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Originally Posted by LastStoat
At the end of the segment, several hundred Chinese folk reveal themselves from beneath the field of "type" blocks, inferring that they had been driving the entire mechanism by themselves manually.
Given the huge amount of synchronisation, and the precise acceleration and deceleration to maintain the surface contours (and given that each individual could not see the patterns) I figure it was computer driven until the folks appeared at the end.
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No disrespect to the gentleman known as Stoat, but I disagree. You could see as they moved up and down that they were human, not mechanical movements. Just like the drumming sequence and the Tai Chi army, they had their own personal movements down to the milisecond. The other sequences were just as impressive without the boxes. They didn't need to know their surroundings, they just knew "jump fast, crouch for 5 seconds, and stand, and slowly sink...." A perfect allegory for the Chinese nation. Together, they can do amazing (almost frightening!) things.
I was blown away by these ceremonies. There was something so earnest about it, something that other Olympic openings have attempted to emulate but didn't quite hit. This is real for these people. They are coming into their own.
And did you see all those fireworks??? Just the smileys alone were insane. The biggest LCD ever just about killed us.
ETA - yeah, the torch lighting was awesomeness.