Economic Daily
Ao Rong
February 7, 2022
The opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics held on the evening of February 4th presented the world with joy and friendship through marvelous performances of ice-breaking, sprouting, and running. Enabled by advanced technology inside and outside the Beijing National Stadium, the ceremony has left an indelible impression on its audience with its unique charm.
Scenes Behind the Ice Olympic Rings
Thanks to tech innovation, the opening ceremony stood out to be simple, safe, and splendid. “The event was designed to be ethereal, romantic, modern, and technological,” said Zhang Yimou, the world-renowned Chinese filmmaker who directed the ceremony.
Digital performance and simulation technology were used throughout the ceremony. Although fewer performers were taking part this year than in 2008, the ethereal and romantic effect was achieved through the comprehensive use of AI, 5G, AR, glasses-free 3D, and cloud technology.
The audience was stunned when the Ice Olympic Rings emerged out of a three-dimensional cube resembling a block of ice. The effect was indeed a perfect marriage of art and technology. Behind the scenes, more than 200 scientific personnel worked unremittingly for 700 some days to simulate the 43-second effect. Li Jun, Chairman of Leyard Optoelectronic, introduced that when the ice cube was fully shown on the stage, laser beams “engraved” the surface of the cube to show the names of the host city of each previous Winter Games. Special visual effects were added for an ice-breaking effect when the Olympic Rings was gradually revealed.
Another cohort of scientific personnel has worked hard on how to lift and lower the ice-made Rings. 19 meters in length and 8.75 meters in height, the Rings seemed rather thin with 35 centimeters in width. As the Rings had to be lifted to 13 meters high within 43 seconds as steadily as possible, accuracy issues had to be taken into account. According to a team from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the countdown, testing, and safety assessment during the process were treated as if they were working for rocket launches.
A Story of Snowflakes
Used as placards during the Parade of Nations, as the shape of the cauldron, and as a part of the LED effect when the theme song Snowflakes was performed, snowflake patterns were highly visible throughout the ceremony.
Chang Yu, director-general of BOCOG's opening and closing ceremonies department, is in charge of the operation team of the Beijing National Stadium. “The snowflake-shaped cauldron is indeed technically sophisticated. What’s equally impressive is the technology applied in other scenes. For instance, when children were singing and dancing across the arena, the LED screens beneath them automatically tracked their footsteps and made snowflakes appear at their feet. To apply such technology to such a large-scale performance is really something. Few cases could be found, even across the world.”
Economic Daily learned that this brilliant performance was assisted by real-time motion capture and rendering techniques, the essential parts of which were AI-based image recognition and tracking as well as interaction-engine-based real-time rendering respectively. It is the first time that such technology has been applied to an arena covering more than 10,000 square meters with some 600 performers.
To quote director Zhang, the opening ceremony is infused with the value, philosophy, and culture of China. Since the beginning of its creation, this ceremony has been clearly aimed at displaying what the nation is and will be.
A Showcase for 8K Technology
Advanced technology is not exclusive to the opening ceremony at the Beijing National Stadium. In the capital city of Beijing, 220 large screens and TVs with 8K resolution are set up to broadcast the event. Thus, the citizens are free to follow the Games whether outdoors, in commercial areas, or even at community centers.
This is also the first time that the 8K technology has been applied to broadcast the opening ceremony and key events on a large scale. With 8K and the 5G technology, Beijing has presented an immersive visual feast.
On the evening of February 4th, the opening ceremony was broadcast live through 8K from the National Center for the Performing Arts. The signal source was provided by the first 8K UHD TV channel for end-users in China operated by BRTV. With China’s AVS3 codec, the 8K content was encoded and transmitted from BRTV to the center, and was further distributed via 8K laser projectors with 25,000 lumens and 8K audio demultiplexers.
“One of the highlights of the Beijing 2022 is technology, which echoes with Beijing’s ambition to be a digitally empowered mega-city”, said Wang Cheng from the National Center for the Performing Arts, “We are honored to broadcast the opening ceremony and to bring immersive and memorable experience to the audience through 8K.”
Economic Daily learned that Beijing has set up UHD large screens for the Winter Olympics with support from the Beijing Collaborative Center for UHD Production and other business enterprises. Going further, Beijing plans to commercialize the technology in order to support the growth of the UHD industry after the Games.
Rewritten by Xu Leiying and Chen Liang, Fudan University
