Beijing 2022 Ceremonies

[Scotguy II]

i  really do not know what to say about what i witnessed last night....was that the pre show lol

Whilst i was not expecting a 2008 style show, i was hoping that with the same director, 14 years of technology changes and a venue that is only used for the ceremonies that we would have got something jaw dropping. instead what we got was just wrong.

As for the flame (i refuse to call it a cauldron as it is not) the whole concept is just wrong on so many levels, you cant even see the flame for one...

We all missed the cauldron lighting as it happened when the last torchbearers lit their torch haha

I think what the IOC will be implementing now is using the torch as the cauldron from now on and the cauldron itself just being a different sculpture thing  Similar to having imagine played at every games which in itself is lunacy on its highest level.

i am so glad that i grew up with ceremonies from 1992 and got to witness first hand all of those heart stopping moments.

oh well at least i can watch ceremonies from Barcelona to Sochi on repeat to get my fix from now on as i hold out no hope that we will ever see a spectacular opening ceremony again...

[SportLightning]

Three hours for NBC and Peacock to broadcast the ceremony as primetime.

[Scotguy II]

If you look at how Sydney lit its flame and 22 years later we have this.......

I know its all about being carbon neutral and climate change but surely after all this time scientists could come up with a way to burn a large fire (or something resembling it) in a large cauldron for all to see that has minimal effect on the environment.

[Ikarus360]

That's what happens when the entire world got uppity and loved to complain abour every single issue ever since the 2010s. Sochi stratospheric costs also were responsible for this in a way, which made the IOC, in an attempt to convince everyone the Olympics are not really that expensive, heavily toning down the olympic ceremonies. Except they still are expensive and Tokyo was the most pricey Olympics ever despite the extremely poor opening. Basically, the ceremonies got sacrificed for nothing.

Like i said in another post, I feel even more robbed than Tokyo's. At least with Tokyo we kinda knew long beforehand with the calamity which was the ceremonies team and its constant director replacements due to Dentsu and Cancel Culture that the ceremonies were going to be utter crap. Beijing had EVERYTHING in favor to do a good show: a director with experience, a large stadium which is rarely used for sports, and a pandemic much more under control (at least according to them). That and not counting China's love for big shows. And they still screwed it up so badly.

The saddest thing is the first 20-30 minutes filled me with lots of hope, as the Olympic Ring sequence was actually very well done and the countdown was very nice (although slighty reminiscing of Sochi's). Then everything plummeted like a house of cards after the first Snowflake segment: Imagine (AGAIN ) during a segment which, if you analyze it well, it was just a repeat of the 2018 handover. And then you have that """""cauldron"""".... if you can actually call it that way, which was preceded with an equally tacky segment with children.

Definitely, not Zhang Yimou most inspired night. He should just stick to Wuxia and ancient themes. When he works with them, he does great stuff, but contemporary themes are not his forte, and we saw it tonight.

[Sir Rols]

13 minutes ago, Ikarus360 said:

That's what happens when the entire world got uppity and loved to complain abour every single issue ever since the 2010s. Sochi stratospheric costs also were responsible for this in a way, which made the IOC, in an attempt to convince everyone the Olympics are not really that expensive, heavily toning down the olympic ceremonies. Except they still are expensive and Tokyo was the most pricey Olympics ever despite the extremely poor opening. Basically, the ceremonies got sacrificed for nothing.

But is that really important? Was Tokyo a flop because of the ceremonies? Or was Tokyo a success despite the ceremonies? Or (in my view) did Tokyo just show that the end of the ceremonies might be fun to watch but they’re really only a sideshow to the game? Maybe, just maybe, it’s a good thing they’re getting less bombastic

I’ll admit, as I’ve posted elsewhere, that I’m getting a bit jaded with them after watching them for five decades. And I did used to love them and highly anticipate them. But you know what? I’m feeling liberated i didn’t feel the need to watch last night’s event and have no desire to search them out. I can’t wait for the real stuff, the sports, to start.

[TorchbearerSydney]

Tokyo did make the world focus on sport and the athletes- and they really delivered on that.....

 

 

[nowuniverse]

The Opening Ceremony this time only hits 75% mark of my expectation where 100% is what I expect from them already given the pandemic and everything not to compare with the 2008's one. I think they overthink too much about the simplicity and that causes the event to fall short.

If they could do 3 of the following, that would be a 100% for me...

1) Try to use more fireworks and take advantage of the light effects seen in many rehearsal images. (+5%)

The lights surrounding the stadium and beams look very cool and futuristic and they didn't make it much in the broadcast which is a shame. For the fireworks, this is lunar new year for them, more fireworks doesn't hurt. The low carbon crap doesn't make sense especially when they wasted fireworks on nearly every rehearsal while they could save them for the big event. Additionally, they should play more with different color variations and creative firework shells because their fireworks and its color choices look very generic and boring. If you pay attention to London, Tokyo, and PyeongChang, you will see their fireworks look more contrast, colorful, and somewhat cooler.  

2) Organize one more segment that's equally impressive like the first two and put them after the virtual ice skating segment to build additional climax (+10%)

Again, I'm tired of the cold weather and pandemic reasoning as if like adding 7-10 more mins is going change anything and they have money and willpower and people to do so. It's just not enough of segment or climax.

3) Do more with the cauldron. (+10%)

I know they want to demonstrate everything this time not through scale or numbers but through technology advancement but they never used anything to the fullest. They spent so much money on that giant LED screen but nothing so noticeable or special coming out of it like the motion tracking will save the ceremony from the lackluster.

Same thing can be said about the cauldron, what I imagine is that they would rig the snowflake to morph into some sort of cauldron-like shape similar to what's done at London...and for the low carbon sake, maybe still use the torch in the center but a special version that could ignite into a brighter flame when going up there and with help with advanced lighting, laser, or whatever that maybe change to orange hue to add or mimic the real flame to boost the center torch even more.....so that would still be low carbon, meaningful, but at the same time innovative and technologically advanced not like let's hook up the torch and have it fly up to the sky and call it lighting the cauldron. That certainly let a lots of people down, confused or frustrated about this ceremony.

 

Think about this, same city hosting both types of Olympics within a short time....Now with the same director and happening at the same place, that's not going happen in a lifetime....So no matter how crazy or deep one's philosophy is about simplicity and all. They have everything at hands to do. They should not mess this up at any cost and they did....unbelievable!!!!

[LA1984]

2 hours ago, Scotguy II said:

If you look at how Sydney lit its flame and 22 years later we have this.......

I know its all about being carbon neutral and climate change but surely after all this time scientists could come up with a way to burn a large fire (or something resembling it) in a large cauldron for all to see that has minimal effect on the environment.

Sydney remains my gold standard in terms of story-telling, smooth transitions between artistic segments, warmth/vibe and the amazing hidden cauldron (even with the hiccup). I agree that there must be other methods of making the cauldron environmentally friendly while still being impressive. I just blame a lack of creativity and innovation on this one. 

[The Tower Bridge Fox]

it seems   poignant having a small flame set in a giant snow flake
what with climate change and everything.

[munichfan]

With a good night's sleep between me and what happened yesterday, let me give you my take of it:

A ) Be careful of what to promise beforehand. This show might have been better perceived if it had been promoted as what it was - so a protocol-only ceremony with some VERY tacky and cheesy one-world-one-dream stuff in between. Zhang and Exarchos went another way, and down the drain, it goes.

B ) Symbolics beats taking action. With acres over acres of protected forests cut down, thousands of tons of steel and concrete produced to build the venues and the motorways and rail lines that lead there to nowhere, and every single snowflake artificial in an arid region, it's just laughable to introduce the non-cauldron as an "environmentally friendly" option. These are one of the most environmentally games ever. And their little candle won't change that a bit.

C ) These games should never have been awarded to Beijing. No news here, but especially the cauldron-lighting was shocking. The "cauldron arrangement" with all the country plaques made it seem like all these NOCs supported their games. Guterres and Bach celebrating that oh-so unpolitical moment was sickening.

D ) Modern-day China has absolutely nothing to offer to the world. Zhang promised to show off modern-day China. What we got were western music, copycat sequences from former ceremonies, and loads of imperialistic propaganda. That country seemed sort of bland and consumerist when I was there years ago and nothing has changed. I guess, when you prevent your people from access to anything that's happening beyond your borders, there's no point in getting creative yourselves and you copying others is the easier way to go.

[Brekkie Boy]

I gather they're continuning the Winter Olympic tradition of a seperate medals plaza.   I was hoping covid might have seen that idea scrapped and just have the venue ceremonies but doesn't look to be the case.    Any shots of the plaza, and will there be anyone there to view the presentations?

[AustralianFan]

23 minutes ago, Brekkie Boy said:

I gather they're continuning the Winter Olympic tradition of a seperate medals plaza.   I was hoping covid might have seen that idea scrapped and just have the venue ceremonies but doesn't look to be the case.    Any shots of the plaza, and will there be anyone there to view the presentations?

Here is a link with video to First all-factor rehearsal held at the Beijing Medals Plaza - 7Jan22 - news.cgtn.com

[kevzz]

I am longing to see an opening ceremony without the use of floor projection. Is this no longer possible? Just like a good old fashioned props and costume. 
 

I really like the dandelion opening, was really quite excited as it feels like Zhang really got something minimal and elegant like his movies there. But it went downhill from there. Don’t see his fingerprints in the other segments. It could be from anyone else. 
 

 

[Rob2012]

11 hours ago, The Tower Bridge Fox said:

it seems poignant having a small flame set in a giant snow flake

You know what, I actually agree (ducks!)

BUT the context and this particular host means that it loses any poignancy it might've had. I'd use another word beginning with p instead.

I could imagine this being quite moving in many other ceremonies, particularly if it was a  smaller host nation doing it e.g. up in Norway if Oslo 2022 had happened. As it is, coming from China in the way it has, it feels more gross than if they'd just gone big and bombastic. Uck.

Edited February 5, 2022 by Rob.

[AustralianFan]

11 minutes ago, kevzz said:

I am longing to see an opening ceremony without the use of floor projection. Is this no longer possible? Just like a good old fashioned props and costume. 
 

I really like the dandelion opening, was really quite excited as it feels like Zhang really got something minimal and elegant like his movies there. But it went downhill from there. Don’t see his fingerprints in the other segments. It could be from anyone else. 
 

 

Actually, what we all saw last night was not projections.

It was actually the first time in Olympic ceremony history that a massve interactive LED screen was used with artifical intelligence and motion sensor technology.  This was literally a world first what we witnessed last and it was crystal clear, with the screen underneath the performers reacting in an amazing way.

 

 

[kevzz]

1 minute ago, AustralianFan said:

Actually, what we all saw last night was not projections.

It was actually the first time in Olympic ceremony history that a massve interactive LED screen was used with artifical intelligence and motion sensor technology.  This was literally a world first what we witnessed last and it was crystal clear, with the screen underneath the performers reacting in an amazing way.

 

 

Sorry yes it was LED screen but what I meant was I wished for a ceremony that’s not so much dependent of surface graphics. 
 

The ceremony has a hint of promising magical quality when the ‘water ripple ice box’ rose out from the ground. It takes me a few seconds to figure out what it was made of. It has a little reminiscent of Athens 2004 simplicity that I was really blown apart by. 
 

After that, it just becomes some graphic display and nothing else. 

[cfm Jeremie]

3 hours ago, munichfan said:

B ) Symbolics beats taking action. With acres over acres of protected forests cut down, thousands of tons of steel and concrete produced to build the venues and the motorways and rail lines that lead there to nowhere, and every single snowflake artificial in an arid region, it's just laughable to introduce the non-cauldron as an "environmentally friendly" option. These are one of the most environmentally games ever. And their little candle won't change that a bit.

 

Not saying that Beijing 2022 is an example of sustainability but to speak of "motorways and rail lines leading nowhere" is a stretch. The City of Zhangjakou has 1.5 million inhabitants, a figure that raises to 4.6 millions at prefecture level.

But I agree that organising winter games in one a the most arid region of China was probably not the wisest decision.

[munichfan]

19 minutes ago, cfm Jeremie said:

Not saying that Beijing 2022 is an example of sustainability but to speak of "motorways and rail lines leading nowhere" is a stretch. The City of Zhangjakou has 1.5 million inhabitants, a figure that raises to 4.6 millions at prefecture level.

But I agree that organising winter games in one a the most arid region of China was probably not the wisest decision.

That rail line does NOT go to the city of Zhangjiakou, though. The Zhangjiakou line branches of some 50 km before. After that it's just no man's land that leads to an area where little can be found beside a press centre, Olympic village and the venues which will never ever see any competition of international importance again.

[fatixxx]

i came late from work and had the possibility to watch the opening ceremony late in the night via eurosport's youtube channel.. i have to admit that the chinese use in a high level AI-technology, BUT:

meanwhile everything on the gigantic led screens were flowing fluently, in overall i found the opening in a whole very week in sence of climax and romantizm & the cohesion of the parts were not so reasonable..

for example the overlap with dandelion part was good but so repetitive, and using the tiny country-flakes into an enourmous flake was also absolete/outdated in a field with hi-tech..

on the otherside i was reflecting for mounths how it could be IF the imperial-columns (as at the 2008 opening, but then in) with icy-blue colours would raise out of the ground.. this for the needed climax and historical-imperial-romantism in the birds-nest, especially with a sequence of two seconds images from 2008 for the unique link as a bi-olympic organisation-city.. AND OF COURSE would this be perfectly implemented with this hi-tech stuf in form of holograms AS it was possible in 2004 athens with the spiraling GENETIC-formation.. thus imperial-columns in holograms whereby the skaters would ran between them to form the triple-slogan-theme higher/faste/stronger.. and in the final that those columns-holograms would sink slowly with more icy-patterns into the led-screen.. 

with this soberty it looked like the skaters were forming the woven applicant baku-2020 logo.. in my view the art director has choosen the safest option in stead of the unsafest option.. meanwhile we all know that you can create lots more with simpl/icity.. but at the end of the story i think that the chinese policy of creating this opening ceremony wasnt warmly welcomed afterall if you see the final-production.. they finished in a laughable/ridicoulous way for mutual boycot to the diplomatic world.. this is what i feel/felt after whole this opening.. this manner diplolatic-boycot wouldnt be the new era of the olympic-ceremonies nor opening nor closing.. the shadow of this unrespectable political attitude spoils this what this magical have to be, it forms a big shadow for the whole two weeks to come in back/mind.. a big chance IF not a beautiful chance is missed out..

this musnt have been the lightning outcome of the olympic flame.. a tiny olympic couldron succumbs under a gigantic diplomatic-boycot-snowflake.. the worst one in olympic history whereby there is space for ultimate-creativity..

 

(im not happy with this hi-tech opening in minor) 

[Brekkie Boy]

2 hours ago, AustralianFan said:

Here is a link with video to First all-factor rehearsal held at the Beijing Medals Plaza - 7Jan22 - news.cgtn.com

Thanks.

1 hour ago, kevzz said:

I am longing to see an opening ceremony without the use of floor projection. Is this no longer possible? Just like a good old fashioned props and costume. 
 

I really like the dandelion opening, was really quite excited as it feels like Zhang really got something minimal and elegant like his movies there. But it went downhill from there. Don’t see his fingerprints in the other segments. It could be from anyone else.

Hopefully post-covid reliance on them will subside.   Of course the plan with Paris is a ceremony within the city along the river so it'll probably be out with the floor projection but suspect they will project things on various landmarks.

[JMarkSnow2012]

48 minutes ago, munichfan said:

That rail line does NOT go to the city of Zhangjiakou, though. The Zhangjiakou line branches of some 50 km before. After that it's just no man's land that leads to an area where little can be found beside a press centre, Olympic village and the venues which will never ever see any competition of international importance again.

Maybe it's a case of "If you build it, they will come":

The continuing development of Krasnaya Polyana, Sochi

[blueview2]

5 hours ago, AustralianFan said:

Actually, what we all saw last night was not projections.

It was actually the first time in Olympic ceremony history that a massve interactive LED screen was used with artifical intelligence and motion sensor technology.  This was literally a world first what we witnessed last and it was crystal clear, with the screen underneath the performers reacting in an amazing way.

 

 

You sure its LED? looks like 3d mapping with a ginormous amount of projectors in the rigging. The led might be in the wall in the center, but the floor is projections. With an extremely rehearsed routine and few artistic segments, i doubt they will have much need for the floor to be interactive anyway.  

[AustralianFan]

4 hours ago, blueview2 said:

You sure its LED? looks like 3d mapping with a ginormous amount of projectors in the rigging. The led might be in the wall in the center, but the floor is projections. With an extremely rehearsed routine and few artistic segments, i doubt they will have much need for the floor to be interactive anyway.  

None of the floor was projections.  No projectors were used in this world first display at an Olympics Ceremony.

Yes, it is a massive interactive LED screen.  It’s quite a stunning new additon and much better quality than projections.

Yes it was interactive and yes the Screen was used for most of the Opening Ceremony, say roughly 90% or more of the Ceremony.

Razor sharp High Definition crystal clear images on a monmumental scale.

This IOC website report covers the LED screen and dimensions:

Beijing 2022 Opening Ceremony: One World, One Family - Olympics.com

“From The centre stage within the venue comprised 11,600 square metres of HD LED screen, which imitated "a crystal clear ice surface" throughout the Ceremony. Zhang further used high technology to bring his creation into existence through Artificial Intelligence using live-motion capture technology.”

 

[AustralianFan]

4 hours ago, blueview2 said:

You sure its LED? looks like 3d mapping with a ginormous amount of projectors in the rigging. The led might be in the wall in the center, but the floor is projections. With an extremely rehearsed routine and few artistic segments, i doubt they will have much need for the floor to be interactive anyway.  

 

Just now, AustralianFan said:

None of the floor was projections.  No projectors were used in this world first display at an Olympics Ceremony.

Yes, it is a massive interactive LED screen.  It’s quite a stunning new additon and much better quality than projections.

Yes it was interactive and yes the Screen was used for most of the Opening Ceremony, say roughly 90% or more of the Ceremony.

Razor sharp High Definition crystal clear images on a monmumental scale.

This IOC website report covers the LED screen and dimensions:

Beijing 2022 Opening Ceremony: One World, One Family - Olympics.com

“From The centre stage within the venue comprised 11,600 square metres of HD LED screen, which imitated "a crystal clear ice surface" throughout the Ceremony. Zhang further used high technology to bring his creation into existence through Artificial Intelligence using live-motion capture technology.”

 

Here are just some of the segments when the interactive 11,600 square metres LED screen was used with the artifical inteligence and live-motion capture intelligence.

During the Parade of Nations, the athletes walked on the images displayed on the actual massive LED screen beneath their feet.

[AustralianFan]

A video captures it better:

Opening Ceremony | Beijing 2022 Highlights - Olympics.com - Youtube.com