baron-pierreIV Posted March 19, 2008 Report Share Posted March 19, 2008 (edited) Ok, accept the Sandstorm sequence. To the issue of the cauldron!I think it should be placed INSIDE. Its good for a enclosed stadium. The stadium in Busan (Korea) is enclosed like the Bird's Nest. In my opinion, this is how the Bird's Nest would look on TV on the opening and closing ceremonies: Clip: 2002 Asian Games Opening and Closing Ceremony (Closing Ceremony begins at 4:26 on clip 1) . Anyone guess which parts are similar to the Seoul Olympic ceremonies? As for the flame lighting, how did that Busan flame reach the cauldron? The broadcast did not show it! Thanks for those clips. I think that's how Beijing will light its cauldron, except it would then rise in the air to however high it can go. That's about all you can do in stadia as enclosed as these are. Your Clip #1 shows the lighting of the cauldron at 4:09. Edited March 19, 2008 by baron-pierreIV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympian2004 Posted March 19, 2008 Report Share Posted March 19, 2008 Your Clip #1 shows the lighting of the cauldron at 4:09. I believe that olympics08 didn't mean the small cauldron in the centre of the field, but the tall one beside the running track which can be seen (for example) at 5:47 in the first clip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted March 19, 2008 Report Share Posted March 19, 2008 (edited) I believe that olympics08 didn't mean the small cauldron in the centre of the field, but the tall one beside the running track which can be seen (for example) at 5:47 in the first clip. Oh. I didn't watch the whole thing. Looking at the Closing C clip, it's clear that it's not the same red cauldron as the one lit on the field. So I can only guess that they did an Albertville-Atlanta guidewire m.o. If you will look at the close-ups of the field cauldron, there were guidewires attached to it. So that's how they might've done the transfer of the flame. The Bird's Nest canopy seems to be a much lower overhang than Busan's. Edited March 19, 2008 by baron-pierreIV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chapin Urbano Posted April 1, 2008 Report Share Posted April 1, 2008 I have been trying to find out about the Parade of Nations during the Opening Ceremony, and the order of the participants I made this list with what I found on the internet, if anybody has more info, let me know 1 GRE xi la Greece 2 ALB a er ba ni ya Albania 3 ALG a er ji li a Algeria 4 AFG a fu han Afghanistan 5 ARG a gen ting Argentina 6 UAE a la bo lian he qiu chang guo United Arab Emirates 7 ARU a lu ba Aruba 8 OMA a man Oman 9 AZE a sai bai jiang Azerbaijan 10 IRL ai er lan Ireland 11 EGY ai ji Egypt 12 ETH ai sai e bi ya Ethiopia 13 EST ai sha ni ya Estonia 14 AND an dao er Andorra 15 ANG an ge la Angola 16 ANT an ti gua he ba bu da Antigua and Barbuda 17 AUS ao da li ya Australia 18 AUT ao di li Austria 19 BAR ba ba duo si Barbados 20 PNG ba bu ya xin ji nei ya Papua New Guinea 21 BAH ba ha ma The Bahamas 22 PAK ba ji si tan Pakistan 23 PAR ba la gui Paraguay 24 PLE ba le si tan Palestine 25 BRN ba lin Baharein 26 PAN ba na ma Panama 27 BRA ba xi Brazil 28 BLR bai e luo si Belarus 29 BER bai mu da Bermuda 30 BUL bao jia li ya Bulgaria 31 PRK bei han Korea People's Republic 32 BEN bei ning Benin 33 BEL bi li shi Belgium 34 PER bi lu Peru 35 ISL bing dao Iceland 36 BOT bo ci wa na Botswana 37 PUR bo duo li ge Puerto Rico 38 POL bo lan Poland 39 BOL bo li wei ya Bolivia 40 BIZ bo li zi Belize 41 BIH bo si ni ya - hei se ge wei na Bosnia and Herzegovina 42 BHU bu dan Bhutan 43 BUR bu ji na fa suo Burkina Faso 44 GEQ chi dao ji nei ya Equatorial Guinea 45 DEN dan mai Denmark 46 GER de guo Germany 47 TLS dong di wen East Timor 48 TOG duo ge Togo 49 DOM duo mi ni jia gong he guo Dominican Republic 50 DMA duo ming ni jia Dominica 51 ECU e gua duo er Ecuador 52 ERI e li te li ya Eritrea 53 RUS e luo si Russia 54 FRA fa guo France 55 FIJ fei ji Fiji 56 PHI fei lu bin Philippines 57 FIN fen lan Finland 58 CPV fo de jiao Cape Verde 59 GAM gan bi ya Gambia 60 CGO gang guo gong he guo Republic of Congo 61 COD gang guo min zhu gong he guo Democratic Republic of Congo 62 GEO ge lu ji ya Georgia 63 COL ge lun bi ya Colombia 64 GRN ge na da Grenada 65 CRC ge si da li jia Costa Rica 66 CUB gu ba Cuba 67 GUA gua di ma la Guatemala 68 GUY gui ya na Guyana 69 KAZ ha sa ke si tan Kazakhstan 70 HAI hai di Haiti 71 KOR han guo Republic of Korea 72 NED he lan Netherlands 73 MNE hei shan Montenegro 74 HON hong du la si Honduras 75 DJI ji bu ti Djibouti 76 KGZ ji er ji si si tan Kirgystan 77 KIR ji li ba si Kiribati 78 GUI ji nei ya Guinea 79 GHA jia na Ghana 80 CAN jia na da Canada 81 GAB jia peng Gabon 82 CAM jian pu zhai Cambodia 83 CZE jie ke gong he guo Czech Republic 84 ZIM jin ba bu wei Zimbabwe 85 CMR ka mai long Cameroon 86 CRO ke luo di ya Croatia 87 CIV ke te di wa Cote d'Ivoire 88 KUW ke wei te Kuwait 89 KEN ken ni ya Kenya 90 LAT la tuo wei ya Latvia 91 LES lai suo tuo Lesotho 92 LAO lao wo Laos 93 LIB li ba nen Lebanon 94 LBR li bi li ya Liberia 95 LBA li bi ya Libya 96 LTU li tao wan Lithuania 97 LIE lie zhi dun shi deng Liechtenstein 98 LUX lu sen bao Luxembourg 99 RWA lu wang da Rwanda 100 ROU luo ma ni ya Romania 101 MAD ma da jia si jia Madagascar 102 MDV ma er dai fu Maldives 103 MLT ma er ta Malta 104 MAW ma la wei Malawi 105 MAS ma lai xi ya Malaysia 106 MLI ma li Mali 107 MKD ma qi dun Macedonia 108 MHL ma shao er qun dao Marshall Islands 109 MRI mao li qiu si Mauritius 110 MTN mao li ta ni ya Mauritania 111 USA mei guo United States of America 112 MGL meng gu Mongolia 113 BAN meng jia la guo Bangladesh 114 FSM mi ke luo ni xi ya Micronesia 115 MYA mian dian Myanmar 116 MDA mo er duo wa Moldova 117 MAR mo luo ge Morocco 118 MON mo na ge Monaco 119 MOZ mo sang bi ke Mozambique 120 MEX mo xi ge Mexico 121 NAM na mi bi ya Namibia 122 RSA nan fei South Africa 123 NRU nao lu Nauru 124 NEP ni bo er Nepal 125 NCA ni jia la gua Nicaragua 126 NIG ni ri er Niger 127 NGR ni ri li ya Nigeria 128 NOR nuo wei Norway 129 PLW pa lao Palau 130 BDI pu long di Burundu 131 POR pu tao ya Portugal 132 QAT qia ta er Qatar 133 JPN ri ben Japan 134 SWE rui dian Sweden 135 SUI rui shi Switzerland 136 ESA sa er wa duo El Salvador 137 SAM sa mo ya Samoa 138 SRB sai er wei ya Serbia 139 SLE sai la li ang Sierra Leone 140 SEY sai she er Seychelles 141 SEN se nei jia er Senegal 142 CYP se pu lu si Cyprus 143 KSA sha te a la bo Saudi Arabia 144 STP sheng duo mei pu lin xi bi Sao Tome and Principe 145 SKN sheng ji ci he ni wei si Saint Kitts and Nevis 146 LCA sheng lu xi ya Saint Lucia 147 SMR sheng ma li nuo San Marino 148 VIN sheng wen sen te he ge lin na ding si Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 149 SWZ shi wa ji lan Swaziland 150 SRI si li lan ka Sri Lanka 151 SLO si luo wen ni ya Slovenia 152 SVK si luo wen ni ya Slovakia 153 SUD su dan Sudan 154 SUR su li nan Suriname 155 SOM suo ma li Somalia 156 TJK ta ji ke si tan Tajikistan 157 THA tai guo Thailand 158 TPE tai wan Taipei 159 TAN tan sang ni ya Tanzania 160 TRI te li ni da he duo ba ge Trinidad and Tobago 161 TUR tu er qi Turkey 162 TKM tu ku man Turkmenistan 163 TUN tu ni si Tunisia 164 TUV tu wa lu Tuvalu 165 VAN wa nu a tu Vanuatu 166 VEN wei nei rui la Venezuela 167 BRU wen lai da lu sa lan gui Brunei 168 UGA wu gan da Uganda 169 UKR wu ke lan Ukraine 170 URU wu la gui Uruguay 171 UZB wu zi bie ke si tan Uzbekistan 172 ESP xi ban ya Spain 173 HKG xiang gang Hong Kong 174 SIN xin jia po Sngapore 175 NZL xin xi lan New Zeland 176 HUN xiong ya li Hungary 177 SYR xu li ya Syria 178 JAM ya mai jia Jamaica 179 ARM ya mei ni ya Armenia 180 YEM ye men Yemen 181 ITA yi da li Italy 182 IRQ yi la ke Iraq 183 IRI yi lang Iran 184 ISR yi se lie Israel 185 IND yin du India 186 INA yin du ni xi ya Indonesia 187 GBR ying guo United Kingdom 188 JOR yue dan Jordan 189 VIE yue nan Vietnam 190 ZAM zan bi ya Zambia 191 CHA zha de Chad 192 CHI zhi li Chile 193 CAF zhong fei gong he guo Central African Republic 194 AHO Netherland Antilles 195 ASA American Samoa 196 CAY Cayman Islands 197 COK Cook Islands 198 COM Comoros 199 GBS Guinea-Bissau 200 GUM Guam 201 ISV US Virgin Islands 202 IVB British Virgin Islands 203 SOL Solomon Islands 204 TGA Tonga 205 CHN zhiong guo China Couldn't find the ones for the last 11 committees. 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baron-pierreIV Posted April 1, 2008 Report Share Posted April 1, 2008 (edited) You shouldn't worry about it. #1 - Your list above is based on Chinese pronunciation but the Chinese alphabet does NOT follow the Latin a -b -c - d - e order. (Funny, looks like they do not enuniciate "R".) #2 - An indeterminate number of the countries might not even march in; and #3 - since the Chinese read from right to left, everyone will be marching in backwards, So, I wouldn't worry your pretty head about it at all. Edited April 1, 2008 by baron-pierreIV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chapin Urbano Posted April 1, 2008 Report Share Posted April 1, 2008 Well, at least I am finding out how do they pronounce the names, just to be prepared :lol: Will see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NY20?? Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 Liu Xian, winner of China's first gold in Men's Athletics in Athens and current record holder in the 110m hurdlers, was the first torch bearer on Chinese soil in Beijing on Monday. Does that pretty much rule him out as the final torchbearer at the OC in August? I've always thought it could be him, or another such Chinese athlete, or one of those teenage gymnasts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattygs Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 I guess it could go either way. Either it would totally count him out, or it would form a perfect symetry, of having the first torch bearer on Chinese soil to also be the last. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympics08 Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 I think this is how all will go... I dreamt of this last night... 1. Countdown/Welcome to Beijing - Performers forming flags of the participating countries and the Dancing Beijing emblem. Then we'll see 5 gift boxes (Olympic colors) unwrapped to reveal the five Fuwa. 2. Welcome Comrade* Hu Jintao with Liu Qi and Jacques Rogge. 3. National Anthem Vocal for the 2007 Special Olympics in Shanghai Instrumental from the morning broadcast of the anthem on CCTV-1. Also shown before the seven o'clock evening news. 4. History of China - A "Child of Light" accompanied by 5 snails (Olympic colors) travel through China 5,000-year history. 5. All about Beijing - includes an (Beijing) opera performance. 6. A Beijing Olympic song will be performed as "Chidren of Light"-like lanterns will enter the stadium. 7. Olympic Sports - performers clad in red form the pictograms of theBeijing Olympic sports. 8. Past Olympics - runners carrying red flags with the names of the past Olympic host cities written on them. They will then make two lines from the east gate where the athletes will enter. The runner with a flag with "Beijing" written on it will lead the parade. 9. Parade of Athletes - in the order above, but I recommend the English alphabet to be used. 10. Another Beijing Olympic song will be peformed as spectators on the east stand will make a map of the world made from flashlights. 11. Official Opening/Speeches by Liu Qi, Jacques Rogge and Hu Jintao. 12. Olympic Flag and Olympic Hymn - it will be performed in Chinese, of course. Here's the words (with pinyin): Gudài古代bùxiu不朽zhī之shén神, Měilì美丽、wěidà伟大ér而zhèngzhí正直de的shèng圣jié洁zhī之fù父。 Qíqiú祈求jiànglìn降临chénshì尘世yi以zhāngxian彰显zìji自己, Ràng让shòu受rén人zhimù瞩目de的yīngxióng英雄zài在zhè这dàdì大地cāng苍qióng穹zhīzhōng之中, Zuò作wéi为ni你róngyào荣耀de的jiànzhèng见证。 Qing请zhàoliàng照亮paobù跑步、jiaolì角力yu与tóuzhì投掷xiàngmù项目, Zhèxie这些quánlìyifù全力以赴de的chónggāo崇高jìngsài竞赛。 Ba把yòng用ganlanzhī橄榄枝biān编chéng成de的huāguàn花冠bān颁zèng赠gěi给yōushèng优胜zhě者, Sùzào塑造chū出gāngtiě钢铁bān般de的qūgàn躯干。 Xī溪gu谷、shān山yuè岳、haiyáng海洋yu与ni你xiāng相yìng映shēng生huī辉, Yóurú犹如yi以sècai色彩bān斑lán斓de的yánshí岩石jiànchéng建成de的shén神diàn殿。 Zhè这jùdà巨大de的shén神diàn殿, Shìjiè世界gèdì各地de的rénmen人们dōu都lái来mó膜bài拜, A啊!Yongyuan永远bùxiude不朽的gudài古代zhī之shén神。 13. Official Oaths 14. Message of Peace (something like this?) 14. Arrival of Flame/Cauldron Lighting - Maybe the same as Busan 15. Finale/Fireworks - Another Beijing Olympics song will be sung. The boy with the lantern and other children and the five snails as well as those who performed during the artistic section of the ceremony will surround the singer as fireworks light up the stadium's surrondings. Now, what do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 (edited) I think this is how all will go... I dreamt of this last night...1. Countdown/Welcome to Beijing - Performers forming flags of the participating countries and the Dancing Beijing emblem. Then we'll see 5 gift boxes (Olympic colors) unwrapped to reveal the five Fuwa. Now, what do you think? Uhmmm, I'll give you a little teaser tonight. Part One. "... forming flags of the participating countries..."? How long would that take? There are 200+ nations, so this number alone would take more than 1 hour. Also, granting this portion is even feasible, after a number of nations have now signified they will boycott the Opening Ceremony; and you expect BOCOG to feature THEIR flags as part of the OC? Hmmmm. I would go back to the drawing board for that. In any case, it is known that they will open with projections of smiles of chidren the world over. They supposedly harnessed some 10,000 images for that. (Kinda "It's a Small World After All" for me; but we shall see.) "5 gift boxes?" Would this be - a TV quiz show? THE PRICE IS RIGHT? The thing, O'08, for Olympic Ceremonies content is to expect the UNEXPECTED. It takes many teams MANY months -- at least 1 year -- to formulate the creative plans -- so it's not easy for outsiders to second-guess what will be presented. Plus, with the ever-changing pace of events leading up to August, I would think their plans will be kept somewhat fluid. Will get back to you tomorrow on the rest of my resposne since it's pretty late where I'm at. Edited April 2, 2008 by baron-pierreIV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympian2004 Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 First of all: You dreamt the complete course of the opening ceremony? When I dream, I usually see only short sequences (not of Olympic ceremonies -- I never dreamt of them) which, when put together, make no sense at all. So congratulations that your dreams are so elaborate and logical! Secondly: I don't expect the "children of light" and especially "past Olympic host cities" segments again. Already Salt Lake City and Athens (at the closing ceremony) had that "children of light" thing, and I don't think that Zhang Yimou will copy that. I think that children will play a certain role in the ceremony, but not as "light carriers". Especially they won't copy the thing with the flags bearing the names of the past host cities. They already had that in Barcelona, Atlanta, Salt Lake and Athens. So we had definitely enough of that segment -- it would be a total lack of originality if they did it for a fifth time. Olympic ceremonies shouldn't be that predictable. And I also don't think that there will be a "Message of Peace" segment again -- it already sucked in Torino (especially due to abominable Yoko Ono), so why repeat it? Thirdly: The audience forming the world map with flashlights would be a nice idea, although it's pretty similar to the alleged world map projection on the big cloth above the athletes' heads in Athens (the projection which was actually never shown on television -- or at least I've never recognised it in all the broadcasts and clips I've seen). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympian2004 Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 #1 - Your list above is based on Chinese pronunciation but the Chinese alphabet does NOT follow the Latin a -b -c - d - e order. (Funny, looks like they do not enuniciate "R".) Does the Chinese language actually have an alphabet? The Japanese language doesn't -- and that's why they used the English alphabet in Nagano. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maryjane Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 Does the Chinese language actually have an alphabet? The Japanese language doesn't -- and that's why they used the English alphabet in Nagano. No. Written Chinese is formed by millions of unique chacracters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xu Wen-Ting Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 Does the Chinese language actually have an alphabet? The Japanese language doesn't -- and that's why they used the English alphabet in Nagano. Chinese pronunciation use the same alphabet with English. For example: Canada in Chinese pronunciation is "Jia-na-da",so Canada's initial letter in Chinese pronunciation is "J", not "C". so, that's different... The other example: France in Chinese pronunciation is "fa-lan-xi " or "Fa-Guo","Guo" means "country", so France's initial letter in Chinese pronunciation is the same with english. Korea in Chinese pronunciation is "Han-Guo", so Korea's initial letter in Chinese pronunciation is "H",not "K". And so, in the Opening Ceremony, i think BOCOG won't trouble troubles to use Chinese pronunciation. Im sure they will use English alphabet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 And so, in the Opening Ceremony, i think BOCOG won't trouble troubles to use Chinese pronunciation. Im sure they will use English alphabet. If that were the case, so would whichever countries want to march in, be ordered by their English spelling? Or be reordered by how they are pronounced in Chinese/Mandarin -- so the way Chapin Urbano ordered them? Does the Chinese language actually have an alphabet? The Japanese language doesn't -- and that's why they used the English alphabet in Nagano. I thought about that afterwards, and realized that they have these characters. Let's ask Xu: is there a precise order to the Chinese characters (like in an alphabet) or none? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 (edited) I think this is how all will go... I dreamt of this last night...1. Countdown/Welcome to Beijing - Performers forming flags of the participating countries and the Dancing Beijing emblem. Then we'll see 5 gift boxes (Olympic colors) unwrapped to reveal the five Fuwa. 2. Welcome Comrade* Hu Jintao with Liu Qi and Jacques Rogge. 3. National Anthem 4. History of China - A "Child of Light" accompanied by 5 snails (Olympic colors) travel through China 5,000-year history. 5. All about Beijing - includes an (Beijing) opera performance. 6. A Beijing Olympic song will be performed as "Chidren of Light"-like lanterns will enter the stadium. 7. Olympic Sports - performers clad in red form the pictograms of theBeijing Olympic sports. 8. Past Olympics - runners carrying red flags with the names of the past Olympic host cities written on them. They will then make two lines from the east gate where the athletes will enter. The runner with a flag with "Beijing" written on it will lead the parade. 9. Parade of Athletes - in the order above, but I recommend the English alphabet to be used. 10. Another Beijing Olympic song will be peformed as spectators on the east stand will make a map of the world made from flashlights. 11. Official Opening/Speeches by Liu Qi, Jacques Rogge and Hu Jintao. 12. Olympic Flag and Olympic Hymn - it will be performed in Chinese, of course. Here's the words (with pinyin): 13. Official Oaths 14. Message of Peace (something like this?) 14. Arrival of Flame/Cauldron Lighting - Maybe the same as Busan 15. Finale/Fireworks - Another Beijing Olympics song will be sung. The boy with the lantern and other children and the five snails as well as those who performed during the artistic section of the ceremony will surround the singer as fireworks light up the stadium's surrondings. Now, what do you think? OK, 08 -- a few more thoughts since you asked for some. I pretty much second what '04 wrote: Olympian2004 wrote: Secondly: I don't expect the "children of light" and especially "past Olympic host cities" segments again. Already Salt Lake City and Athens (at the closing ceremony) had that "children of light" thing, and I don't think that Zhang Yimou will copy that. I think that children will play a certain role in the ceremony, but not as "light carriers". Especially they won't copy the thing with the flags bearing the names of the past host cities. They already had that in Barcelona, Atlanta, Salt Lake and Athens. So we had definitely enough of that segment -- it would be a total lack of originality if they did it for a fifth time. Olympic ceremonies shouldn't be that predictable. And I also don't think that there will be a "Message of Peace" segment again -- it already sucked in Torino (especially due to abominable Yoko Ono), so why repeat it? While indeed certain parts of an OC or a CC fulfill the IOC's protocol requirements, it's a high stakes one-upsmanship game now. Each edition of the Games tries to top the previous ones, and the way to do this is present something original. So, "the Children of Light thing, the running of flags with past host cities..." have all been done too recently. It would be very unimaginative of Yimou and his team to try these same elements. Just like they do the Miss Universe pageants (which I am sure you watch) -- each year is a fresh way of doing it. The main thing now is to bring in the athletes earlier. I've heard that they will try to start the Parade of Nations within the first half hour. So, this earlier appearance of the nations was done in Salt Lake, and Torino and Melbourne to a certain extent -- and make them an integral part of the Ceremony since the whole megillah is supposed to be about them anyway. Of course with 8,000 or so athletes (that's already taking into account those who will NOT partake), it will still be a matter of logistics where to place them AND still have artistic portions go on. But I am sure they will find solutions to place/seat the athletes (perhaps around the track or in 3 or 4 sections). And here is actually my take, if I were to do it. I would break up the nations into 3 or 4 segments: Opening Protocol sections, etc., etc. (or maybe bring in the nations by continental grouping this year) - first 50 nations; then artistic portion A (maybe 1st 1000 years of Chinese history) - 2nd 50 nations - Artistic portion B (second 1000 years) - 3rd 50 - Artistic C (3rd era), - 4th - rest of the Ceremony, etc., etc. It would break the monotony of those boring 2-hour (or maybe shorter this year due to no-shows) stretches, and be able to pace the OC more incrementally as it builds towards the Lighting of the Torch and the Fireworks which are always the climax. And as I've held and continue to hope, the more nations become self-righteous about China's politics, the better it is for the OC. A shorter, sweeter affair. Less is always more. Edited April 2, 2008 by baron-pierreIV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Mata Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 Quite an interesting plan, Baron. Pan Am games have been doing something like that since Winnipeg '99, I think (correct me if I'm wrong, canadians). Last year's edition OC featured the athletes parade right after the welcome segment. It worked fine, since the pan american games feature some 5,500 athletes and there were a reserved place for them to watch the artistic portion, which came after their entrance and accomodation. BUT, that might not work properly since we are talking about the Olympic Games. It's double size! The parade coming after the welcoming won't work at all. Watching 42 nations marching is kinda boring already. Intercalating the athletes entrance in groups of 50 nations or even continents with the artistic portion could turn the OC into an "exercise of patience-non-fluid show". And the accomodation of 8.000+ athletes and officials would require quite a number of seats, since they cannot stand in the stage area if there's an artistic portion yet to be shown. I agree the creators should think a new way of dealing with the parade without breaking the pace and feel of an olympic opening ceremony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted April 2, 2008 Report Share Posted April 2, 2008 BUT, that might not work properly since we are talking about the Olympic Games. It's double size! The parade coming after the welcoming won't work at all. Watching 42 nations marching is kinda boring already. Intercalating the athletes entrance in groups of 50 nations or even continents with the artistic portion could turn the OC into an "exercise of patience-non-fluid show". And the accomodation of 8.000+ athletes and officials would require quite a number of seats, since they cannot stand in the stage area if there's an artistic portion yet to be shown.I agree the creators should think a new way of dealing with the parade without breaking the pace and feel of an olympic opening ceremony. Well, if only 30 nations march in -- then there won't be a space problem. But regardless though, it will all be worked out. Yimou's partners (Morton, Birch, the French company) have all done this before so it will all work out you'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xu Wen-Ting Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 If that were the case, so would whichever countries want to march in, be ordered by their English spelling? Or be reordered by how they are pronounced in Chinese/Mandarin -- so the way Chapin Urbano ordered them? I thought about that afterwards, and realized that they have these characters. Let's ask Xu: is there a precise order to the Chinese characters (like in an alphabet) or none? I think they will be orderd by English spelling. Being orderd by pronouncation in Chinese would bring too much trouble... About these Chinese characters, there's no precise order like in an alphabet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympics08 Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 What I mean is a mosaic of the participating nations. Not one-by-one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chapin Urbano Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 Thanks for answers, it is going to be interesting to see how they finally arrange all the countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted April 3, 2008 Report Share Posted April 3, 2008 (edited) What I mean is a mosaic of the participating nations. Not one-by-one! Probably not. It doesn't sound very exciting or original. Besides, they'll already have all the flags draped around the stadium (hanging from the rim of the canopy), so why do another number with it? And LA did it better in 1984 -- with the entire stadium participating. Edited April 3, 2008 by baron-pierreIV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guardian Posted May 16, 2008 Report Share Posted May 16, 2008 With the awful catastrophe in Sichuan and with only a few weeks left before the Beijing 2008 opening ceremony, do you guys think that there would be a moment of silence for the victims as part of the official components of the ceremony itself? You know, like around the time of the official opening speeches by the BOCOG president and/or with Jacques Rogge, as examples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympics08 Posted May 16, 2008 Report Share Posted May 16, 2008 With the awful catastrophe in Sichuan and with only a few weeks left before the Beijing 2008 opening ceremony, do you guys think that there would be a moment of silence for the victims as part of the official components of the ceremony itself? You know, like around the time of the official opening speeches by the BOCOG president and/or with Jacques Rogge, as examples. I'll answer that in one of your YouTube videos... but I'm telling you to be careful with what you are uploading now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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