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Opening Ceremony


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Oooh, so we have this news and the news of the architect of the cauldron on the same day. It all seems to be getting very real now!

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So excited by all this news. The Thames being used to carry the flame with all of those Iconic landmarks is a great decision. I am also wondering whether it will be Limehouse or Canning Town used as the junctions to carry the flame up to Olympic Park? Hmm...

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The Olympic cauldron designed by Heatherwrick, David Arnold to compose the music, and the floating stage on Thames...ok, now they're getting my attention more this time XD.

Also i didn't knew about the Take That circus thing, but after watching some vids on Youtube, i can tell the Closing Ceremony will be spectacular

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Who did the Handover segment in Beijing? Then, assigning this to this architect, the Closing Ceremonies to another team (people I never heard of)...doesn't strike me as good. It looks like it's being spread out all over the place. I mean Boyle and Daldry can't handle the whole thing? I feel cohesion slipping away.

Then the floating on the Thames barge idea has already been done better in Melbourne 2006 and at the Asian Games in Guangzhou last summer. And how fast can a barge go?

To me, it's NOT looking hopeful at all. I hope I am wrong.

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Since the closing ceremony has become more and more of an stale afterthought in recent years, I'm pretty indifferent to the fact that a separate team will produce the closing in London. Maybe that could even give new energy to the closing ceremonies? I always had the impression that the producers fired off all their fascinating ideas at the opening ceremony, and only had some "Well, OK, let's take some party music and some funny and/or cheesy performances, and there you go" ideas left for the closing ceremony.

The most important thing (since there's so much anticipation for the whole Games connected to it) is that the opening ceremony is staged well. And the barge idea sounds good to me, even if it's not a new one. But it was about time, especially in a city like London whose main river is very iconic, that this idea comes to fruition also at the Olympic Games. ;) This proves once more that the ceremonies of the other multi-sports events are sometimes the laboratories for new ceremonial ideas. But sometimes they are also the graveyard for old and sometimes overused Olympic ceremonial ideas...

So, all in all, these are good news for me.

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"The ceremonial cauldron will be lit in the stadium at 8.12pm." that's day light on a summer day in London, correct

I don't know if i like that idea. I mean lights effects at night is awesome..

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"The ceremonial cauldron will be lit in the stadium at 8.12pm." that's day light on a summer day in London, correct

I don't know if i like that idea. I mean lights effects at night is awesome..

Personally, I'd love to see a daytime ceremony again - haven't had one since Seoul!

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"The ceremonial cauldron will be lit in the stadium at 8.12pm." that's day light on a summer day in London, correct

I don't know if i like that idea. I mean lights effects at night is awesome..

Probably not going to happen...but that's what happens when you give the job to amateurs who think cutesy stuff like this will work. Not only is the timing off...but it being lit off-site denatures the whole moment even more. ANd you'd think, oh, it's the 3rd time, maybe they'll get it right this time?? :rolleyes:

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How do we know that this Cauldron lighting thing is a reliable source? I remember reading an article stating the Ceremony will start at 20:12 (Similar to what Beijing did at 20:08 because of the whole prosperity and luck thing). I'm sure Boyle believes that it's a better idea to light the Cauldron in the dark where it's most visible and firework friendly :)

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How do we know that this Cauldron lighting thing is a reliable source? I remember reading an article stating the Ceremony will start at 20:12 (Similar to what Beijing did at 20:08 because of the whole prosperity and luck thing).

That's what I thought as well TrisL93. The source for the 8:12 lighting is the Evening Standard (see post #152)

If the ES are correct the lighting won't be in daylight though, it'll be at dusk just as the sun is setting. I'm not against that, it'll give a different feeling, the Olympic park will still be in full view rather than in complete darkness. It sort of fits in with this article from today:

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/olympics-london-2012-to-have-strawberries-and-cream-factor-2220549.html

We'll see...

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I thought it was the Brits that were supposed to be the traditionalists?

So far London has thought outside the box and decided to shake things up a little and it seems that everyone is complaining. Sometimes a change can be good. I love the way London has thrown the traditional logo out of the window and I would applaud a sunset lighting.

Opening ceremonies have been done to death and there is not much left that could be thought of as original. The Thames idea has already been criticised as having been done my Melbourne. I think they should ignore everyone else and just go with their ideas. They seem to be much more original than most other years. Personally I am bored rigid with the dull structure that Olympic ceremonies are forced to follow. Would be grateful for a shake up.

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I agree with you Lee. London has certainly changed things and asked questions rather than doing the predictable, but that is a very London thing.

People are comparing the Thames thing to Melbourne and I think they need to see what London actually come up with, if its based on these floating stages from Austria its gonna look very different to Melbourne. Also Seoul used a boat and the river in their ceremony so its nothing new, just a reinvention of an idea.

Personally I would have felt cheated if they didnt use the river in someway. Im hoping there will be a flaotilla of boats behind the barge/stage too, sailing all the way up the Thames, carrying people celebrating and partying as they go

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People are comparing the Thames thing to Melbourne and I think they need to see what London actually come up with, if its based on these floating stages from Austria its gonna look very different to Melbourne. Also Seoul used a boat and the river in their ceremony so its nothing new, just a reinvention of an idea.

Like a lot of early press too from old Cathay, quite a bit in fact, most of what we're hearing now was/will not be carried out in the end. I think these are all trial balloons. When all was said and done in Beijing, they resorted to the tried and true strictures of staging a Ceremony -- at night, as a big, knock-out show, etc..

Now the Seoul thing though did not carry the torch (which is why I did NOT bring it up). I think it was those giant drums and knotted ropes that were brought in from the Han. Can't be bothered to look it up; never did like the Seoul ceremonies. And if LOCOG has spent so much on the lighing at the stadium, it would be a pity to ignore all that and go back to daylight "just to shake things up a bit." It's primarily a show and so you would use all resources at your disposal, etc.

And I don't think they can make those 'barges' too big because the water channels approaching the stadium are not that huge either, are they? So the barges would have to fit the current widths of those canals there.

Unless I am mistaken, those floating stage-barges in Austria are meant to be stationary and are great for reflecting a stationary performance AT NIGHT -- not the daylight use these amateurs are projecting. They are, or were, not used as running stations of any type. See here a set from the Bregenz Festival:

http://www.life.com/image/89093466 at night.

How can they float something like that along the Thames then into the Stratford inlets? :blink: And with those various bridges overhead? It's not like it's sailing on the open seas. The whole thing is just not going to have the dynamism of someone "running" the flame. I mean, Athens' Klepsydra again? It's like having someone on a stretcher just holding the flame, and attendants pushing the gurney. How exciting is that? :blink:

Why not just put Steve Redgrave in a pick-up truck (or atop a double-decker) like they did with Gretzky in Vancouver and it does the job? Or is it Huckleberry Finn and slave Jim on a raft down the Mississippi? :blink:

I bet they will junk the whole idea as time gets closer...or it gets scaled down to something unimpressive. It's a very stodgy, inanimate concept.

I also don't think the IOC would be too thrilled with plans to turn back the clock "just to be non-traditional again." I am sure the networks will also have a thing or two to say. And I certainly wouldn't pay top dollar or BP or euro for another daytime show.

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Plans have emerged to move the UK time zone to the European time zone, meaning the evenings will be lighter (and mornings darker). It is claimed that the move will boost tourism (Particularly in London 2012). Looks like the chances of seeing a sunset Cauldron lighting are getting slimmer :unsure:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/38/20110221/tuk-plans-to-move-uk-to-european-time-zo-107bc4a.html

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D'uh, I forgot the exact schedule was released last week. Here's us debating the times when we already know what's happening!

7:30–10:30pm for the opening ceremony, according to the schedule released last week:

http://media.ticketmaster.com/en-gb/img/sys/tournament/london2012/oly-ceremonies.pdf

Just done a quick Google and the sun sets at almost exactly 9:00pm in London at the end of July.

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Of couse, if they totally covered the stadium, then a "nighttime" effect could be achieved inside earlier. ;)

With the parade of nations (your favourite moment of each opening ceremony ;)), they will certainly have a delay and not finish the opening ceremony before 23:00 local time. And the rumours that the cauldron shall be lit at 20:12 are complete bollocks in my opinion. The lighting of the cauldron has always taken place towards the end of the opening ceremonies, since it's a (if not THE) climatic moment of the ceremony. And a Olympic cauldron being lit in darkness, against a black sky, is always more impressive than a lighting in daylight or at dusk, when the flame has to fight against the equally red and glaring setting sun. To light the cauldron when the ceremony is only 42 minutes old and has thus not really gotten the whole audience "in the right mood" would be crazy and highly anti-climatic.

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