Ceremonies on UTube, Pt 2

[Troupe]

The Swedes an opening ceremony kind of spectacle yesterday broadcast on national TV to inaugurate the new national stadium in Stockholm, the Friends Arena. The ceremony was called "Swedish Moments":

[baron-pierreIV]

/\/\ What? No ABBA? How can it be Swedish friends w/o ABBA?

And that boring white stage---it looked so clinical.

[Durban Sandshark]

We're still waiting for somebody--anybody!--to upload the full LA 1984 Opening Ceremony! But just less than a couple of days ago Nacholympics uploaded the full opening from it, you know, the Welcome segment with a bit of the countdown and that Rocketman. An NHK broadcast.

Not sure what's going on with Balanced Australia as far the continuation of the Moscow 1980 Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies in the last few months since the last upload. It's possible that he's looking for material to add and fill in like for the Parade of Nations and the full pagentry of the artisitic segment after the Olympic protocol as if the Seven Network was airing it live. Much of which, particularly the Friendship of the Peoples' dances and the acrobatics are already there on YouTube, even from the Seven Network broadcast from other uploaders. He can surely use those if he wants. Hopefully we'll see more parts very soon.

But earlier this month, another Aussie YouTube uploader and Olympic fan from Tasmania named Tasman Ross, put up part 1 of his Moscow Opening Ceremony from Seven--Lord Killian's speech and the chillingly fascistic-styled entrance (goose-stepping and all) and raising of the Olympic flag complete with clutched doves. It's interesting for several reasons: first, you get to see the Seven 1980 Moscow Olympic TV intro here (maybe Balanced Australia could upload that in the future, then again he perhaps felt it was unimportant) that reminds me of the BBC's 1980 Moscow intro--you do recall the Moscow 1980 logo in front of the blue background from Balanced Australia's intro video during the last leg of the torch relay as it went to commercial break; second, this is actually taken from a daily highlights show recorded off-air down there as broadcast that can be shown when many Australians are awake; third, as his name indicates, it was recorded from Seven's Tasmania's TV station, TVT-6 in Hobart; fourth, his late grandfather actually recorded this; and fifth. you'll see "Exclusive To The Seven Network", an indicator that the Olympics are no longer shared among the Australian TV networks.

Don't know how many parts Tasman Ross has for this.

[Durban Sandshark]

Oh wait, Tasman Ross has at least three more parts:

Part 2 (after the pigeons release, immediately cuts to when Saneyev is already in Lenin Stadium with the torch on the track, not as he enters as it happens)

Part 3 (goes into second part of the artistic presentation following the oaths. I think that's what exactly happened)

Remember those first Moscow parts I uploaded not too long ago? I'm thinking now that footage was taken from the Opening ceremony highlights show too!

[baron-pierreIV]

But earlier this month, another Aussie YouTube uploader and Olympic fan from Tasmania named Tasman Ross, put up part 1 of his Moscow Opening Ceremony from Seven--Lord Killian's speech and the chillingly fascistic-styled entrance (goose-stepping and all) and raising of the Olympic flag complete with clutched doves. It's interesting for several reasons: first, you get to see the Seven 1980 Moscow Olympic TV intro here (maybe Balanced Australia could upload that in the future, then again he perhaps felt it was unimportant) that reminds me of the BBC's 1980 Moscow intro--you do recall the Moscow 1980 logo in front of the blue background from Balanced Australia's intro video during the last leg of the torch relay as it went to commercial break; second, this is actually taken from a daily highlights show recorded off-air down there as broadcast that can be shown when many Australians are awake; third, as his name indicates, it was recorded from Seven's Tasmania's TV station, TVT-6 in Hobart; fourth, his late grandfather actually recorded this; and fifth. you'll see "Exclusive To The Seven Network", an indicator that the Olympics are no longer shared among the Australian TV networks.

Don't know how many parts Tasman Ross has for this.

That Seven Network announcer doesn't even know his basic geography. While he does state that the modern 5-ringed O flag made its first appearance at Alexandria in 1914, he calls it "...Alexandria, Greece..." I mean, he's only a couple of centuries late in claiming the city of Alexandria, Egypt, is part of Greece.

Mygod, that goose-stepping is just so stiff and so plodding! And it's on a square screen??

Edited October 29, 2012 by baron-pierreIV

[Durban Sandshark]

Part 4 with more of the FOTP

[runningrings]

Just going on a little Australian retrospective this evening...

Two bits from the Opening Ceremony of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games. Truly Olympic in scale, given the sheer size of the MCG. The gigantic gangway the athletes march down into the field is very reminiscent of Atlanta 1996, somewhat ironic given that the MCG was an alternative venue for the 1996 Olympics. This segment "Under the Milkway Tonight" by The Church, with the Australian Ballet and BMX riders seems awfully similar to the scrapped segment from Danny Boyle's 2012 ceremony, which correct me if I'm wrong, was almost identical in terms of idea??

The theme song "Together We are One" by Delta Goodrem at the ceremony finale... bears a slight resemblance to Turin 2006 and the "Flames of Passion", which was a month prior. Honestly, bias aside, I think we Aussies pulled it off better than the Italians..

Melbourne's 2006 Ceremonies are special for me, as they're the only large scale piece of stadium theatre I've been to myself. Naturally I was worried it was try to compete with Sydney 2000, but overall I think it actually complimented it quite well, which I hope Glasgow is able to do in 2014. Furthermore, it will be interesting to see how much more different Gold Coast's 2018 Ceremonies will be compared to 2006. Melbourne and the Gold Coast are probably more different than any other two Australian cities.. with the exception of Darwin and Hobart... except neither are hosting anything significant anytime soon....

Edited October 30, 2012 by runningrings

[runningrings]

Backtrack further to Sydney 2000...

Olivia Newton John and John Farnham "Dare to Dream". I love this as it is one of the great Olympic anthems, very compelling... also does anybody else find the white steps/stage thing Sydney had going on somewhat like Barcelona? or even a small version of LA84.

"The Flame" - Tina Arena. Amazing. While she doesn't have the voice of Celine Dion four years earlier, shes not bad and the choir is a great touch. This is the climax London lacked. While this was 12 years earlier, and times have changed, I think London played it a bit too cool. London was emotional, but Sydney managed to be emotional, exciting and bold. The exciting of the flame arriving at Sydney Olympic Park is still felt 12 years later through youtube...

[Olympian2004]

It's no miracle that the stage at the Sydney opening ceremony looked very much like the one in Barcelona - Ric Birch directed both opening ceremonies.

[Olympian2004]

And while I find "Dare to Dream" a typical slightly-schmaltzy 90s theme song (yes, it was 2000 already, but the early 2000s were still affected quite strongly by the 1990s' pop culture) sung by singers who wanted to curry favour with the athletes, I still love "The Flame" to this day. It was an inspiring anthem (albeit it was still pretty 90s as well) and the sight and sound of Herb Elliott turning onto the entrance to the Olympic Stadium with those stirring strings in the background still makes me emotional. It was great to finish that long torch relay with such a joyous and pompous song.

Sometimes the more silent and contemplative tunes can be very nice, too. "You and Me" in Beijing was such a song, and "Caliban's Dream" in London wasn't bad either. But I agree that in recent years, the flame arrival segments at the recent Olympic Games seem to have lost, also music-wise, that "Yeaaaah, the Games have begun and now comes the flame!" enthusiasm which was still common in the 1990s. It all has become a bit more sober and introverted, maybe also due to the experience of 9/11 and the economic crises. And that's a bit sad.

[Olympian2004]

Just one more thing: I think Tina Arena is a terrific singer. She can really carry emotion in her songs. She now lives (at least partially) in France and has become a famous performer there, as well. Here she is singing an Edith Piaf song last year on French TV. The audience seems pretty mesmerised, and rightfully so:

On YouTube you can also find her singing a great a cappella version of "Advance Australia Fair" for Cadel Evans, the winner of the 2011 Tour de France. And apparently she called the Tour de France organisers spontaneously just on the morning of Evans' victory and asked whether she could sing the anthem for him. Great girl!

Sorry, I don't want to let this derail into a Tina Arena fan thread. I just wanted to mention that she is actually a great singer.

[Olympian2004]

And now my final slightly off-topic post (the Tina Arena thing made me crawling through YouTube again) - but at least it's slightly connected to the ceremonies topic: Here's a video of the Sydney cauldron lit up during the London Games. And I find it remarkable (and extreme) how loud the gas exhaust of that cauldron is. It's almost like standing below a jet on the tarmac during boarding.

[Durban Sandshark]

Yeah, Tina Arena is a really good singer. It's unfortunate that she would currently get little attention here statesside, despite her acclaim, as opposed to Australia and Europe because she'll be lost admist all of the constant volume and pub our mostly domestic pop stars of the moment would generate. It takes a good deal of curiousity to actively move beyond what's narrowly offered in the American mainstream here to seek out suck artists and objects. It worth the work. Many of us seemingly don't want to.

Also, I have both the Sydney 2000 and Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremonies on DVD. Haven't played them in a while though.

Not sure why 7's Moscow 1980 daily highlight show started the Opening Ceremony on a curiousity to see with Lord Michael Killianin's speech, and not the actual start of the Opening Ceremony, let alone Igor Novikov's, and then went onto the extensive artistic portion highlighting the diverse Soviet cultures. I was also expected to see the Australian athletes marching into Lenin Stadium with the Olympic flag during the Parade of Nations. You would assume that since the Seven Network was the exclusive broadcaster of the Moscow Olympics, a big deal back then in the development of Australian Olympic TV broadcasting, it would repeat showing them along with many other notable nations. There was none of the ancient Greece tribute shown. On the other hand, it was brief and lasted only a few minutes before the parade. Furthermore, we would notice the Salyut 6 cosmonaut crew of Leonid Popov and Valery Ryumin sending their live greetings from space to the Olympians wishing them good luck was omitted after the oaths and went instead to the artistry with all of the Soviet flags, even the ones each from the Soviet Socialist Republics and then onto the song "Moscow" ditty dance. If you've seen Balanced Australia's last part from that, it ends with the athletes about to disperse from the field.

So far, nobody from the UK has uploaded the BBC version to this, as far as we know, outside of Soviet/Russian TV. Only Australia's Seven has done this. Don't know about TVNZ. I would assume oftentime here the BBC would have a great preservation of these Olympics. Somebody had to have recorded this over in the UK and Ireland. Looking at this makes me believe how robbed we Americans and Canadians were in seeing this live (tape delayed) in retrospect, not even in highlight form, because of the boycott and NBC's subsequent decision not to show them at all in multiple ways. I think with NBC's cameras and the tech know-how back then, it would add multiple angles and better graphics along what the Soviet feed that was sent around the world was capable of, for example. Had all that happened, we'd see a NBC version uploaded on YouTube in no time.

[baron-pierreIV]

/\/\ Shudda-cudda. Sigh.

[Durban Sandshark]

True that

[Durban Sandshark]

Part 5 from Tasman Ross' recording via his late grandfather of Seven's Moscow 1980 highlight show focusing on the second half of the OC from Tasmania TV 6 in Hobart. Continuing on with the Friendship of the People's dance from the Soviet Socialist Republics.

Onto Part 6. Interesting here that it completely cuts away from the Azeri dance and omit showing the Russian traditional dance (horses on a chariot running around the track and all) and even the Georgian, Armenian, Ukrainian, Moldovan, and Uzbek ones along with the collective Kalinka dance climax all of the SSR dancers did at the end with the prolonged standing ovation. But you can see them from the likes of Ighhhhh's and Ikarus. It immediately cuts to the mass acrobatics and gymnasts that just got underway with the rhythmic gymnasts.

[Durban Sandshark]

_{The Children's Display dominates Part 7 with the Misha kids and the kids with and ponies and dolls}

_{Part 8}

[Durban Sandshark]

Finally, I'm glad that the ABC 1984 Los Angeles Olympics review is back uploaded on YouTube! As we still await a full Opening Ceremony and Closing Ceremony, this next morsel will have to do. Part 1 from the full one-hour review video with distributor Continental Video has the opening narrating intro of ABC's coverage from the late Jim McKay along with Opening Ceremony highlights.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhHuSUo9iQ4

[Durban Sandshark]

Tasman Ross uploaded the last part of the Seven Network's coverage of the 1980 Moscow Olympics Opening Ceremony from the highlights show hours ago. Goes a little longer than what Ighhhhh does with his. If you saw this broadcasting taken from the Russia's Channel One, the ending goes all the way to the credits after (you'll see briefly) all the performers return to the stadium for a curtain call with the PA blaring "Moscow Gives the Start" before leaving again. But here, the acrobats more or less ends the coverage by going back to 7's studios in Moscow with Gary Wilkinson there raving about it (calling it "fair dinkum and unbelievable") like with the picture card display. You also get the end credits for this, primitive by today's sophisticated tech and presentation standards of course, with streets scenes of Moscow getting ready during a rainy and cloudy day. I guess some of those closeups were where Balanced Australia got his on his first part intro. Seems odd to me that after the OC it would go back to the studio instead of just staying in the stadium. It's Ron Casey and Peter Waltham at Lenin Stadium for the Seven Network.

[Olympian2004]

A wonderful video with simulations of the projections used at the Vancouver 2010 opening ceremony:

[baron-pierreIV]

Was this prerecorded & lip-synched?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIrU4Etac8w&feature=related

I think it was.

[Scotguy]

So so love Lillehammer and that it was snowing, magical

[mattygs]

So so love Lillehammer and that it was snowing, magical

I love the fact that the Lillehammer ceremonies really did seem to catch the feeling and atmosphere of the town.

I was in Lillehammer in summer, and even then, I just felt that special magical quality of the place walking the streets and the forested areas leading up the Olympic Park - and all this without the snow.

[baron-pierreIV]

I love the fact that the Lillehammer ceremonies really did seem to catch the feeling and atmosphere of the town.

Totally agree with you. But, if according to some other posters here -- it is very identifiable of its own time and place; thus it is already dated -- not timeless unlike a certain ceremony in...oh, I forget, 1224? 2048? 1896? which was "timeless..." therefore I can't recall and place it.

[Durban Sandshark]

If you haven't noticed by now, that video featuring part 1 of ABC's 1984 Los Angeles review video holding Opening Ceremony highlights has been removed. Too bad.

Ever wondered what the telecast of the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics was like in full outside of what ABC was doing? I have. Ever since watching it for the first time live that Saturday afternoon back in February 1988 in my family's kitchen on a black and white TV, I, like a lot of Americans, had to endure not just the commercial breaks but the Olympic history bumpers and previews of the Olympic sports on its final Olympic broadcast. Now we're getting a shot of that with no interruption and in full thanks to Dutch YouTube poster SpeedskateOnVid taken from NOS two weeks ago. NOS, like with ABC and everywhere else that held the TV rights to this, used the same camera angles and shots for the telecast with one notable exception from ABC: when it returned from commercial break, ABC, voicedover by Jim mcKay and Peter Jennings back in his native Canada talking about the nations, used an aerial shot to show nations already marching well into McMahon Stadium so as not omit any nation like NBC and CBS (to a lesser extent in its case) infamously did years later instead of being fully on the ground out of the stadium's mouth. Looking at this again now, I definitely see several elements in this Opening Ceremony from Calgary that Vancouver later used 24 years later (prominent use of the local Aboriginal Canadian tribes, spectators wearing white ponchos, celebrating its province, using the Canadian GG).

NOS' Jos Kuijer did the live moment-by-moment presentation here from McMahon Stadium. Like with many European broadcasters, his announcement came as if it was calling on the phone because it used different satellites from what ABC used that made its crystal clear. Part 1 shows all the material that ABC fail to show due to its constant commercial breaks and previews like the actual countdown and start, the brief Alberta video presentation, the 45+ Alberta ethnicities in their national costumes and in song and dance like the Ukrainian shunka dancers, the full "Alberta Is..." segment, and the raising of the all the participating nations' flags. Too bad Kuijers is just as bad like the NBC commentators later in talking too much:

Calgary 1988's full Parade of Nations with no nation omitted serves as Part 2. Over 31 minutes of it. Kinda went quick compared to now with so many nations competing since, mostly due to subsequent changing politics. In some cases, the music caters to reflect different nations like the entrance of the Greeks and serenading of "Happy Birthday" to Australia during its bicentennial:

We're at the end of this year now. Balanced Australia hoped he would get both the full Opening and Closing Ceremonies from Moscow 1980 all this year. But that's not hapenning. He hasn't even completed the Opening Ceremony. If he's working on the quality of it and getting the missing additional footage of the Parade of Nations to get it mixed with Ron Casey and Peter Waltham's commentary into next year, it will be worth the wait.