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Opening Ceremony


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As they are still recruiting performers for the opening ceremony (which I assume they havent start rehearsing yet), is it normal to still not yet rehearse with just 5 months to go?

Just that I always imagine for an event of such scale, it would need months of rehearsal (at least 7-8 months ahead)? Wouldnt want to think what Boyle has planned involves such simple movement that it doesnt need much rehearsing for the performers...

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Vancouver had rehearsals for about 2-3 months. They do it by segments and then piece it all together in the last week or so before. The amateurs aren't asked to do much more than a few simple dance moves. The pros will probably do a few more complex things, but they are pros and have the training and money for it. The whole thing doesn't need 6+ months of rehearsals. The UK isn't the PRC and you can't expect a few thousand Brits go give up their lives and incomes for a couple of minutes of beating a drum in an Olympic ceremony.

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Hmm I remembered I still saw London 2012 Facebook postings about last casting call for male performers a week back.

Just have this impression probably from Beijing that with such immense human production, I wouldnt be surprised if they took 1 year to rehearse to get to such precision

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Casting calls and rehearsals are two different things, though. And London isn't Beijing. I expect London to be more fluid and loose compared to the precision and tightness of Beijing.

Exactly. And pulling those nurses out of hospitals and their busy skeds? I'm sure their portion alone would be no more than 3 rehearsals and no more than 20-25 hours. The capitalist world understands these are "volunteers" and can only be used so much. On the average, including dress rehearsals, I'd say the average performer/volunteer will only be asked to put in like 30 hours; 36 -max; of rehearsal time. And nearly all of that concentrated in June and July.

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http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/jmagnay1/100023908/london-2012-olympics-diary-danny-boyle-promises-a-cinematic-treat-for-couch-spectators/

London 2012 Olympics diary: Danny Boyle promises a cinematic treat for couch spectators

The London 2012 Olympic Games will be an intimate experience for the four billion television viewers, say Olympic insiders.

Creative director Danny Boyle is using his vast film background to present the Games in a different tele-visual fashion so that it won't just be a faithful recording of what goes on inside the stadium, but rather a cinematic storytelling that those on the couch can enjoy in its own right.

About 20,000 seats will be cordoned off during the ceremony for performers and athletes.

Well, this pretty much confirms that the 20.000 seats will indeed be for the athletes. That means this will be the first opening ceremony of a summer olympics on which the athletes will be seated on the stands instead of standing at the middle like it has been on the last decades. (although Barcelona 92 and Atlanta 96 closing's had the athletes seated as well).

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Here's the cleaned-up version.

65429_387346711294525_100000575976731_1407415_1839910413_n.jpg

So they had decided this thing way over a year ago.

BTW, Ik, I think that blog of seating the athletes is WRONG. They had 1.4 million requests for OC tickets, I don't see them really selling only 55,000 seats -- not the way these Games are eventually going to cost. I dunno; it will look weird if you have 20,000 premium AA seat locations -- that's 1/4th of the stadium capacity-- empty for the first 35 mins of the show. Plus, leading them to those seats after passing the Tribune of Honor is going to be really tricky and will have lots of back-ups on the track before they are seated.

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Well, that is certainly a big bell... very Big indeed... I wonder just how booming it will be... As for the athletes being seated... I don't think it is some sort of wild change... it has been common in the winter games for some time now... I do wonder if perhaps the athletes will be entering somewhat earlier so that they too may enjoy the spectacle... It would make more sense to seat the athletes if they were entering the stadium earlier in the show... (and frankly, a bit 'fairer' to have them get to see the show that they are supposed to be the guests of honor for...)

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I was at Rotherhithe today, for any one not from London its a historic riverside docklands village south-east of Tower bridge with some famous 800 years old riverside pubs the Angel and the mayflower,

Its all very Fagin beating Nancy to death especially when the fog comes down as it did today,

As I stood on the balcony with the Thames lapping around the floor boads a Massive war ship loomed out of the mist like the lock ness monster and glided by with the whole crew on deck, Tower bridge opened and it moored next to the HMS Belfast, I wonder if its staying for the Olympics Queens diamond Jubilee flotilla ect.

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Well, that is certainly a big bell... very Big indeed... I wonder just how booming it will be... As for the athletes being seated... I don't think it is some sort of wild change... it has been common in the winter games for some time now... I do wonder if perhaps the athletes will be entering somewhat earlier so that they too may enjoy the spectacle... It would make more sense to seat the athletes if they were entering the stadium earlier in the show... (and frankly, a bit 'fairer' to have them get to see the show that they are supposed to be the guests of honor for...)

That may work in the Winter Games, but there were about 2500 athletes from 80 teams in Vancouver. In London, expect over 10000 athletes from ~220 teams. That's a lot of seats and a much longer parade. We'll just have to wait and see, but I don't think they can or will stray far from the Summer Games custom.

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That may work in the Winter Games, but there were about 2500 athletes from 80 teams in Vancouver. In London, expect over 10000 athletes from ~220 teams. That's a lot of seats and a much longer parade. We'll just have to wait and see, but I don't think they can or will stray far from the Summer Games custom.

Not all 10,000 will march from the 204 nations though, but regardless it is a huge number.

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But it's a journalist (and even Olympic editor) by a renowned newspaper who wrote that blog article. OK, professional journalists commit mistakes as well -- but in this case, I'd be really surprised if she had just slipped in the word "athletes" by accident.

At least she committed one mistake, though: She didn't state clearly that she was writing about the opening ceremony (she only writes "the ceremony). Otherwise, her text could also be misunderstood as referring to the closing ceremony (but that one isn't choreographed by Danny Boyle, as we Olympic nerds know).

So to cut a long story short: I don't know either how they want to do it -- but I think it's probable that London will be the first Summer Olympic Games seating the athletes for the opening ceremony. I don't know whether I like that idea.

On the positive side, they'll have much space on the infield until the end to stage their ceremony and to provide big show elements even at a later stage in the opening ceremony.

On the negative side, it was always such a nice picture to see the "youth of the world" assembled together on the infield. It makes perfect sense to seat the winter athletes, since they are such a comparably small number and wouldn't ever create such an impressive picture on the infield. But the mass of summer athletes on the infield is such a traditional Olympic image that I'd hardly want to miss it.

Well, let's wait and see. Maybe the London organisers are only anticipating what Rio might do as well in 2007 (the Pan American athletes were seated as well for the opening ceremony in Maracana Stadium).

EDIT: Sorry, it should be "Maybe the London organisers are only anticipating what Rio might do as well in 2016 (the Pan American athletes were seated as well for the 2007 opening ceremony in Maracana Stadium)."

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Well, let's wait and see. Maybe the London organisers are only anticipating what Rio might do as well in 2007 (the Pan American athletes were seated as well for the opening ceremony in Maracana Stadium).

EDIT: Sorry, it should be "Maybe the London organisers are only anticipating what Rio might do as well in 2016 (the Pan American athletes were seated as well for the 2007 opening ceremony in Maracana Stadium)."

On the other hand, Rio might decide to fool the world and revert to the traditional Summer opening format of keeping the athletes in the infield, deciding that ticket sales are more important than sitting the spoiled athletes. :lol:

But here's another consideration: LOCOG went to the whole trouble of creating 5 price categories for the Ceremonies, only to set aside I say 12,500 Premium AA seats (which are priced like $3,727 for the US buyers) for the athletes--losing at least some US$30 million in seat revenues if only 8,500 AA seats are NOT sold. (Not to mention I think another 2,800 for VIPs, sponsors and the press) So unless Boyle's plan is OK'ed by Coe, then that totally scrambles the WHOLE seating arrangement for OC. (I wonder how that jangles all the seating allocations promised to over 200 nations and corporate buyers?)

But also by seating all the athletes earlier in the show, they're going to have that infield filled for the remaining 35 minutes or so of the show; so there's something to see.

I could be wrong but I think they'll have to think this through. I bet there's a lot of infighting between Ceremonies and Finances, with Ticketing and Coe caught in the middle.

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On the other hand, Rio might decide to fool the world and revert to the traditional Summer opening format of keeping the athletes in the infield, deciding that ticket sales are more important than sitting the spoiled athletes.

Wow... its like we have our own Rush Limbaugh of the olympiad on these forums...

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There is a rumour from a highly credible source that Cheryl Cole will be doing a modern interpretation of the national anthem with Cher Lloyd beatboxing to it.

Oh no. I'm all for pushing the envelope, but leave "God Save the Queen" alone. A traditional orchestral rendition, please. There will be plenty of other opportunities to get edgy. Just listen to the hash that is made of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at most sporting events these days. Anthems can go downhill incredibly fast when you try to make them hip.

Pomp and circumstance has it's place. Especially in Britain.

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Oh no. I'm all for pushing the envelope, but leave "God Save the Queen" alone. A traditional orchestral rendition, please. There will be plenty of other opportunities to get edgy. Just listen to the hash that is made of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at most sporting events these days. Anthems can go downhill incredibly fast when you try to make them hip.

Pomp and circumstance has it's place. Especially in Britain.

Total Agreement... one of the things I am looking forward to in this Opening Ceremony is a classic, timeless, and bombastic rendition of God Save the Queen for the ages... not some god-awful pop/rock/punk version of it... I have seen the American anthem BUTCHERED at so many sporting events, particularly NBA events that try and turn it into some sort of 'urban' rap/pop monstrosity... God Save the Queen is simply not suited to being 'hip' nor should it be... Britain ought to be able to embrace its classic pomp and circumstance while also being a modern, diverse, and inclusive society without pandering to the urban masses... Danny Boyle has an immense challenge in balancing the classic with the 'hip' and 'modern' in this ceremony but the Anthem should not be a point of compromise...

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