Image source: Courtesy of Lanjing Technology
"Zhang Yimou knows too much about Chinese romance" "Absolutely amazing, I thought there was really a huge Chinese knot on the scene" "Isn't it magic?" "It was my imagination that lost"... The closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics was both exciting and unapologetic.
Following the rave reviews at the opening ceremony, the novelty and aesthetics of the closing ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics once again amazed the world. Lighting up flower lanterns, Chinese knots, and "folding willows to send love" presents the ethereal and romantic temperament of Chinese.
To present such a visual feast, as Zhang Yimou, director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the "Double Olympics", said: it is inseparable from the power of science and technology.
When it comes to technology, Li Dong, co-founder and CTO of Beijing Lanjing Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Lanjing Technology"), has a lot of say.
In the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games, the LED screen is the largest protagonist, carrying more than 60% of the performance ideas. If Zhang Yimou is the brain of creativity and the commander-in-chief; then Li Dong is the neural network that makes each command of the brain reach the terminal, and is the military master who commands the screen to "fight". In short, Li Dong is the one who sits behind the scenes and directs the LED screen broadcast control system.
On the eve of the closing ceremony, "military division" Li Dong was patrolling the indoor and outdoor broadcast control indoors and outdoors on the fourth floor of the Bird's Nest, and there was no "pre-war" nervousness, he told Time Finance: "The closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics is very important, but after the baptism of the opening ceremony, we are still very sure. ”
Picture note: Li Dong, co-founder and CTO of Lanjing Technology
The domestic broadcast control system debuted on the Olympic stage
The closing ceremony and opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics are in the same vein, there is no large-scale theatrical performance, no stars and no professional actors, athletes as the center, like a big party, still maintaining the effect of "few people but not empty, ethereal and romantic".
In order to achieve this romantic effect, dozens of innovative digital technology methods such as fuel kinetic energy, screen display, artificial intelligence, 5G, cloud computing, edge computing, VR/AR, and naked-eye 3D were applied in the opening and closing ceremonies.
For example, the giant Chinese knot that appeared in the closing ceremony shocked the audience. Netizens discussed, "I said how this Chinese knot is straightened, the family said it may be true, I said how it is gone... He said that it was a projection, and I felt that I couldn't keep up with the pace of the times." "On a question, can you see it on the spot?" "If holographic projection can do this, the United States will come to the equipment."
Gao Xinping, an employee of Lanjing Technology, was at the scene at the time, and he told Time Finance that the Chinese knot was generated by virtual technology, and the Chinese knot could not be seen at the scene, and could only be seen in the monitor. The Lanjing Technology team is responsible for the central entity snowflake effect switching, echoing the AR virtual China knot.
It is reported that the main technical support for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games is the China Aerospace Science and Technology Group.
According to Chang Yu, director of the opening and closing ceremony work department of the Beijing Winter Olympic Organizing Committee and director of the national stadium operation team, "They really used the way our country launched and operated the space station to run the stage installation of the entire opening ceremony." Their countdown tests, safety assessments, and even passwords on the spot are similar to launching rockets. ”
Lanjing Technology was selected by China Aerospace Science and Technology Group as the supplier of the whole field LED screen broadcast control system, and it is also responsible for such an important role as the "central system", and its pressure can also be imagined.
Li Dong introduced that the company's application at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics is the broadcast control system Hirener all-media total control system, which is a set of software systems, which docks hardware equipment such as projectors, LED screens, lights, lasers, and audio at one end, and the other end is the needs of the director, presenting the director's ideas and designed visual materials to the display medium, playing an important role in opening up and coordinating the two ends.
For example, in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games, all visual expressions are seamless docking and broadcast control by the software independently developed by Lanjing Technology, including five rings trigger lighting, snowflake table, ice cube, Chinese knot, etc. The timecode of the fireworks and laser performance is also synchronized according to the broadcast control timecode of Lanjing Technology.
It is worth mentioning that in the past, the broadcast control system at large-scale international events such as the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games was monopolized by European and American countries, and Lanjing Technology was also the first domestic broadcast control system to appear on the international stage of the Olympic Games.
Li Lin, founder and general manager of Lanjing Technology, told Time Finance that the company has a total of 6 colleagues in the scene to ensure the work, he is not on the scene, is in front of the TV to watch the opening and closing ceremonies: "Not afraid of your jokes, the opening ceremony, the TV will be stared through by me, quite nervous, afraid of a slight mistake." ”
In the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, a total area of 11,626 square meters of LED floor screens, a 60-meter-high ice waterfall, as well as ice cubes, Bird's Nest north and south stand screens were set up. In terms of ground screen alone, it is currently the largest in the world, with a ground screen resolution of 14880x7248DPI and a total resolution of more than 16K, which is an unprecedented application scale.
"The large display of more than 16K, the synchronous playback of more than 27 4K*50Hz video signals, and the capture of real-time interactive pictures of Intel 3DAT put forward extremely high requirements for the broadcast control system." Li Lin said.
He said that the technical risk and reliability requirements of LED screens are very high. In fact, projection is a more common choice, but because director Zhang Yimou requires the texture of "ice", the LED screen is undoubtedly the best container for this. "But there has never been a large-scale national-level activity, with such a large area of LED screen to do presentation, the general LED screen has technical failures, it will be black, and if our system fails, it may be that the entire large screen is all black, so our pressure is very large."
Faced with such a complex situation, the technical team of Lanjing Technology has developed a single server output of 4 channels 4K60Hz and 20 Hireder media servers with the same output scheme with past stage experience, and selected the main and standby combinations of 2 controls and 14 displays in the important ground screen part.
To be foolproof, we must strive for excellence and keep trying. As early as October 2021, the technical team of Lanjing Technology entered the bird's nest for rehearsal, pillowing Godan and being highly nervous. In the rehearsal process, the broadcast control team needs to respond to and meet the various improvisational creativity of the director team at any time, often encountering various unexpected technical difficulties and "small surprises" of system equipment, each time the team will strictly give each new change and fault repair solution in accordance with the "zeroing" standard of aerospace, completely eliminate the possibility of the same type of problem in the future, and truly improve the function and reliability of the whole system in accordance with the standards of the space launch rocket.
"Every time the rehearsal is held, everyone is particularly nervous, and then after the rehearsal is successfully completed, it will be in a particularly good mood, just like the mock exam before the college entrance examination." Li Dong, CTO of Lanjing Technology, told Time Finance, "In fact, when the opening and closing ceremonies really began, the mentality was calm, especially like the state on the eve of the college entrance examination that year, because the previous thorough examinations were handed in satisfactory answers. The whole team was in particularly good shape during the opening and closing ceremonies. ”
Picture note: Lanjing Technology Winter Olympics opening and closing ceremonies to support the 6-person team
Finalization is not finalized until 5 minutes before the closing ceremony begins
In Li Dong's eyes, the system is a child cultivated by himself, and it also has different states and emotions, and now, it is the time when this child is refined into steel and invincible.
It is understood that the broadcast control technology has developed relatively early in European and American countries, and the broadcast control system on large-scale international activities is basically monopolized by European and American countries. Lanjing Technology was established at the end of 2015, as a young enterprise, how did Lanjing Technology stand out?
Li Lin, CEO of Lanjing Technology, said that in recent years, China's large-screen technology has developed rapidly, and the display medium of video has gradually expanded from traditional televisions and computer monitors to more diversified media, including LED large screens and projection fusion systems. The playback content has changed from a single video content source to the integration of multiple content forms, and the form of broadcasting has changed from online broadcasting to offline interaction and experience. This gives the company a lot of room to grow.
In the past few years, large-scale domestic activities have basically had lanjing technology figures, of which the landmark project was the 70th anniversary of the national day in 2019, Lanjing technology controlled a 5400 square meter giant LED screen national flag rising in Tiananmen Square through the Hirener broadcast control system.
Also in 2019, the Lanjing Technology team participated in the projection broadcast part of the closing ceremony of the 7th World Military Games, including a total of 47 projectors on the ground and dome, eight floors on the ground, and three floors on the dome. Lanjing Technology withstood the test and achieved zero mistakes.
It is precisely because of the difficulties in large-scale activities that Lanjing Technology has opened up the situation. The participation in the Winter Olympics is also because Lanjing Technology and LED screen supplier - Leyard Group, participated in many national ceremonies such as the Wuhan Military Games and the 70th Anniversary of the National Day, and won the recognition of partners.
At the same time, Lanjing Technology was also recommended by Wang Zhiou, visual effects director of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games, and the general producer of the opening ceremony, China Aerospace Science and Technology Group, recognized Lanjing Technology through many field visits.
In the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games, Lanjing Technology also withstood the test. For example, in the finale program "Snowflake" in the opening ceremony, hundreds of children held glowing peace doves in their hands, walking on snowflakes in the field, which was cute and cute.
The show didn't start out like this, it was a rehearsal, the floor screen was dark, the technicians laid out the system, and the child happened to enter. When the children find that the snowflakes suddenly light up under their feet, they rise up and chase and play, showing a primitive joy. Zhang Yimou immediately seized this precious moment after seeing it and modified the program.
This is a test for Lanjing Technology. At that time, less than 20 days before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, the broadcast control team of Lanjing Technology received a notice from the director group that "Snowflake" will be used as the finale program of the entire opening ceremony, with small actors interpreting the scene of the free flight of the peace pigeon, while removing the original planned ground screen video, only retaining the actor's interactive snowflake element, which means that the broadcast control team will carry out a major upgrade of the broadcast control system that has been running stably for more than 3 months.
Time is tight and the task is heavy, and once there is a problem in the transformation process, it will not only affect the large row in the final stage, but also bring great technical risks to the opening ceremony. In the end, the technical team of Lanjing Technology boldly adopted the method of hot replacement, transformed and tested while rehearsing, fought for several days and nights continuously, successfully realized the seamless upgrade of the system, and cooperated with the director team to achieve a perfect program effect at the opening ceremony.
The pressure on the closing ceremony increased unabated. Gao Xinping told Time Finance that from the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony there is only half a month, the rehearsal task is very heavy, of which it takes a lot of time to remove the ice waterfall device of the opening ceremony, and the steel frame behind the device is the technology of the aerospace group, which is extremely strong. "The opening ceremony did not have a 24-hour continuous rotation, and it was experienced at the closing ceremony", Gao Xinping revealed that in the first 5 minutes of the closing ceremony, the director team was still coordinating with the International Olympic Organizing Committee to revise the subtitles, and the last five minutes, the last version was finalized, and the spirit was highly tense.
"As the broadcast control system for the opening and closing ceremonies of the four Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the company's Hirender all-media control system is the first time that the domestic broadcast control system has appeared on the stage of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, and we are very proud in our hearts." Li Dong shared that he participated in the service work of the Winter Olympics this time and was very proud to see the mainland athletes, clothing brands, mascots, etc. "These proud faces, whether it is athletes who have the courage to fight, or our self-developed domestic brands, do not mean that they can show their faces with a surprise attack, but are accumulated little by little behind them, constantly overcoming difficulties, and finally accumulating thick and thin."
The domestic market share is about 80%.
According to Li Lin, the company currently has a market share of about 80% in the domestic broadcast control software market, and its business has expanded overseas.
For the future development of the industry, Li Lin is very optimistic. It is reported that many industries can use lanjing technology technology. Such as the planning hall, enterprise exhibition hall and other digital media exhibitions, as well as some art centers, including light and shadow restaurants, light and shadow script killing, as well as some urban lighting, cultural tourism, and even some art installations, virtual shooting is actually lanjing technology has been involved in the field.
Li Lin believes that as long as there is a demand for the control and design of sound and optoelectronics, Lanjing Technology can carry out customized services.
"What I understand is that the domestic broadcast control system is a tool and an empowerment." Li Lin said that after the localization of the broadcast control system, it can be independently controlled. For example, one of the reasons why Hollywood's science fiction films can lead the world is that in Hollywood's industrial system, there are many tool companies for film and television production, and they can carry out deep customization cooperation with film directors, and even reverse research and development to help each other. If Chinese films use each other's technology, it is difficult to obtain customized services.
Li Lin imagined that in the future, his software can empower artists, support their creation, and let tools blossom in the hands of those who need them, especially in the frontier field of ideological art.
In fact, lanjing technology's high market share has made it bear fruit repeatedly. For example, in the newly built Chinese Communist Party History Exhibition Hall, The Hirener all-media total control system of Lanjing Technology participated in the construction of many of the exhibition items, of which the "Great American China • Green Water and Green Mountains" exhibition project consisted of an immersive scene composed of 3 side screens + 1 ground screen, and 2 Hireder all-media total control system controlled 4 LED displays by outputting 4 channels and 4K signals. Being in it, it is like being immersed in the scene, feeling the magnificence of the mountains and rivers of the motherland, the vast land and the vastness of the earth, and the weather.
In the commercial project, in 2021, Langjiu Estate launched the "China Lang Valley Light and Shadow Show" in 3 years of preparation, which includes 480,000 square meters of large-scale mountain lighting, 37,000 square meters of Langjiu Manor light and shadow experience, and 2,500 square meters of Jinzhu fort building image coverage. The project uses a number of high-end brands hecoos global production media server and Hirender media server under Lanjing Technology, and 36 projectors controlled by hecoos global production server present the projection of special-shaped tanks and background walls.
However, in most projects, the participation of the broadcast control system is only part of the project, and the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics have used modern technology to the extreme, making the LED screen the protagonist, and also putting the broadcast control system in a pivotal position.
Li Dong said that when he cooperated with CCTV in the broadcasting of winter Olympic programs, the other party exclaimed that he did not know that the original domestic broadcast control system had developed so advanced today. It is hoped that more industries will see domestic broadcast control systems in the future. (Beijing Time Finance Chen Shiai)