Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Olympic opening ceremony.

This is topic Olympic opening ceremony. in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 07-27-2012, 03:42 PM:

What do you think of it so far?

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 07-27-2012, 03:51 PM:

Yawn.

Not that it was any worse (or better) than any other Olympic opening, they are all boring.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 07-27-2012, 04:22 PM:

I don't think I've ever seen another one.

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 07-27-2012, 08:42 PM:

I kept shouting "XANADU" during the drum sequence. Rowan Atkinson was the best part.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 07-27-2012, 09:12 PM:

I hope the Blue Man Group got a royalty.

Here in the States, our American network talking heads did not stop talking. It probably was wonderful in other countries where they shut up. Louis

Posted by Gerard S. Cohen (Member # 994) on 07-27-2012, 11:44 PM:

As I viewed it on NBC CH 4 in NYC, it was a mashup of documentary film footage, "live" edited footage shot earlier because of time zone differences, and brief commentary. That confused and disappointed me at first, but was part of our multimedia, non-linear age where everything is happening simultaneasly. So despite a slow start and a social-studies- textbook depiction of agrarian and manufacturing eras in U.K. history, I sat back and enjoyed it.

The presentation included not only what was going on in the Olympic Stadium, but via airborn cameras, all of London,its environs, and beyond. But when the action entered the stadium, there were so many activities, light shows, fireworks, etc.,
that it was like a dozen three-ring circuses at once--excess or overkill.

I have been viewing lots of beautiful PBS programs on the royal family and E.R.II the last couple of months, and noted the queen's smiling demeanor at the start of the James Bond skit.
But after the pretense of her entering the stadium by parachuting from a helicopter, her face showed fierce anger and disapproval, unrelieved until the finale.

I wondered why, in the procession of athletes, each flagbearer was partnered with a longhaired young woman carrying a bronze bowl. Most carried as if shlepping a shissel to assist a midwife, but the bearer with the Brittish delegation bore hers ceremoniously with two uplifted white-gloved hands. Only at the lighting of the torch was it revealed that these bowls spread the flame in a circle igniting the conflagration of 200 torches--"e pluribus unim" style.

I wondered whether those in the stadium seats missed the many closeups afforded the TV audience, as I didn't notice any giant screens in the arena. I was amazed by the fireworks spectacular,and the use of stadium electronic visual displays.

I really wished I had a state-of-the art huge flatscreen TV,
as my 26 inch Sony seemed too small to encompass all that was to be enjoyed.

Posted by Paul Rousseas (Member # 7022) on 07-28-2012, 01:07 PM:

Everyone please check what an opening ceremony should be...

Athens 2004 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony (from Youtube)

Posted by Marco Giustini (Member # 4544) on 07-28-2012, 01:35 PM:

amazed by how many people don't know how to use a camera - using the flash from 500 yards! [Smile]

Found it cool, maybe a little too long, and the Queen looked like she woke up during her everning nap to quickly dress up and go to the ceremony!

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 07-28-2012, 01:51 PM:

Mr. Bean

Pretty funny. [thumbsup]

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 07-28-2012, 06:06 PM:

No longer available due to a copyright claim by the IOC. It's still on the BBC site, starting at 50 minutes, but I'm not sure if that's available from the US.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/2012/live-video/p00wm0br

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 07-29-2012, 07:41 AM:

The baby WAS creepy.......

Posted by Mark Hajducki (Member # 1732) on 07-29-2012, 08:46 AM:

I wonder what contingency plans they for wet weather.

Outdoor events in the UK have a fairly high level of risk associated with them. The South East of the country has gone from hose pipe bans to flood warnings in recent months.

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 07-29-2012, 03:05 PM:

ERII did look a little out of sorts about something, not the composed royal countenance we're so used to seeing. But after all, she did just jump out of a helicopter.

One of the countless memes that have flooded the webspace in the last few hours suggested that she may have been promised a ride in a TARDIS instead of a mere helicopter. Missing out on something like that would have been enough to put me in a bit of a dour mood.

I love big spectacular productions, and this one paid off big in all ways. Congratulations to Danny Boyle for pulling off this rather cinematic vision as a live (mostly) theatrical performance. Well done sir!