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Ceremonies Moments that Never Happened


mattygs

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Those two ceremonies were like night and day. How anyone could group them together is beyond me.

Again, YOURS is NOT the only legitimate view and assessment of it. They're both Olympic Opening Ceremonies, aren't they? I just find Athens' show a vastly over-rated one. And my view is equally valid as yours; as I'm sure are others. .

You say po-tey-toe, I say potato.

You say to-may-toe, I say tomato.

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Again, YOURS is NOT the only legitimate view and assessment of it.

I didn't say my view was the only legitimate one. I said that it is "beyond me" how anyone could group Athens' and London's OCs in the same class. And it is. I cannot fathom it. Opine to your heart's content.

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I'm not sure what the issue is with Danny Boyle including his father's picture in the montage. He is on record as saying that his father was a huge influence both on him and his decision to take on the director's role for the Ceremony.

I speak as one who was at the Ceremony and someone who's submitted photo - of both my parents - was also used in the montage.

I have no issue with Boyle's use of his father whatsoever.

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I'm not sure what the issue is with Danny Boyle including his father's picture in the montage. He is on record as saying that his father was a huge influence both on him and his decision to take on the director's role for the Ceremony.

I speak as one who was at the Ceremony and someone who's submitted photo - of both my parents - was also used in the montage.

I have no issue with Boyle's use of his father whatsoever.

It's NOT just the photo. It's all very questionable. Beijing canvassed, like I think, 1,000 fotos of smiling faces from all over the world for that final moment of their OC. And while some of the staffers, etc, may indeed have included fotos of their relatives, or hey, let's throw modesty out the door entirely, themselves-- we NEVER got a press release proclaiming proudly to one and all that, hey, my grandmother's care-taker at her old age home is a partial Olympic fan, and therefore, we will include her foto amongst the random 1,000 images that were used.

By itself, it is NOT a big deal at all, but when a CEO or the head of a corporation puts his son or daughter in privileged position, and especially for a publcly-traded organization, then it certainly should be questioned. IN ADDITION, some of his other choices seemed more to veer to the Danny Boyle's personal tastes rather than...it would've been good for the overall theme or fabric of the ceremony...NOT BECAUSE it clicked with Mr. DB's very personal taste. Or maybe DB has corrupted (albeit to a minor degree) the whole way of shaping Olympic ceremonies now so that even one's sense of standards and otherwise objective (rather than personal?) way of doing things...just because the auteur said so?

Last I checked, it was Ceremonies people's purpose to put on a show celebrating the host nation/city's culture and a celebration of the Games...not a family album or a personal vanity production (as one would be accepted to do so in a commercial film project).

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Baron: I totally disagree with your view but I accept the points that you make.

Everyone who had a ticket to the Ceremony received an email a few days before it inviting them to send in a photo of a loved-one who had passed away. So, the fact that such photos were going to be displayed could have been ascertained by any journalists/interested parties if they had wanted to do so.

Danny Boyle was selected to be the Director of the Ceremony. It was therefore his vision that was inevitably going to dominate proceedings. As such, his selection of the theme 'revolutions' was, I thought, appropriate and dramatic. The 'industrial revolution' and the 'technological revolution' were both creative in their own ways although I happen to much prefer the former.

I don't really regard the Ceremony as any less thematic or indulgent than say, the 'founding of the City of Barcelona' sea battles by La Fura dels Baus in the Barcelona Opening Ceremony in 1992. In fact, in style and in tone, I think there are quite striking similarities between the two Ceremonies.

Anyway, we have different opinions and that's that.

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Another idea that didn't happen was in Athens 2004 Opening. Originally, they had thought of having a "throbbing" light on the audience kits so that at the beginning when the drummers were coming in, beating the "human heart beat" on their drums, the "audience" light participation gimmick would synchronize with the drum beats. However, #1 - it was going to be too expensive; #2 - it would've been too complicated to execute; and #3 - there was the possibility that the audience members (including our very own Athensfan ;) ) might've cut or injured themselves if the light device broke or got sat upon, or dropped during the rest of the show; so the whole idea was scrapped. If the London 2012 LED-seat technology effect was available then in 2004, that would've been a close approximation of the desired effect.

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I'm not totally sold on in seat LED concept just yet, although I think it is here to stay and will become standard.

I think in the context of Athens it would have been OTT, and overwhelmed the stadium theatre itself. I felt even in London's patchwork of ceremonies that organisers used it just because it was there to be used. Sometimes it was very effective, other times it just felt like it was being overused and I felt it was a visual stimulus overload.

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The London LED seat fixtures didnt show up well on the NBC or BBC broadcasts. Seems like the tech and design isn't that great yet. Maybe it'll be something quit different and more cool in future ceremonies. However, if the creative vision isn't there no tech will make up for that shortfall.

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I think we will no doubt see it to stay for a while, Im not convinced it's the *new projections* though - in the context of how we saw those in almost every piece of stadium theatre for a good few years.

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A director must rely on personal vision. It's a futile exercise trying to erase a director's personality from a production. LOCOG hired Danny Boyle for his unique taste.

Including one family photo seems like a minor footnote -- not a hijacking of the OC. Boyle was obviously going for the personal human touch. That was the flavor he wanted and that's why the story was released to the media.

As you all know, I didn't particularly care for London's OC or many of Danny Boyle's choices. But I don't think he's a self-aggrandizing nepotist. He just didn't understand the medium.

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I'm sure you're talking of Dmitris Papaioannou as well.

As you know, I think Pappioannou nailed it.

His experience in avant garde design, choreography and direction on a grand scale served him well.

Have you seen "2", Baron? Awesome! It was post Olympics, but who cares? The guy is phenomenal.

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choreography

What choreography was there in the Opening? Aside from having a "statue" flick his wrist or flutter an eyelid; have the couple gambol about; and then having the whole crew come down and splash about as any dance assistant could probably do -- what recognizable choreography was there in the Opening? I guess that's another thing that puzzled me -- he is supposed to be a renowned choreographer, but one saw very little evidence of that in that show. (So much so that Doug Jack who had been an Olympics/CWG choreographer since Barcelona, was relegated to just taking charge of the Athletes' Parade in Athens since there was 2% choreographic chores in 2004.)

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I said his experience as a choreographer helped him. He sees bodies in space. He understands movement, timing, musicality, human scale. He knows how to tell a story without words.

Obviously Athens had no soft-shoe numbers (P is a modern dance choreographer anyway). However, the fluidity of the motion was carefully orchestrated throughout the OC -- in the macro sense of one section blending into the next, but also in the small movements of individuals -- the running upside-down legs, the water women with the leaping narwhals, Eros, the 19th century Olympians, the floating torchbearers, cube guy, etc.

P is first and foremost a choreographer. THAT is why he didn't have much work for others.

So have you seen "2"?

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