CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, February 09, 2022

'World's largest 8K UHD LED display' opens Winter Olympics

www.avinteractive.com: The world’s largest 8K UHD LED floor display, with an overall area of 10,393 sq m, has played a key role at the Beijing Winter Olympics, illuminating the stage floor of the games’ opening ceremony. The LED stage was supplied by Leyard International which worked with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and director Zhang Yimou on the giant project.

6 comments:

Jeremy Pitzer said...

I literally cannot express how obsessed I am with LED displays in theatrical performances, they are so cool and they provide such endless possibilities that are otherwise very challenging when using older theatrical techniques. Of course there will always be room for those older techniques when designers choose to use them for the specific effect they give, but in many ways LED displays are defining the new age of theatrical scenic design. Of course, on the scale of the olympics, the displays are even more epic and I cannot imagine any theater in the world being able to afford something like we are seeing here, but thats how it always is in theater isn’t it? We take the technologies of other, neighboring industries and engineer them to serve our own purposes. I hope we lean into this kind of technology once the world finds a way to accomplish this sort of tech in a cheaper way.

Lilian Nara Kim said...


THIS OLYMPICS OPENING CEREMONY WAS SO SO GOOD. It is a dream of mine to work at the opening ceremonies one day (if the olympics still exist by then) because I think that it is really such a cool form of theater. This is something that the whole world is watching, and so you can’t just do something that has already been done or something super lame. So it makes sense the scale of the display China used to use in the opening ceremony here. It makes me sad that the olympics has become less hyped and special and corrupted in recent years. But I do hope that someday we can bring the magic and hype back to the Olympics or something special like that so we can keep having reasons to innovate and use cool technologies. Because to be honest, what other theater in the world would use this much money for a show like this, be willing to use this kind of expensive technology like this.

John Alexander Farrell said...

I read this article coming out of Billie Eilish's concert just yesterday and let me just say, I am obsessed with the beauty of Video Media Design. Light-emitting diode (LED) screens are without a doubt the next frontier when it comes to the entertainment industry. Reading about an 8K UHS LED floor display is, for a lack of better words, fascinating. Moreover, reading about the collaboration with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation thrills me as I believe the industry could benefit from more intradisciplinary approaches when it comes to design and execution. Thinking about the fact that we go to Carnegie Mellon University, for instance, (a school internationally known for its computer science program) I notice an evident lack of collaboration– maybe it's just cause we have busy schedules. I don’t know. And while we do have programs such as IDeATe (Integrative Design, Arts, and Technology) which seek to foment collaboration between art and technology, it definitely feels like we could be doing more.

Jessica Williams said...

The Beijing winter olympics are not something that is an easy topic in discussion. China obviously has quite a few human rights violations going on which make the fact that the Olympics are there a bit of a sore subject for a lot of people. All the same, from a purely design perspective, this is a really cool display especially because it is 8k instead of the 4k or HD that I am used to. I do always really respect the spectacle of the Olympics.The way that it makes it more than just a series of, admittedly incredible in their own right, sports and into a huge performance that serves as an extended tourism commercial which is all well and good. There is a reason that certain Olympics years are so important and representative of the world at the time. For instance the Germany Olympics in 1936 or 1972 for instance were extremely representative of where the world was at the time.

Sophia Coscia said...

First off, I’ve never read an article from this source, AV Magazine. I love it. I got lost in such a rabbit hole. I had to subscribe to the site. I am consistently blown away by the advancement of LED technologies. I have really only been into LED Wall systems for the last 3-4 years. However, I feel like we are constantly pushing the bar to what is possible in the entertainment industry. I mean come on an LED Waterfall and an LED ice cube. I have zero interest in the sports aspect of the Olympics, and honestly tend to watch a lot of things for the purpose of spotting LED technology (concerts, award shows, etc.). It didn’t even cross my mind that technology like this would be utilized to such an extent at the Olympics and I think this really shows you that our experiences here can take us anywhere. I am really excited to see what the field looks like and how it’s going to change by the time I am graduated!

Iris Chiu said...

I think it is quite fitting how the Olympics have often been an event where newer technologies are first showcased in a never before seen fashion; with the eyes of the entire globe on this legendary competition, it is the perfect time for various technical innovations to be on full display for the first time. The scale of the LED floor display used in this year’s Beijing Winter Olympics is insane; its size almost allows for the eyes to lose where the screen ends and begins. This adds a whole new level of depth to the performance, and allows designers of the show to be in complete control of the scene to a level that has very rarely been seen in the past. In my opinion, this ceremony was by far one of the most eye-catching shows I had ever seen. Watching the opening and closing ceremonies with my friends and family is always a highlight for me, and I am always able to appreciate even the smallest details in its design.