Chinese faked Olympic opening ceremony
Chinese officials have admitted faking parts of the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics.
In fact they have gone one better than admitting it and are now even boasting about fooling people.
Millions of viewers worldwide watched in awe as a series of 29 firework appeared to be set off to show giant footprints in the sky running to the national stadium.
But bosses have now revealed the images which were shown as though live were in fact filmed over a period of 12 months.
"Most of the audience thought it was filmed live - so that was mission accomplished," Gao Xiaolong, head of the visual effects team for the ceremony boasted in the Beijing Times.
"Seeing how it worked out, it was still a bit too bright compared to the actual fireworks."
Broadcasters argue that using the shots in the live show was not deceptive because China had launched the fireworks in the past.
Only the last 'footprint' which appeared over the Bird's Nest stadium was real.
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LOL - the footprints are not fake. Check out for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbZrI8onelg
While firework footprints may have been launched during the Olympic opening the footage shown on TV and in the stadium (as though it were live) was a composite of 29 videos which had been recorded over a period of months.
They have stated the footage was pre-recorded because it wall too light at the time of the opening and for the safety of the helicopter pilot.
It still looked pretty cool though.