Pyeongchang 2018 Ceremonies

[4seasonscentre]

Could have done the rings with cows: 

 

[SkiFreak]

9 minutes ago, 4seasonscentre said:

Could have done the rings with cows: 

That will be in Calgary in 2026 when they get the Stampede organizers involved.

[JMarkSnow2012]

22 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

Did your BBC version show the interloper?  (Our NBC version pointed it out purposely.)

7 hours ago, Ikarus360 said:

Woops. It seems there was a spontaneous guy during the river segment. Luckily though he didn't appeared during the broadcast

 

For future reference, here's how he looked on the standard feed in his two separate appearances (i.e. he came back a few minutes after being politely removed by the security guys as seen at top right). The smart thing was that he walked in time to the music, as if he was supposed to be a character in the show!

17 hours ago, Ikarus360 said:

On this shot one can clearly see there were indeed many empty seats during the Opening. An embarrassment if you ask me. If the harsh weather was the main reason, I hope future winter hosts (at least those from places with high cold temperatures ) take note from this to never, ever do a ceremony completely outdoors. 

Here's how it looked with the seat-back lights switched off:

16 hours ago, Ikarus360 said:

NBC ratings just came out. The ceremony was behind Sochi but surprisingly , it was above Rio 2016 (I didn't knew Rio opening ratings were one of the lowest) . It also surpassed those of Torino 2006 and Barcelona 92

http://deadline.com/2018/02/olympics-opening-ceremony-ratings-down-pyeongchang-nbc-1202284486/

 

Average on BBC over the whole live show was 1.66 million (28.8% share) peaking with 2.27 million (33% share) around 1pm. There was no full primetime repeat, and I haven't seen the Eurosport ratings. In about 10 days we'll find out how well it's done on PVRs and on the BBC iPlayer online service.

 

[BigVic]

Seven in Australia's ratings for the OC was 1.22 million which was up from Vancouver 2010 (on Nine Network) and Sochi 2014 (on Ten Network). 

In addition, there were 3.09 million streams on the "Olympicson7" app 

[BigVic]

I liked the Opening Ceremony especially the use of 1218 drones to project the Olympic Rings. 

As for the location, an Opening Ceremony in frigid conditions for a Winter Games in an open-air stadium will never be done again. 

[Nacholympic]

On 9/2/2018 at 10:42 AM, JMarkSnow2012 said:

Assuming you're referring to "Imagine"- how many Olympic opening ceremonies have used it?

 Torino 2006 by Yoko Ono and Peter Gabriel, London 2012 by a children choir, Baku 2015 by Lady Gag and now. ...

[anthonyliberatori]

9 hours ago, PikyoK said:

The Opening Ceremony was amazing, breathtaking, stunning and awesome. The one thing that I disliked about the OC was that it was too calm. I hope the Closing Ceremony will feature more of a wow factor and that it ends Pyeongchang 2018 with bang

I'm also hoping for this. Maybe they'll go the Vancouver 2010 route and have their famous bands/artists sing a few songs, more of a concert. Some famous Kpop will definitely be a great way to close out the Games. Of course, I'll expect more cultural performances and a show from the production cast, but I would love for some Kpop, it seems fitting.

[JMarkSnow2012]

4 hours ago, BigVic said:

Seven in Australia's ratings for the OC was 1.22 million which was up from Vancouver 2010 (on Nine Network) and Sochi 2014 (on Ten Network). 

In addition, there were 3.09 million streams on the "Olympicson7" app 

As it's the first time in a decade the Opening Ceremony has been live in Aus primetime, I would have been deeply concerned if ratings were down !

I wonder what "3.09 million streams" actually means. Most likely it means stream requests, some of which would be for the full show, but most for a quick look.

3 hours ago, Nacholympic said:

 

Quote

Assuming you're referring to "Imagine"- how many Olympic opening ceremonies have used it?

Torino 2006 by Yoko Ono and Peter Gabriel, London 2012 by a children choir, Baku 2015 by Lady Gag and now. ...

That's what I call a politician's answer- making up your own version of the question 

[mr.bernham]

Anyone know where I can find a recording of the ceremony online? I wasn't able to catch even the NBC stream.

[JMarkSnow2012]

1 hour ago, mr.bernham said:

Anyone know where I can find a recording of the ceremony online? I wasn't able to catch even the NBC stream.

It'd be easy-peasy with a VPN- I imagine most of the official broadcasters around the world will have it on their websites. Otherwise, it could be tricky.

Quite a few spectator videos are appearing on YouTube now; here's a couple of samples:

 

This next one is part of a lengthy series; it's a shame about all that external lighting in the background:

 

[Nacholympic]

1 hour ago, mr.bernham said:

Anyone know where I can find a recording of the ceremony online? I wasn't able to catch even the NBC stream.

You should use a VPN for any Latin America country, excepting Brazil. It's Spanish spoken (Mexico)

http://olimpicos.marcaclaro.com/videos/detalle/video-ceremonia-completa-pyeongchang-2018-809776/

[SkiFreak]

I'm looking for it too online. Thought CBC would have the whole thing but instead all they have is a truncated 30min version of it. Thought it would be up on the Olympic youtube channel by now, and it isn't. I'm sure it will eventually be there without the commentary,

[nowuniverse]

The Olympics Channel usually uploads the full ceremony on YouTube a few months after it ends due to the broadcast rights and restrictions from different places in the world.

NBC has non-commentary version online now. However, it's only available in the US plus you need to have opened the online account from a cable TV provider with the package that has NBC Sports in order to login, verify and watch it... otherwise you will not be able to watch it or they will allow you to watch for 30 mins only.

NBC version (Natural sound only/ No commentary/Full length/Uncut):

http://stream.nbcolympics.com/pyeongchang-opening-ceremony

I do have the BBC version now. They do have some commentary but you know the British people, it's comfortable not loud and annoying like the NBC. The most important thing is they keep the ceremony full length. So you can watch it from start to the end with no interruption. I think this is the best version because you do need to hear a little detail about each segment without being annoyed too much by the commentators and this is the good choice.

I found them here. 

https://rarbg.to/torrent/sxyivdr

 

[BigVic]

I liked the Opening Ceremony with the drone Rings Formation a wow factor. Rings formation is now part of the protocol with it being occuring in the past before the parade of athletes (Torino 2006) or at the start like Sydney 2000. 

Since Rio, the rings formation have been done after the parade of athletes 

[JMarkSnow2012]

1 hour ago, BigVic said:

I liked the Opening Ceremony with the drone Rings Formation a wow factor.

For me the impact of the drones was lessened by the use of "augmented reality" (i.e. electronic fakery) to create the "dome of stars" effect earlier in the ceremony. I'm hoping that some future ceremony will make a clearly genuine (and also not pre-recorded) use of drones.

[baron-pierreIV]

1 hour ago, BigVic said:

I liked the Opening Ceremony with the drone Rings Formation a wow factor. Rings formation is now part of the protocol with it being occuring in the past before the parade of athletes (Torino 2006) or at the start like Sydney 2000. 

Since Rio, the rings formation have been done after the parade of athletes 

I think it's wherever the creators can sneak it in appropriately -- just so long as it gets done at least once in the show.  Torino's was the most awful and "trying the hardest."   Rio's tree/green thing was corny.  The fires of Salt Lake, Athens and LA  were the best.  

[baron-pierreIV]

5 minutes ago, JMarkSnow2012 said:

For me the impact of the drones was lessened by the use of "augmented reality" (i.e. electronic fakery) to create the "dome of stars" effect earlier in the ceremony. I'm hoping that some future ceremony will make a clearly genuine (and also not pre-recorded) use of drones.

The thing with using hundreds of drones in reality is #1, you have to have some launching field or section ready for them to take off.  #2 -- same thing for their exit; they will need time AND space to be marshalled off the field in a very quick time, so that the other parts of the show can continue.  That is why they used the "augmented" reality m.o.  #3 - They will get caught up/tangled with the  other overhead wiring and lights, etc., needed for the rest of the show.  

The little devices weren't around there to bother the hordes of other performers running to and from the stage area.  Maybe they should just dispense with the athletes altogether???  

Edited February 13, 2018 by baron-pierreIV

[nowuniverse]

For the accusation of empty seats:

From Time's magazine : No, the Olympic Stadium Was Not Empty During the Opening Ceremony in PyeongChang

For the lighting:

If you rewatch the whole ceremony, you would see that the whole seats were illuminated mostly by the LED installation on each seat. There's no overhead lighting for the audience (because of no-roof) to create the lighting like the vibrant purple hue at London when they lighted their cauldron. If there's roof at Pyeong Chang, I believe the seats would be much better lit like in London but that's not the fault of producers but the limitation of the stadium itself. 

 

About AR and Drone:

The technology right now is still prohibiting to have that happen live. With such dancing and wiring from the top, the star dome scene can't be created using real drones flying up like that and there's no alternative for such effect. And for the Olympics Ring, it's the strong wind, cold weather, and limited time for on-site rehearsal due to the secret nature of the ceremony. You see Sochi had their rings not fully opened and Vancouver had the cauldron malfunctioning. We need to be understanding that everyone wants the real stuff and yet the producer will do it whenever they can but they can't risk to have another malfunction case which will be an embarrassment to the country.  There will certainly be some cool tech and improvements in the future (probably in Japan) but what we see now is the promising foundation of what to come so I would rather be excited than disappointed.

 

I quite enjoyed the ceremony. They way I enjoyed it is pretty much like London vs Beijing scenario. Sochi is the best Winter OC just like Beijing being the best of Summer OC but Pyeong Chang has their simplicity similar to London. At least, what I like about this better than Rio is that there's sense of preparedness. It's not like our vision was big but then the government cut off the budget so we had to go for environment, samba dance, and had the model walking across the stadium and called it a segment.

What I see from South Korea's ceremony is that they represented the country well: modesty, simplicity, harmony,  future, and peace. And they delivered it in a very careful, considerate but still cool way. 

[JMarkSnow2012]

5 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

The thing with using hundreds of drones in reality is #1, you have to have some launching field or section ready for them to take off.  #2 -- same thing for their exit; they will need time AND space to be marshalled off the field in a very quick time, so that the other parts of the show can continue.  That is why they used the "augmented" reality m.o.  #3 - They will get caught up/tangled with the  other overhead wiring and lights, etc., needed for the rest of the show.  

 

54 minutes ago, nowuniverse said:

And for the Olympics Ring, it's the strong wind, cold weather, and limited time for on-site rehearsal due to the secret nature of the ceremony.

What I had hoped for , given the design of the stadium (no roof, shallow seat rake) was that a drone formation could "orbit" round it, at a safe but not excessive distance. The technology should make on-site rehearsal of the whole formation (as opposed to single-drone flights testing for areas of turbulence etc.) unnecessary.

[nowuniverse]

They have control on their technology and I believe if they had to go that way then it should be that way. That doesn't mean if they go live for it, it would fail 100% but the drone lighting technology is still in the early stage where tough and unpredictable weather could pose a risk and the Koreans would not take that risk as many things went wrong from past ceremonies.

So we might see it live at Tokyo, Beijing, Paris, or LA when the tech is improved but still those cities don't exhibit the harsh weather like in Pyeong Chang so there won't be any excuse for them to not show it live in the future ceremonies. We'll see.

As for me, I'm waiting for closing ceremony to see what Beijing has in store for us:)

 

[mr.bernham]

Unpopular opinion: I didn't like Sochi 2014. Lacked heart. Felt just like a big two hour propaganda video. Sure it looked cool, but it was what I expected from Russia. Impressive, but lacking heart and soul.

[BigVic]

The seats were full except the block reserved for the athletes when they take their seats 

Unlike the Summer Games where athletes crowd the infield, the athletes have their own reserved seats after they completed their parade. 

[baron-pierreIV]

2 hours ago, BigVic said:

The seats were full except the block reserved for the athletes when they take their seats 

Unlike the Summer Games where athletes crowd the infield, the athletes have their own reserved seats after they completed their parade. 

And remember, it's also a much shorter show because it's out in the cold, night air -- thus, they really try to rush it in 2.5 hours vs. like a 3.75-hr Summer Opening.  

[JMarkSnow2012]

3 hours ago, mr.bernham said:

Unpopular opinion: I didn't like Sochi 2014. Lacked heart. Felt just like a big two hour propaganda video. Sure it looked cool, but it was what I expected from Russia. Impressive, but lacking heart and soul.

- and yet I felt exactly the opposite; that apart from the ending (which unfortunately is the bit where heart and soul are most useful to leave a good lasting impression) Sochi was full of heart and soul, with constant changes of mood ranging all the way from serenity to apocalyptic drama to outright silliness.

[JMarkSnow2012]

43 minutes ago, baron-pierreIV said:

And remember, it's also a much shorter show because it's out in the cold, night air -- thus, they really try to rush it in 2.5 hours vs. like a 3.75-hr Summer Opening.  

I'm not sure they really "try to rush it" so much: a great deal of the time reduction comes from the much smaller number of parading athletes / teams.