Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony Verdicts and Reviews

[Lord David]

Wait you're saying this was better than London? London was grandiose!

The only stuff I would have tweaked with London would be:

- The idea of the Glastonbury crowd. You have a "Mosh" and "Posh" pit, where lucky contestants (who bought a raffle ticket) get to be an actual part of that Opening Ceremony. The "Mosh" crowd get a pleasant country style picnic to enjoy throughout the night, whilst the "Posh" crowd have almost an afternoon style tea setting, at the opposite end of the stadium.
- The arrival of James Bond and the Queen via parachuting from the helicopter. There should have been a pause, perhaps acknowledgement of the Queen's 60th anniversary, whilst the illusion is made of the Queen and James Bond making their way into the royal box of the stadium.
- After Mr Bean's sketch and the family in the Mini, Mr Bean should have been seen in his own iconic green Mini, to be complaining that he's late in returning his rental suit. He overtakes the other car, in a hurried pace, only to knock out or push that iconic 3 wheeled car in the process.

Outside of that, London seemed great.


As for Rio, Rio was good, but it was clear that it could have been much more longer. Granted that the parade of nations took too long, the artistic segments were just too short and clearly on a budget.

Edited August 13, 2016 by Lord David

[LOUIS]

4 hours ago, capetown2020 said:

 

Sydney, Athens and Beijing remain in a league of their own.

Well, looking back, the 2000s (decade) seems like the "golden era" of opening ceremonies...

[reindeer]

On 12.8.2016 at 4:18 PM, baron-pierreIV said:

Absolutely, the Beijing opening was a Shock-and-Awe one.  But then again, remember that it was the most populous nation and the 2nd hottest economy on the planet in 2008.  And they probably have the longest continuing civilization, so you had that spectacular opening.  But collectively, for FOUR ceremonies, I think Sochi had the most beautiful, also culturally rich and pictorially stunning set of ceremonies as well.  The Russians made such great use of their art, their literature, their popular culture (cricus and ballet), their music, etc., in excellent balance.  The OC of Brazil was OK; not awful but not over-reaching either.   

Sochi's OC was the most beautiful and harmonious for me too, combining different elements perfectly. Beijing's grandeur was a bit overwhelming and almost mechanical.

[Ikarus360]

For me, the problem with London was consistency and lack of fluidness between each of the acts, they all seemed to be unrelated to each other. While Rio, despite lacking the eyecandiness of Pandemonium, had more consistency through the cultural performances. 

I did found ironic they didn't wanted to burn carbon to the sky or something as their reason to make the cauldron so small, yet shortly after they blew lots of fireworks onto the sky which even seemed over the top for a moment. 

[JMarkSnow2012]

44 minutes ago, Ikarus360 said:

For me, the problem with London was consistency and lack of fluidness between each of the acts, they all seemed to be unrelated to each other. While Rio, despite lacking the eyecandiness of Pandemonium, had more consistency through the cultural performances. 

I did found ironic they didn't wanted to burn carbon to the sky or something as their reason to make the cauldron so small, yet shortly after they blew lots of fireworks onto the sky which even seemed over the top for a moment. 

Fireworks probably don't produce that much CO2- think about how small the fireworks are that you can buy in the shops, yet how many sparkles they can produce.

As for London's consistency- once you understand that the whole four hours is a journey from ancestors to descendants (but with interludes between the main scenes) then it all makes perfect sense.

[illustrado]

8 hours ago, Ikarus360 said:

For me, the problem with London was consistency and lack of fluidness between each of the acts, they all seemed to be unrelated to each other. While Rio, despite lacking the eyecandiness of Pandemonium, had more consistency through the cultural performances. 

I did found ironic they didn't wanted to burn carbon to the sky or something as their reason to make the cauldron so small, yet shortly after they blew lots of fireworks onto the sky which even seemed over the top for a moment. 

we should really not throw stone while living in s glass how. rio had fundamental editorial issues. 

i'm still baffled by the opening image and the unti-climaxtic flame lighting and putting the samba in the middle and not at the end. 

[baron-pierreIV]

I still don't get the plastic foil pillows in the opening.  Was there a subliminal environmental msg somewhere in there??

[Alexjc]

What's weird is watching the Athletics and not seeing the flame in the background.

[guilherme]

3 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

I still don't get the plastic foil pillows in the opening.  Was there a subliminal environmental msg somewhere in there??

Not sure about all references of that part

 

1 for sure is athos bulcao painter

 

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athos_Bulcão

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athos_Bulcão

[baron-pierreIV]

/\/\  And what is that?  Is that supposed to be world-famous....like the Wailing Wall of Jerusalem? 

[JMarkSnow2012]

On 15/08/2016 at 5:55 AM, guilherme said:

Not sure about all references of that part

 

1 for sure is athos bulcao painter

 

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athos_Bulcão

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athos_Bulcão

 

On 15/08/2016 at 7:31 AM, baron-pierreIV said:

/\/\  And what is that?  Is that supposed to be world-famous....like the Wailing Wall of Jerusalem? 

Among architecture fans it may be. Bulcão was one of the key designers working with Niemeyer on the capital city of Brasilia, and that mural's in the Congress building.

[luizfernandobr45]

The countdown was Athos Bulcão inspired. His work joins indegenous and africans geometric patterns with portuguese tiles. 

[baron-pierreIV]

Well, NOT everybody's attuned to this architect -- thus that segment was a complete puzzle to me.  

[JMarkSnow2012]

16 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

Well, NOT everybody's attuned to this architect -- thus that segment was a complete puzzle to me.  

Therefore, by sharing your puzzlement, you have been inspired by the ceremony to learn something new about Brazil !

Meanwhile:

Consolidated BBC iPlayer ratings for the Opening Ceremony have now been published by BARB. It topped the Live Streaming chart for the week ending 7 August, with its total minutes of viewing equivalent to 38,857 views of the entire show (i.e. in reality probably many more views of parts of the show, and very few of the whole thing). Neither the OC nor any other Olympic show (apart from the short preview) featured in the week's top-50 online catch-up chart.

Ten other Olympic broadcasts did feature in the top 50 Live Streaming chart, the most popular being the Sunday (25,577 views equivalent) and Saturday (20,012 views equivalent) early evening roundup shows. Of Olympic programmes starting after 11pm, the Sunday 11:15 broadcast got 17,321 v.e.; Sunday 00:02 (i.e. really Saturday night) got 11,831.

It seems possible, then, that around 20-25,000 live views equivalent of the OC on iPlayer were from overseas (it may be significant that when analysed by device type, it topped the chart only for web players, coming second for Android and fourth for iOS).

[baron-pierreIV]

1 hour ago, JMarkSnow2012 said:

Therefore, by sharing your puzzlement, you have been inspired by the ceremony to learn something new about Brazil !

 

Meh.  I don't see it that way.  It's NOT the same.  It's an underhanded trick -- like you are forced to only know the rules you overstepped in an autocratic country because you didn't realize how absurd it was.  Things like these work better if you have an inkling beforehand because then it becomes a case of an awakening wonder -- not a forced, after-the-fact afterthought IMHO. 

[JMarkSnow2012]

3 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

Meh.  I don't see it that way.  It's NOT the same.  It's an underhanded trick -- like you are forced to only know the rules you overstepped in an autocratic country because you didn't realize how absurd it was.  Things like these work better if you have an inkling beforehand because then it becomes a case of an awakening wonder -- not a forced, after-the-fact afterthought IMHO. 

Interestingly, the official guide (as posted by Bryan Pinkall- but this short summary was not, I think, the Media Guide) says nothing about Bulcão:

Quote

"The countdown is an Olympic celebration of gambiarra, the spirit of improvisation: the Brazilian way of making the most of almost nothing.  A sheet of paper becomes a musical instrument and triggers and enormous batucada"

I wonder if that means the plastic "pillows" were relatively late substitutions for original sheets of paper?

PS: On countdowns. The Rio "countdown to broadcast" was just a basic clock-style sweep through the last couple of minutes on the screens, culminating in a 10-1 seconds count, followed immediately by the opening aerial views film.

[guilherme]

from wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Summer_Olympics_opening_ceremony

The artistic performances were set into motion with an homage paid to the spirit of gambiarra,^[11] defined by the organisers as "the Brazilian talent for making the most out of nothing".^[12] In this part of the opening ceremony, Brazilian design was honoured with references to Athos, indigenous geometry, African prints and Portuguese tiles. Peace and sustainability were featured with the transformation of the peace symbol projection into a tree. This part of the opening is also an homage to the world famous rainforest, the Amazon. This was followed by the representation of the birth of the immense forests that covered Brazil and the arrival of the Portuguese people. From the beginning of life, the ceremony illustrated the formation of the indigenous peoples, whose entrance was represented by 72 dancers of the two major associations of the Parintins Festival. The arrival of Europeans in caravels, the forced arrival of enslaved Africans and the immigration of Arab and Japanese people was represented by descendants of these ethnic groups.^[13]

[baron-pierreIV]

/\/\   A good ceremonial segment should be self-explanatory -- it shouldn't need overly complicated,obscure references that people who don't read the program notes, won't have any meaning for them.  If you have to provide an overly pedantic history lesson, then it was not a very good idea to begin with.  

Edited August 18, 2016 by baron-pierreIV

[Sir Rols]

I don't look at it as something necessary to know to appreciate it (actually, for me the pillows were okay, but not anything wow or awe inspiring. Knowing now the background references doesn't change that). Rather, little touches like that are more nods to the local audiences to get something more out of it.

J Mark's often mentioned lots of little touches in London's OC that were probably mostly lost on the international audience, and likely wouldn't change many opinions or appreciations if they did. In Sydney's OC, in the bush settlement segment, we had a nod to painter Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly series of works. I doubt many people outside Oz would have picked it up, but we got it and it added a bit of significance for us. Locals will always see their OCs with different, more knowing, eyes.

[TorchbearerSydney]

Everyone doesn't have to understand every piece of significance in a ceremony, everyone enjoys it at an individual level.

Some people enjoy it for the colour and movement, or the music, or the dance, or the historical significance or the technical complexity.

Criticising people and organisers for knowing deeper level of meanings than you do is really only showing your ignorance and small mindedness- educate yourself and enjoy it on a whole new level.

 

[JMarkSnow2012]

6 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

/\/\   A good ceremonial segment should be self-explanatory -- it shouldn't need overly complicated,obscure references that people who don't read the program notes, won't have any meaning for them.  If you have to provide an overly pedantic history lesson, then it was not a very good idea to begin with.  

That basically knocks Beijing's entire OC out of contention- it was an hour of people doing synchronised movement in neat lines (like those Brazilians with their pillows) but stuffed full of references that only well-educated Chinese people could hope to get for themselves.

[plusbrilliantsexploits]

6 hours ago, Sir Rols said:

I don't look at it as something necessary to know to appreciate it (actually, for me the pillows were okay, but not anything wow or awe inspiring. Knowing now the background references doesn't change that). Rather, little touches like that are more nods to the local audiences to get something more out of it.

J Mark's often mentioned lots of little touches in London's OC that were probably mostly lost on the international audience, and likely wouldn't change many opinions or appreciations if they did. In Sydney's OC, in the bush settlement segment, we had a nod to painter Sidney Nolan's Ned Kelly series of works. I doubt many people outside Oz would have picked it up, but we got it and it added a bit of significance for us. Locals will always see their OCs with different, more knowing, eyes.

One instance of that? "The Man from Snowy River", which if my recollection serves me was an Australian drama film and poem - and the theme song from which was used (in a modified fashion) for the very first musical accompaniment of the Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony...and I liked it, even without knowing the cultural background. In fact, it actually made me want to learn more about Australian pop culture, if anything. Surely, that's the entire point of a ceremony - acting as the Host Nation's business card on several levels?

[Rob2012]

There are two scenarios which work:

1. A segment which works on its own terms can have as many obscure references packed in as the director likes. Those who don't want depth will still enjoy it (maybe for the colour and movement), whilst those who do can dig deeper and find more layers
2. A segment which doesn't work on its own terms but which has only one or two obscure references such that the TV commentators can easily explain them.

I don't think anything in Rio's ceremony was so complicated or obscure that it couldn't be explained by good commentators.

[baron-pierreIV]

9 hours ago, TorchbearerSydney said:

Criticising people and organisers for knowing deeper level of meanings than you do is really only showing your ignorance and small mindedness- educate yourself and enjoy it on a whole new level.

1

Speak for yourself.  

[baron-pierreIV]

5 hours ago, Rob. said:

I don't think anything in Rio's ceremony was so complicated or obscure that it couldn't be explained by good commentators.

 

No.  The audio portion (on my telecast) for that Countdown sequence wasn't working properly, thus "the commentators' references" were lost on me, thus my quandary on what was being used there.  But if the sequence was self-explanatory, then I wouldn't have had to wonder what the hell they were trying to accomplish there with those shadows and the vinyl pillows???