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Beijing 2022 Ceremonies


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On 2/5/2022 at 7:46 PM, Nacholympic said:

Mt thoughts about the ceremony:

My conclusion: no taking in consideration the “no cauldron” factor (who broke the most important tradition for an opening ceremony, turning it into a sort of “queen’s baton” relay) it was a simple, short, well done and impressive ceremony. A pandemic ceremony, well executed who successfully replaced the (may be ancient) mass segments by stunning technology… OK, Beijing… you didn’t right!!!

 

 

I've gone into a lot of admittedly OCD detail about how I think Olympic ceremonies should be arranged, but I confess to never watching most of them or none of them in their entirety. I may have watched 2012 a bit more than other games because London is a big-time city. So I was more curious how those games would be handled compared with the Olympics in 2008, 2016, etc. I recall seeing parts of 2008 and could tell that Beijing had obviously spared no expense.

I'm guessing the openings and closings of Olympics are influenced by the IOC and OOCs - and their sponsors. And they want to lure in the prime target audience most advertisers crave: Women under 30. Or something like that. Not sure how annual Super Bowls are (or aren't) affected by the same thing. But their half times probably are similarly done with that market in mind.

Whether winter or summer games, the parade of nations - although the essence of an Olympic games - is to me the longest and most tedious segment of ceremonies. I've often wondered how that can be shortened or sped up. But doing that without offending the athletes - the very reason for the games -  would be a very tough task. 

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4 hours ago, Olympics2028 said:

 

Whether winter or summer games, the parade of nations - although the essence of an Olympic games - is to me the longest and most tedious segment of ceremonies. I've often wondered how that can be shortened or sped up. But doing that without offending the athletes - the very reason for the games -  would be a very tough task. 

Yeah those athletes are a bloody nuisance, always ruining the ceremonies. After all, the ceremonies are what the Olympics are all about, no?

:rolleyes:

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The argument about timezones applies to 2018 as well, yet audiences are significantly lower than back then.

That can neither please NBC nor the IOC. Or the latter really believes there‘s 300 million new winter sports enthusiasts in Xina these days, as the CCP keeps telling us.

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Seems they'll reuse the LED screen and the large ramp like tower is being either removed or halved. My expectations are very low after the opening but who knows, so far closing ceremonies have been better than the openings in the last couple of editions.

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I always knew 2008 Beijing was going to be hard to top, but, I really did not enjoy 2022 Opening Ceremonies. I understand Covid played a huge role in the scaling down, but it just was boring IMO *cue Putin sleeping*

I hope that in the future they rely less on giant LED screens. They are so common now that they almost feel like giant ads plastered on the stadium floors and walls.

That Shenzhen drone and light show was way better than several ceremonies in recent history.

Hope Paris 24, Milan 26, and LA 28 try something new and more exciting because Beijing 22 was very underwhelming and uninspiring.

 

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18 hours ago, yoshi said:

Paralympic opening > Olympic closing > Paralympic closing = Olympic opening. It's almost become tradition now. 

Olympic Opening is more prone to have executive meddling by the IOC/Globalization messages and the current trends in the world, which often restricts the creativity of the team involved which can't fully do what they really want to (its obvious they're all getting forced to put Imagine).

On the other hand, Paralympic ceremonies have much less meddling and more free ground to do what they want. I really liked the Airport concept of Tokyo 2020 paralympics. And some people in this board like PC'2018 Paralympics opening more than its actual opening (for me, they're in a close draw).

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1 hour ago, Ikarus360 said:

Olympic Opening is more prone to have executive meddling by the IOC/Globalization messages and the current trends in the world, which often restricts the creativity of the team involved which can't fully do what they really want to (its obvious they're all getting forced to put Imagine).

On the other hand, Paralympic ceremonies have much less meddling and more free ground to do what they want. I really liked the Airport concept of Tokyo 2020 paralympics. And some people in this board like PC'2018 Paralympics opening more than its actual opening (for me, they're in a close draw).

The IOC messages have got to stop. They need a different platform to advertise their initiatives. These ceremonies are for the hosts to shine and the athletes to be celebrated, NOT IOC bullsh*t.

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I read this article and it sums up what I feel about a lot of things in general, including events like the Olympics.

Everything has gotten overdone, over social media-ized, over-synthesized, over high-techized.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/old-music-killing-new-music/621339/

People's tastes are different too. So what I like, others don't. What I dislike, others like.

I don't watch most Olympic ceremonies, so I guess my interest in them is both ironic but also makes me like an armchair quarterback dozing on the lawn chair.

Similarly, I don't listen to most music. But the way people are turning away from the new in favor of the older is how I feel about things like the Olympic games too.

 

 

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28 minutes ago, Olympics2028 said:

I read this article and it sums up what I feel about a lot of things in general, including events like the Olympics.

Everything has gotten overdone, over social media-ized, over-synthesized, over high-techized.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/01/old-music-killing-new-music/621339/

People's tastes are different too. So what I like, others don't. What I dislike, others like.

I don't watch most Olympic ceremonies, so I guess my interest in them is both ironic but also makes me like an armchair quarterback dozing on the lawn chair.

Similarly, I don't listen to most music. But the way people are turning away from the new in favor of the older is how I feel about things like the Olympic games too.

 

 

Okay, i bit the bullet and read your damn article. You do realise that it is NOT about people’ tastes changing. Rather how the digital economy, as in many industries, has disrupted the music business resulting in less paybacks tho new artists and the major music companies being more risk averse to investing and promoting new artists when they can achieve better payback at zero investment costs by promoting their back catalogues. Nothing new there. It’s the same reason movie studios now favour franchises, sequels and reboots over original independent productions. 

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Hi Guys!

It's been a week and 2 days since the opening ceremony of Beijing 2022. I watched the Opening Ceremony live as it happened but I got carried away with watching the sports so I thought now would be the perfect time to give you all my critique on the OC of Beijing 2022.

I loved how there were many influences from the Chinese belief of seasons and how the day of the OC coincided with the start of Spring in Chinese culture. It was clever how the countdown started with 24 given that the Beijing Olympics of 2022 were the 24th edition of the Winter Games and how the number 24 represented the 24 solar terms of the Chinese Calendar. I felt as thought the countdown was a bit calm and not climatic as what you would expect it to be. I think the did that to keep with the soft winter theme. I loved the first segment where you had those large LED flexible grass poles swaying in the stage floor. I really like that segment. It was fascinating to see the green grass separate into tiny groups in the stadium into white dandelions and then into fireworks. The music complemented that segment very well mixing Chinese instruments with winter-themed music. That projection board did a great job in showcasing the story through the projections but I think they could've installed the slide on the side of the stadium rather than in the middle. I found it a bit weird and you could tell they tried to copy PyeongChang's stage. I felt like the fireworks display was missing something maybe because I'm used to seeing the whole circumference of stadium being lit up with pyrotechnics rather than just having it at one side of the stadium. It would've been perfect for TV viewers but not the whole stadium.

The entrance of the Chinese flag by the people dressed not only in the many ethnic groups in China but also the workers like nurses, police, builders etc. was very interesting. I tried to see whether they included the Xinjiang traditional attire. I found the rendition of the Chinese National Anthem to be great but wasn't as powerful as the 2008 rendition.

Moving on to the next segment with the ice cubes and the lasers. I loved this segment as well. I loved how it started with a drop of ink from the top to the bottom of the stadium which then turned into water and solidified into projected ice. The music was more upbeat and sporty. I'm pretty sure that there was a physical podium that acted as the main ice cube. The lasers were just amazing to watch. It was great seeing the presentation of past Olympic Winter Games being displayed on the ice cube. The laser puck and the LED covered curler dancers reminded me of the Beijing handover at the PyeongChang Closing Ceremony and I thought it was very consistent of Zhang Yimou to include that. The scene where the giant ice cube melted into the Olympic Rings (also physical) was very well done. It reminded me of the segment of the 2008 OC where they had those LED dots that formed the Olympic Rings, which was actually one the many segments I loved from 2008. 

Moving on to the Parade of Nations, the projections of Chinese doors were clever and I loved how multicoloured they were throughout the parade. I didn't really like the soundtrack of famous classical music. I would choose the 2008 soundtrack, as they had cultural music from around the world, over the 2022 one any-day. Although, the soundtrack wasn't my cup of tea, I admired the thought behind it. I noticed there were a lot of Italian composers in the soundtrack so I'm guessing this was likely a nod to Milan-Cortina for the next Winter Games in 2026. It was very fitting to hear Ode to Motherland being played when the Chinese marched into the stadium. 

It was great to see the placards being formed into one giant snowflake (a la London 2012 cauldron) and how the outer edges of the snowflake was styled into olive tree branches maintaining that connection between the World, China, and Greece, the home of the Olympics. I admired the transformation from the snowflake being projected to a physical one. The music behind this segment was very worldly and I love it because of that. This was very similar to what Beijing 2008 had with the Olympic Rings if I remember correctly.

In the segment after the Games were opened by Xi Jinping, we had university students walk past the stage forming the motto 'Together for a Shared Future'. I liked the idea of that scene but I thought more could have been done instead of walking. They could've maybe paint one of the Chinese characters or danced to the music in a way that would've formed the letters of the motto. We then had 'Imagine' by John Lennon (HAHAHAHA) play with skaters forming lines that were again very similar to the Beijing Handover at the PyeongChang 2018 Closing Ceremony. I must admit when I heard Imagine, I thought of the other viewers at Gamesbid and your negative reactions! HAHAHAHA. I liked the rendition but I prefer other renditions from other editions. My favourite would have to be the Pyeongchang rendition.

Someone in the forum was right about the connection of the 2008 and 2022 ceremonies being the Greek acapella rendition of the Olympic Anthem. It's a nice feeling to hear the Olympic Hymn being sung in Greek. Apparently, the 44 children choir was from the poverty-stricken mountains of the Fuping County in Hebei Province. That was a nice gesture. It was clever to see the children wear tiger hats as a nod to the Year of the Tiger Lunar New Year festivities. 

The video of the toddlers playing in winter sports was so cute to watch.

We come to the last segment and that is the Snowflake performance. The song was so catchy, even to this day, it's still on my mind lol! It was very impressive to see the tracking technology used on the dove dancers as they were dancing around. I thought the bird props were cute. I found it a bit cliche how they all formed a love heart. I think they should've formed a snowflake so that the giant snowflake structure is reaching out on to the floor and doesn't make the floor feel empty. 

It was nice to see each athlete born in different decades get a hold of the torch providing a lasting legacy of sports through the generations. The lighting cauldron was underwhelming but SURPRISING to see as it was literally a torch on a giant snowflake. I was like 'Oh... that's it?...That was the cauldron the entire time?' Wow lol. Anybody could've thought of that when it comes to sustainability but kudos to Zhang Yimou for thinking about that idea of a simple and sustainable cauldron as it has never been done before in Olympic history. I found out later that one of the two cauldron lighters was of Uyghur ethnicity which was very thoughtful and heart-warming of the organisers to do. I loved how the ceremony once again ended with a big fireworks display with Olympic Rings (which was pretty cool), snowflakes of course, and a whole lot of fireworks. It made want more artistic displays. I loved how they used the same English announcer that was used for 2008 and how all of the announcers wished everyone a happy Lunar New Year afterwards. 

I wonder what Zhang said when he said that the ceremony was going to last for 100 minutes because that was definitely not 100 minutes. I would say it was around the same duration as PyeongChang's OC but Pyeongchang had more content in its artistic displays and wasn't as short as Beijing's OC. 

Overall, I enjoyed watching the Beijing 2022 Opening Ceremony with its influences from Lunar New Year, the creativity of generic winter symbols such as the snowflake, its links to world culture and elements from 2008, and it's consistency from the Beijing Handover four years ago. The letdown in general, for me, was the duration of the segments. To conclude, I say xie xie to Beijing and Zhang Yimou for providing us with a great ceremony (although 2008 was a bit better in my opinion) and a lovely storyline. 

 

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On 2/6/2022 at 2:46 PM, Nacholympic said:

What’s next? Someone singing “imagine” in French version on the Seine River?

Edith Piaf style. Lol

 

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12 minutes ago, PikyoK said:

I agree. I liked the idea but I just didn't feel like a cauldron.

but it* just didn't feel like a cauldron.

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