SeriousPotato

Crazy how less than 4.5 years it went from Budapest 2024 to Budapest 2036.

Seems to be a rendering of the ceremony concept...? Source : https://library.olympics.com/Default/doc/SYRACUSE/848704/fiers-de-prendre-le-relais-dossier-de-presentation-des-jeux-olympiques-de-paris-2024-comite-d-organi

Ah, didn't know about the Madareira rings either. I knew about Copacabana's, and that by itself was perfectly fine; but the execution is IMO too low-quality and easy to miss to be the primary rings. For a primary, it should be of a scale and prominence that you can clearly see from a hundred different locations in the city. People subconsciously notice. A good rings treatment helps fuel the feeling that the city has fully embraced the Olympics, rather than the Olympics just happening to be there. Man, how beautiful it was done in Sydney, London, and Tokyo. That is iconic. If Rio had no vistas, that's one thing; but it's one of the most dramatic cities in the world! A properly-treated Rings there could have imprinted itself in the world memory and been an "all-time" Olympic image. I have no doubt this was planned, and they had to cut corners in the final stretch to save on budget. But without a memorable hero image, the lasting photographic memory of the Games ended up (very unfairly) being the shots of decaying Maracanã and Aquatics Centre from late 2016, which are all over YouTube and international media. The Games were not a great success, but they also weren't the abject failure that these "abandoned" images suggest. Extremely unfortunate. I don't mean to point fingers or anything; just that I think--as a "lessons-learned" opportunity--the kind of hero image like below that eternally symbolizes the Games is a priceless thing for perception for a relatively low-cost investment of construction. To alleviate this in the future, perhaps there ought to be an official traveling rings that go from city to city so they don't have to be built new every time? Like the Madareira Park example on a bigger scale? Quick comp just for fun.

One thing I didn't give Tokyo 2020 credit for that I'm realizing now: While the Look of the Games was simple, the quality of construction & materials was of top standard. It doesn't matter how beautiful the graphic design work is, if the craftsmanship is low quality, it'll backfire and cripple the "Olympic" feeling. This was an unfortunate mistake of Rio 2016. I do believe that the reputation of those Games would be considerably higher had 3 things occurred: 1) That the signage was complete and put up on time, 2) That the signage was of the same quality standard as London and Tokyo, and 3) Had there been a large Tokyo-quality Olympic Rings in a central focal point of the city; like on a barge in Guanabara Bay. To me it indicates "Look of the Games" is one of the most important strategic investments in planning for the Olympics.

I don't think an open-air concept can't be done, but I've been both to Times Square on NYE and Macy's Thanksgiving Parade and they are not experiences I'd ever do again. The non-security challenges, IMO: -How do you keep the show's rhythm dynamic and exciting? -How do you use sleight-of-hand and element of surprise on such a huge scale? -How do you keep a consistent focal point throughout the whole show? If Paris does go open-air then perhaps it's the right time to go back to a daylight ceremony. Sunshine for the artistic segment, Sunset for the Parade of Nations, and Night for the cauldron lighting. Lights and technology aren't as useful at this scale. Make the ceremony all about sun, optimism, color, and the beauty of Paris on summer day. Unless it rains, that'd suck. Lol.

Yep, I want to see those animated too! Bring on that Bull-Dove "Picasso moment" in Barcelona you mentioned in your book. As an aside, I wish producers would showcase the creative process further, as many agencies do when they reveal new logo and branding work. For example: Back to the point, Tokyo 2020 is a rare case where I think there is enough public demand, an obvious-enough raison d'être, where a professionally-produced retrospective animation of the original ceremony plans could be a fruitful endeavor (depends on the tone and messaging in the presentation). That said, if Dentsu is the kind of the company, powerful and well-connected as people say they are.. no way I can see it actually happening lol.

D'oh, I misread your post as talking about the ceremonies concept being rejected, not the OR. My mistake! That makes sense.

Huh. I wonder what was so objectionable that caused the IOC to reject it, if it was basically what we got in 2008.

What a great thread! Thanks for sharing, Danny. I'm fairly new here, so the forum history is a bit unknown to me, but your post left an impression. My biggest regret is not making it to Rio for the Olympics. Never been to a Games in-person, but this was the one I really wanted to go and the timing in my life just didn't work. But I did finally make it to Rio in April 2019. I'll tell you this: I've been in many places across the world, but I've never missed a city like I miss Rio. The city is poetry at every turn. Will never forget the art, architecture... seeing the breathtaking scale of Pão de Açucar for the first time. Or Copacabana under full moon... the food, music, and hospitality. Wow. As you said, Rio has problems as every city does, but it also has amazing things that few places in the world have. As you say, problems shouldn't overtake one from finding the immense beauty and hope of a city, be it A Cidade Maravilhosa or any other. Can't wait to go back. Hope you stay and continue posting!

All right! Well first, congratulations to Tokyo and Japan for pulling off the Olympics! Well done. For me, the Games themselves were super fun to watch on TV, and these really felt like the most unpredictable Olympics I've ever watched. Ceremonies............yikes. The least successful that I can ever recall watching. Is there anything to say that hasn't already been said? Look of the Games....... Simple but sharp. Excellent color palette. Every time I'd get close to saying "boring", little moments really saved it: Like those "hero" placements of the gold "TOKYO 2020" over the background color. Or when you'd see a mix of the pictograms and the Tokyo 2020 + Rings. Just enough surprises to keep it interesting. I wish they had "Tokyo 2020" in Japanese as well as English. This little touch would stay cohesive and have given the Games more local flavor without reducing to stereotypes. Crowd....... I didn't actually mind the lack of crowds on TV as much as I thought. The energy from the coaches and sideline people was good enough for me. Atmosphere........ It really felt like these Games may as well have been "Houston 2020", "Frankfurt 2020", "Perth 2020"... i.e. I seldom got the local feeling of Japan from the heavy use of western music. The vanilla vibe was kind of off-putting to me. Sports............ All personal opinion of course, but I absolutely loved the additions of Skateboarding, Surfing, and Climbing. Hope they are permanent. Kept feeling like, "Why weren't these here already?" I'd have loved to have seen these in Rio and past Olympics. The lack of predictability and the lack of brand name stars actually made the events a little more interesting to me. I felt bad for the competitors having to compete in the heat.. there were moments you could just see on TV how miserably hot it was. To me, the sports saved the day. My lasting impression is that just how badly I wish we could reboot 2016 / 2020 without any surrounding crises. Rio and Tokyo are natural Olympic cities, yet the way the Games happened for both makes their return seemingly unlikely. Sad, and I hope not the case. IMO, both had "best-ever" potential under different circumstances.

Sadly I agree. I still see articles TODAY, in 2021, that falsely claim Maracanã is wrecked and "largely abandoned", with the "evidence" being carefully selected photos from 2016 during the ownership transition. It'd be one thing if it was just random blogs, but widely-read national sources will literally cite this article as evidence in their "Rio's facilities are abandoned." People eat it up and don't even question it. It's pretty messed up, and you can see the ugly narrative being pushed. Can't even imagine the uproar if the boat incident at the triathlon happened in Rio.

Finally watched it... I'm glad I read reactions prior, because I went in with -10 expectations. We got very excited at the beginning. The countdown provoked all the awe I was hoping to feel from Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The treadmill sequence was slightly confusing but we felt swept by the music. The beginning's focus on Japanese elements kept us hooked. While it felt a bit clunky and one beat too slow, I was ready and excited to reject the negative consensus. Unfortunately, the artistic segment seemed to abruptly end, then went to the longer-than-ever Parade, and sadly just never quite recovered. There were further little moments of delight and beauty, but the whole production felt uncomfortably disjointed and unfocused. It left me the feeling that some really smart people individually came up with these different scenes, but there was a dispassionate bureaucrat in charge who was unqualified or uninterested in tying everything together into a singular artistic vision. Further, the tone of the ceremony felt like a misfire. I understand wanting to respect the COVID crisis, but the ceremony shouldn't leave one feeling more sad after watching than beforehand. Don't get me started on Imagine. Enough words have already been said about that. Rio was austere to a fault, but it seemed vastly more focused, inspired, and that the team had something they genuinely felt was important and interesting to say to the world. For Tokyo, I don't agree with the COVID excuse, because both teams had to start over (one for budget cuts, two for COVID) multiple times and at approximately the same time-scale of mere months before showtime. My thought was to give Tokyo a 100% free pass, but the more I read about the behind-the-scenes; the more I see the "how" behind the misfire, the more sour I feel about the whole affair. Japan really deserved better. So I guess in conclusion, 2016 and 2020 are, in my view, the what-to-do and what-not-to-do of producing ceremonies under tight circumstances. I just wish we could hit the reset button and see Brazil and Japan present themselves to the world at their peak readiness. Afterward, my partner and I watched Athens 2004 again and that cheered us up.

Surprisingly, I just found it! Apart from the obvious seizure issue, I really dig the vibe of this video. Very expressive and unexpected for its time.

Dude, thanks so much for finding this! Had been looking for this promo video since it was released, nice to finally see it again. The music is great. Now, to find the seizure-inducing London 2012 logo promo and I'll be set!

I haven't seen it yet, won't judge until then. But if it's as negative as all that, I don't think this can be totally blamed on COVID. "However, on May 11, MIKIKO was informed by Dentsu’s CEO that she was being replaced by the now disgraced Sasaki Hiroshi. On March 18, he resigned by from his post after planning to include Naomi Watanabe in the Opening Ceremony as the “Olympig.” Given that Sasaki is gone, it was up to Hashimoto Seiko, president of the Tokyo Olympic organizing body, to decide what to do about the ceremonies. Given that there are only four months until the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, it was decided to go ahead with Sasaki’s plan for the ceremonies. “It is virtually impossible for MIKIKO’s team’s proposal to see the light of day. Many Olympic officials regret this because of how well loved her plan was,” said Tokyo Olympic organizing committee official. “Naomi Watanabe said on YouTube that the proposal gave her goosebumps due to how cool it was.”" https://aramajapan.com/news/plans-for-the-original-tokyo-2020-opening-ceremony-leak/112714/ It sounds (correct me if I'm wrong), that there was something of a coup-de-tat that happened behind the scenes after COVID forced a re-evaluation of plans. Given Sasaki's horrible comments, it does not give one a feeling of confidence that the decision-makers knew what they were doing. It feels very old fashioned "good-ol'-boy" culture reading the chain of events. I hope I'm wrong.