Paul Collison, who was responsible for the control system and broadcast lighting, reported, "It always amazes me that the first time people really focus on the Closing Ceremony is two days after the opening. Beijing was no different. What made things very hard was we only had three nights with the stadium lights off. In total this amounts to only 18 hours of programming.
"Compare this to the six months of programming and thought that goes in to an opening and you start to see my point. For that reason most of the closing show was busked. It's not everyday you get a show with 2,000 plus fixtures that is busked.
"However essentially that's exactly what we had. Mr. Sha, lighting designer for the ceremony, was calling colours and levels and the operators worked hard to facilitate his requests. It was a true example of just how versatile, fast accessible and absolutely reliable the grandMA control system is. To go from something so meticulously planned as the Opening Ceremony to the free flow of ideas that was the closing was amazing to see."
(Jim Evans)
