Beijing 2008 Olympics: Opening Ceremony (Available on DVD)--4/5

For thirty (or so) years, computer effects in movies have been striving for realism. The 2008 Summer Olympics Opening ceremony, directed by filmmaker Zhang Yimou, is an instance of real people successfully impersonating computer effects. People are the pixels, creating one small part of a tapestry of thousands. The ceremony uses this idea over and over, with increasing complexity. Each new iteration brings gasps, followed by "How did they do that?," followed by a speechless appreciation.

The moveable-type-blocks chapter may not be the most complex (or it may be; that's like asking which Shakespeare play is the best), but it is a good example of the ceremony's style. In a large rectangle, 897 of these blocks move up and down in a complicated series. They can be in more than just two positions--it looks like low, high, and mid, although there may be even more. In a sort-of analog computer screen, the blocks spell out Chinese characters, form the Great Wall, or just animate waves and geometric patterns. This is a task only a computer could control. Each block has its own motor controlled by a CPU, right? I would still believe that if 897 people didn't pop out at the end, waving cheerfully.

(This gets a 4 rather than a 5 only because of the lengthy Parade of Nations. It is part of the ceremony.)