Paris 2024 Ceremonies - Verdict

[Red Centaur]

For me, Athens had a perfect opening ceremony. 

[Olympics2028]

1 hour ago, Sir Rols said:

Have you watched them now?

Since the IOC's own official channel has yet to post a video of the event, access remains dependent on second-hand sources. I've just seen the segment where singer Celine Dion is standing on the Eiffel Tower. If that moment could have been the entire opening, Paris 2024 would have come closer to setting the right tone.

[sebastien1214]

1 minute ago, Olympics2028 said:

Since the IOC's own official channel has yet to post a video of the event, access remains dependent on second-hand sources. I've just seen the segment where singer Celine Dion is standing on the Eiffel Tower. If that moment could have been the entire opening, Paris 2024 would have come closer to setting the right tone.

Wait, are you really judging the Paris opening ceremony without having seen it in full?!

[Red Centaur]

52 minutes ago, Sir Rols said:

I dunno. Horseguards, Greenwich Park and open road events certainly also gave London its share of picturesque sheen. If anything,

I don’t think Sydney utilised the beauty of the harbour as much as it could have - I still have missed feelings about locating our epicentre at Homebush.

I have no iconic memory of London, even though I watched the games. The opening sequence of the London Opening Ceremony was brilliant, as was the lighting of the cauldron.

Sydney: the Olympic rings on the bridge, beach volleyball at Bondi, and the triathlon at the Opera House... even the threat of sharks might have sped up the swimmers.

Homebush is actually a case study of an Olympic park that thrived post-games.

Let's not forget how the teams working on the Sydney Olympics went on the work on the Melbourne 2006 CG, and then onto London 2012. Lots of great experience that made London a smooth success. 

 

[Sir Rols]

6 minutes ago, Olympics2028 said:

. If that moment could have been the entire opening, Paris 2024 would have come closer to setting the right tone.

How can you actually state that when you haven’ actually seen the rest???

 

And the others ceremonies? Have you watched all of Sydney’s, Athens’, Beijing 2008’s, London’s, Rio’s, Tokyo’s or Beijing 2022 yet.

 

[Sir Rols]

17 minutes ago, Red Centaur said:

the Olympic rings on the bridge, beach volleyball at Bondi, and the triathlon at the Opera House

Three events. Four if you want to include sailing on the harbour. The vast overwhelming bulk of he rest was at Homebush, which while it’s ben a successful reject and an undoubted asset to he city, is hardly glamorously photogenic.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of what we achieved, had he time of my life, and as I said, am happy Olympic Park has left a great legacy asset. But I often wonder how it would have gone if we’d had a more city-centric games focussed around  a Moore Park Olympic Park (as had been planned in our domestic 1996 bid), had swimming at North Sydney pool (as we did in he 1938 more Games) etc.

Edited August 1, 2024 by Sir Rols

[Red Centaur]

7 minutes ago, Sir Rols said:

Three events. Four if you want to include sailing on the harbour. The vast overwhelming bulk of he rest was at Homebush, which while it’s ben a successful reject and an undoubted asset to he city, is hardly glamorously photogenic.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of what we achieved, had he time of my life, and as I said, am happy Olympic Park has left a great legacy asset. But I often wonder how it would have gone if we’d had a more city-centric games focussed around  a Moore Park Olympic Park (as had been planned in our domestic 1996 bid), had swimming at North Sydney pool (as we did in he 1938 more Games) etc.

I actually agree with you - the scenic qualities could have been better: imagine diving in North Sydney Swimming pool with the bridge and opera house in the back ground... would have been astonishing. also, I have always held the belief they missed an opportunity to fix Sydney's airport issues: they should have turned Mascot into the Olympic park and moved the airport outside the city... the stadium would have had the cbd as a back drop and only a 10minute drive from the CBD.... maybe next time we host the games 😉

[Olympics2028]

1 hour ago, sebastien1214 said:

Wait, are you really judging the Paris opening ceremony without having seen it in full?!

I'm admittedly basing it on second-hand sources. 

I also know that what I like, various other people don't like, and visa versa. But unless what's being judged is too ambiguous to know for sure, I'll probably have the same opinion based on other sources. Things like legal complaints alone indicate something was really off about 2024's opening.

There have been way less controversial aspects of past Olympic games that I didn't care for, so if this is exceptionally controversial, I doubt my opinion would change if I watched it with my own eyes. But, okay, I won't deny I'm no authority on the details of Paris 2024.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0xj358y7n5o

Quote

A French DJ who performed during the Paris Olympics' opening ceremony has filed a legal complaint after receiving abuse online. Barbara Butch took part in a drag queen sequence during the event which sparked controversy as viewers interpreted it as a reference to The Last Supper

The ceremony's artistic director, Thomas Jolly, denied this and some art experts said the scene shared more similarities with a painting of Greek gods.

Jolly has said that he was not inspired by The Last Supper, the famous Leonardo da Vinci painting showing Jesus Christ and his apostles. Instead, he said the sequence, titled Festivity, was inspired by Greek mythology and intended to be a celebration of diversity, adding his intention was not to "be subversive, nor to mock or to shock".

 

[Olympics2028]

1 hour ago, Sir Rols said:

And the others ceremonies? Have you watched all of Sydney’s, Athens’, Beijing 2008’s, London’s, Rio’s, Tokyo’s or Beijing 2022 yet.

 

Yea, pretty much so, although segments of a ceremony I admittedly fast forward through. But not super fast, just like 1.24x or 1.5x faster. As for judging how an Olympics and its OOC should be rated, everything is up for grabs. I'd never write off Paris 2024 if its budget and attendance figures end up being better than other summer games. IOW, even if its opening fell flat, that's just one moving part of 2024's entire operation.

[Sir Rols]

18 minutes ago, Olympics2028 said:

I'm admittedly basing it on second-hand sources. 

I also know that what I like, various other people don't like, and visa versa. But unless what's being judged is too ambiguous to know for sure, I'll probably have the same opinion based on other sources. Things like legal complaints alone indicate something was really off about 2024's opening.

 

9 minutes ago, Olympics2028 said:

segments of a ceremony I admittedly fast forward through.

And there you go. For someone who posts so prodigiously and opinionatedly about OCs, how are we supposed to regard your opinions on them as anything but uninformed confirmation bias?

Edited August 1, 2024 by Sir Rols

[Olympics2028]

1 hour ago, Sir Rols said:

And there you go. For someone who posts so prodigiously and opinionatedly about OCs, how are we supposed to regard your opinions on them as anything but uninformed confirmation bias?

Part of the problem is that recordings of the opening so far haven't been posted. The IOC is reportedly cracking down hard on vloggers for showing even brief snippets of it. You'd think publicity about "Olympics" would be favored by the IOC and 2024 OOC.

As for what can't be challenged on legal grounds, variations of word-of-mouth about the opening ceremony are showing up in other ways:

 

 

[baron-pierreIV]

10 hours ago, guilherme b said:

 

The press was more concerned with hiding from the water. The coverage in that area should have been a higher priority than for the authorities?

 

 

 

They were ill-prepared for the downpour and the main priority was saving their equipment because repair and without them, they were f*cked!! 

[baron-pierreIV]

14 hours ago, sebastien1214 said:

But there are plenty of talented directors who would be capable of doing great things in stadiums. Look at Beijing 2008. It wasn't the usual names that make up 50% of the ceremonies, and everyone says it's the best ceremony (or the second best) in history. This is not a question of pleading to continue leaving the stadium, we can very well return to the stadium without necessarily having to entrust the ceremonies to people who have already done dozens of them.

I'm not saying there is no room for new, fresh talent.  Of course, there is -- but it (OC at least) has become such a massive undertaking  and the COJO is taking care of other things -- uhmmm, only staging the largest sporting event in the world -- that they would start by getting more experienced hands to put the show together, at least.  And unless the CEO of the COJO has his/her specific picks right from the start, they put out RFPs at the start and build from that.  

The perfect example of what I;m saying  . . . and meeting you halfway is the formation of the Barcelonan 1992 Ceremonies group.  Of course, that was 32 years ago and the Paralympics were barely a blip on the screen in terms of budget and priorities.  Allow me to quote from pg 46 of my book:

" Barcelona also became the first Games to conduct a competitive process to select its ceremonies production teams.  As North Korea is the only place (as of the year 2010) where the creation and staging of Olympic/stadium-type spectacle are taught formally in a university-type setting (with credits awarded), COOB, the Barcelona Organizing Committee, got things started in its process by inviting six production companies (four Spanish, one French, and one Italian) to bid for the Barcelona portfolio. 

                Prior to the final selection, Ric Birch (of Los Angeles 1984) had been invited both as executive producer and to partner with one of the bidders, Ovideo.  (The situation had supposedly been cleared of any conflict of interest.)  Because politics interfered in the selection process and the possibility that it would have to be redone all over, the top two Spanish entries, Ovideo and Bassat-Sport (which, of course, had the best connections to the powers that were) joined forces and were picked to form the 1992 Ceremonies team, with Birch as executive producer. The compromise structure that had been brokered, split credit and responsibilities into two: Ovideo’s script would be the creative template while Bassat-Sport would provide the administrative, financial and publicity-promotion functions."

The ceremonies succeeding Barcelona were formed in some variation or other of that -- but eventually, even China, after they had settled on Yimou who, of course had a portfolio of spectacular films -- also had to hire the services of executives from Jack Morton to guide them and which gave their Ceremonies contact with sources of international talent and int'l cache that they were using professionals and not using amateurs who had no credentials for this sort of thing.  

If you wanted to build a well-made maison and didn't have any set ideas of your own -- would you use a totally inexperienced architect/contractor, or if you wanted to be sure of a quality product -- at least hire one with good references and whose work for others you could easily have verified--so you had an idea of what you would be paying for and getting?  
 

 

[Ikarus360]

7 hours ago, Red Centaur said:

For me, Athens had a perfect opening ceremony. 

It kind of suffered of the same "focused fof TV audiences" sickness but not as godawful as Paris. And nevertheless it was a very dignified and beautiful show which is often forgotten because of Beijing

[Red Centaur]

48 minutes ago, Ikarus360 said:

It kind of suffered of the same "focused fof TV audiences" sickness but not as godawful as Paris. And nevertheless it was a very dignified and beautiful show which is often forgotten because of Beijing

I believe Athens worked perfectly for a stadium setting. The sight of a lone figures in a vast space, the stunning fire rings, and the huge head breaking apart to turn a dish of water into the Aegean Sea with islands were amazing. It worked on the micro and macro. The ceremony’s thoughtful approach was very greek and very philosophical. It explored what it means to be human, looked at the human form, cultural evolution, and our DNA. This reflected the Olympics' celebration of human physical potential. It was truly brilliant! I can rave about this ceremony all day. 

 

[AustralianFan]

1 hour ago, Ikarus360 said:

It kind of suffered of the same "focused fof TV audiences" sickness but not as godawful as Paris. And nevertheless it was a very dignified and beautiful show which is often forgotten because of Beijing

 

13 minutes ago, Red Centaur said:

I believe Athens worked perfectly for a stadium setting. The sight of a lone figures in a vast space, the stunning fire rings, and the huge head breaking apart to turn a dish of water into the Aegean Sea with islands were amazing. It worked on the micro and macro. The ceremony’s thoughtful approach was very greek and very philosophical. It explored what it means to be human, looked at the human form, cultural evolution, and our DNA. This reflected the Olympics' celebration of human physical potential. It was truly brilliant! I can rave about this ceremony all day. 

 

@Red Centaur I agree that as a member of the Stadium audience for both the dress rehearsal and the actual Ceremony, it was made for stadium audience with the action very close to spectators.

It was a beautiful smaller stadium than the mega Sydney one and in the Athens Olympic Stadium audience we felt very involved and in awe of what was unfolding in front of us close up.

By coincidence I am right at this second looking at the Athens Olympic Stadium from the Mall of Athens about 500m away.

i just took a photo and trying to post it here on my mobile .  But hope at least this link works

https://imgur.com/gallery/athens-olympic-stadium-11-40am-1-august-2024-7Ho5TBE

 

[AustralianFan]

Just now, AustralianFan said:

 

@Red Centaur I agree that as a member of the Stadium audience for both the dress rehearsal and the actual Ceremony, it was made for stadium audience with the action very close to spectators.

It was a beautiful smaller stadium than the mega Sydney one and in the Athens Olympic Stadium audience we felt very involved and in awe of what was unfolding in front of us close up.

By coincidence I am right at this second looking at the Athens Olympic Stadium from the Mall of Athens about 500m away.

i just took a photo and trying to post it here on my mobile .  But hope at least this link works

https://imgur.com/gallery/athens-olympic-stadium-11-40am-1-august-2024-7Ho5TBE

 

1 August 2024, 11:40am - Athens Olympic Stadium

photo in link above

[JMarkSnow2012]

30 minutes ago, Red Centaur said:

I believe Athens worked perfectly for a stadium setting. The sight of a lone figures in a vast space, the stunning fire rings, and the huge head breaking apart to turn a dish of water into the Aegean Sea with islands were amazing. It worked on the micro and macro. The ceremony’s thoughtful approach was very greek and very philosophical. It explored what it means to be human, looked at the human form, cultural evolution, and our DNA. This reflected the Olympics' celebration of human physical potential. It was truly brilliant! I can rave about this ceremony all day. 

 

Coming around 12 August on my YouTube channel, "Behind the Athens 2004 Olympic Opening Ceremony"- the very belated yet very timely follow-up to:

 

[JMarkSnow2012]

10 minutes ago, AustralianFan said:

It was a beautiful smaller stadium than the mega Sydney one and in the Athens Olympic Stadium audience we felt very involved and in awe of what was unfolding in front of us close up.

The OAKA stadium is only smaller than Sydney's in spectator capacity. The fields of play in all Olympic track & field stadiums are roughly the same massive size. Rio 2016's decision to use the iconic Maracana football stadium for its ceremonies, with a naturally much smaller f.o.p., was genius.

[JMarkSnow2012]

7 hours ago, Olympics2028 said:

Part of the problem is that recordings of the opening so far haven't been posted

Are you not able to access your local rights-holding broadcaster's catch-up streaming service? (or, erm, VPNBBC)

[AustralianFan]

14 minutes ago, JMarkSnow2012 said:

The OAKA stadium is only smaller than Sydney's in spectator capacity. The fields of play in all Olympic track & field stadiums are roughly the same massive size. Rio 2016's decision to use the iconic Maracana football stadium for its ceremonies, with a naturally much smaller f.o.p., was genius.

Yes and the stadium gradient of spectator seats in OAKA Stadium Athens is steeper than Stadium Australia where I also watched the first dress rehearsal then the actual Opening Ceremony plus an athletics session.

110,000 seats at Stadium Australia are more raked back than the closer in Athens Olympic Stadium (75,000) seats in that refirbished stadium which were not built for the Olympics.

The Athens Olympic Stadium was a decades old stadium which was given a refresh for the Games and a roof placed on it for the Games.   As spectators in Athens the installation of the running track in the tighter available area had the first rows of spectator seats a lot closer the more expansive field of play at Stadium Australia, where the distance between the fence and the running track was significantly longer.

[FYI]

28 minutes ago, JMarkSnow2012 said:

Are you not able to access your local rights-holding broadcaster's catch-up streaming service? (or, erm, VPNBBC)

He can watch it at least on Peacock (he can sign-up for the month for $6, instead of being on here & telling us his "opinion" on something that he didn't even watch). They have the entire Opening Ceremony available until at least the end of these Games. 

[AustralianFan]

29 minutes ago, JMarkSnow2012 said:

The OAKA stadium is only smaller than Sydney's in spectator capacity. The fields of play in all Olympic track & field stadiums are roughly the same massive size. Rio 2016's decision to use the iconic Maracana football stadium for its ceremonies, with a naturally much smaller f.o.p., was genius.

 

4 minutes ago, AustralianFan said:

Yes and the stadium gradient of spectator seats in OAKA Stadium Athens is steeper than Stadium Australia where I also watched the first dress rehearsal then the actual Opening Ceremony plus an athletics session.

110,000 seats at Stadium Australia are more raked back than the closer in Athens Olympic Stadium (75,000) seats in that refirbished stadium which were not built for the Olympics.

The Athens Olympic Stadium was a decades old stadium which was given a refresh for the Games and a roof placed on it for the Games.   As spectators in Athens the installation of the running track in the tighter available area had the first rows of spectator seats a lot closer the more expansive field of play at Stadium Australia, where the distance between the fence and the running track was significantly longer.

Sydney 2000’s field was significantly wider than the very tight Athens 2004 field which was a lot closer to the spectator fence.

Here are the actual Field dimensions at the time of their respective Olympic Games:

Sydney 2000 Olympic Stadium:

160m x 118m

 

Athens 2004 Olympic Stadium:

105m x 68m

[Red Centaur]

1 hour ago, JMarkSnow2012 said:

Coming around 12 August on my YouTube channel, "Behind the Athens 2004 Olympic Opening Ceremony"- the very belated yet very timely follow-up to:

 

This is amazing! Can’t wait to see it. 

[AustralianFan]

1 minute ago, Red Centaur said:

This is amazing! Can’t wait to see it. 

Same here, looove to see it