

[unknown]

I just watched the Sinatra film "Pal Joey" on Swiss Italian TV, and figured that couldn't be Kim Novak singing...

According to www.classicfilmguide.com Rita Hayworth is dubbed by Jo Ann Greer in "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" and Novak is dubbed by Trudy Erwin.

You're possibly thinking of My Fair Lady, where Audrey Hepburn is dubbed by Marni Nixon.

[I am! Thanks to M-D November who solved for me via Twitter.--AB]

I think there was a "controversy" in a(nother, i.e., pre-nipple gate) Super Bowl over whether or not Shania Twain was singing live - in fact, I seem to recall having read it on your website/forum...

[The Ticker sees all, knows all--AB]

[Joe Bua]

I knew the footprints thing was CGI, but the swap of the little girls is beyond the pale.

Years from now, one girl has a video record of the event, the other has the memory of not being cute enough.

Whoever decided that is evil.

[Weasel]

I am disturbed at the attitude people are displaying towards the lipsyncing by the 'cute' girl. In particular the above comment stuns me - both of those girls have video record of their contributions.

Only people overly concerned with 'cuteness' of little girls (for whatever reason) would figure that the 'cute' girl would have been happy with the situation. Her voice was not good enough/too 'ugly' to use and if her thing in life was singing then she has a video record of how she wasn't good enough.

And the 'ugly' girl with the beautiful voice will know she was good enough for the world to hear.

Both those girls could be equally happy or sad depending on their attitudes and values.

But personally I think the one who will feel worst about it in years is the girl who stood there and did nothing but look pretty.