By LEONARD GREENE
Posted: 3:52 am
August 12, 2008
Admirers of the Olympics' spectacular opening ceremony said it would be difficult to follow in the program's footsteps.
Now it turns out the footsteps were fake.
Organizers concluded last week's dramatic display with a series of giant footprints outlined in fireworks that marched above the city from Tiananmen Square to the Beijing National Stadium.
But according to a report in a Beijing newspaper, the 29 footsteps - one for each Olympiad - were a digital effect created in advance.
"Most of the audience thought it was filmed live - so that was mission accomplished," said Gao Xiaolong, head of the ceremony's visual-effects team.
Organizers, meanwhile, still claim the fireworks were real.
