Opening/Closing Ceremonies Discussion

[SpongeG]

D2

[raggedy13]

Interesting article mr.x2, thanks. Here is a similar one from the Globe & Mail:

Ringmasters get cracking for Olympic spectacle
Organizers unveil star-studded creative team for opening and closing ceremonies that are promised to leave TV audience 'awestruck'

ROD MICKLEBURGH
Globe and Mail Update
April 8, 2009 at 3:48 AM EDT

VANCOUVER — A wealth of creative talent, from the fellows who design costumes for the likes of Britney Spears and Madonna to ballet wunderkind Jean Grand-Maître to the veteran managers of Diana Krall and Bryan Adams, has been hired to help stage the signature opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

While Canadians may assess the success of the Games by the performance of their hockey teams or number of medals won by the country's athletes, the two-hour spectacles that begin and end the Olympics are far and away the most watched, with a likely global television audience of several billion viewers.

David Atkins, the Australian executive producer and co-artistic director of the 2010 ceremonies, acknowledges the pressure.

"It's a considerable responsibility and it weighs heavily," Mr. Atkins said yesterday, moments after announcing a 17-member team of artists, designers, directors and producers to wow the world with their creativity. "But it's as exciting as it is daunting."

The gala ceremonies will be the most ambitious single affair ever staged in British Columbia, said Vancouver Organizing Committee president John Furlong. "It is quite a challenge, and we have hired the very best people there are. We believe, when the opening ceremony is over, Canadians will be awestruck, they will be excited, and they will be very, very happy."

The creative team includes three francophones and two aboriginal designers, but no one from Canada's vibrant multicultural community. Nor is pre-eminent dramatist Robert Lepage or Cirque du Soleil part of the lineup. Cirque withdrew its bid to be part of the ceremonies in a disagreement over artistic control.

The freshly minted roster of talent includes:

Jean Grand-Maître, artistic director of the Alberta Ballet.

Douglas Paraschuk, design co-ordinator of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival for 22 years.

Dsquared{+2}, Toronto-born twins Dean and Dan Caten and runway fashion designers, hired at various times by Justin Timberlake and the Juventus football team for costume and uniform designs.

John Powell of the Mamalilikulla tribe of the West Coast Kwakwala native group, who designed costumes for the Vancouver Opera's successful, aboriginal-motif production of The Magic Flute.

Audio director Bruce Jackson, onetime sound man for Elvis Presley.

Local music moguls Sam Feldman and Bruce Allen, managers of many top Canadian acts, such as Sarah McLachlan, Avril Lavigne, Michael Bublé, Bryan Adams, Jann Arden and Diana Krall.

Both managers were coy when asked which of their clients will perform at the Games. "We'd love to tell you exactly what we're thinking about, but then we'd blow the surprise," Mr. Feldman told reporters. "You wouldn't want that, would you?" Should any of their stars appear, it won't be for the money, Mr. Allen added. "They will get a small fee, but it's really just an honorarium. As soon as the Games were announced, they set their calendars free, because they want to be involved."

For the first time in Olympic history, the opening and closing ceremonies will be held indoors, beneath the circular dome of cavernous, 55,000-seat B.C. Place. There is much speculation on how the show producers will light and display the Olympic flame, which traditionally burns over the Games for all 17 days.

Mr. Atkins said the basic story outline of the ceremonies has now been drawn up, but everyone involved is sworn to secrecy. Given the thousands of volunteers needed for the extravaganza and the new instant communication world of blogs, Facebook and Twitter, however, keeping ceremony details under wraps will be an Olympian task.

Written by ROD MICKLEBURGH
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../National/home

[raggedy13]

Another interesting one from 24 Hours

Can B.C. Place sing in 2010?

By BOB MACKIN, 24 HOURS

Bruce Jackson has been soundman for the King, the Boss and Babs. Now he has the job of making B.C. Place Stadium sound perfect for the 2010 Winter Olympics opening, closing and medals' ceremonies.

"I went and got the microphone and spoke through the [public address] system and I was very depressed," said Jackson, now a Dolby Laboratories executive

The "horrible, long reverb" will be solved by packing the dome with a big crowd and distributing sound without "exciting the big roof," Jackson said.

"Bringing the sound across on the right level and the right quality is key and we'll make that work," he said.

Jackson toured with Elvis Presley for six years and also had long-running gigs with Barbra Streisand and Bruce Springsteen. He worked with VANOC executive producer David Atkins on the Sydney 2000 opening and closing ceremonies.

Who makes the sounds at the ceremonies is a tightly guarded secret. Atkins said "we're looking for Canadians" to be headline acts at the ceremonies, but "we're not closing the door entirely" on foreign stars. Canada's top music managers Bruce Allen, Sam Feldman and Dan Fraser are recruiting the big names.

"We would love to just tell you exactly what we're thinking about but that would blow the surprise," Feldman said. "There will be a plethora of Canadian talent."

The International Olympic Committee approved the ceremonies' creative concept, which remains one of VANOC's biggest secrets.

By BOB MACKIN
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/local...47226-sun.html

[mr.x]

^ lol, yea....it makes me depressed too. Not just how it sounds, but the sight of it as well.


I still regret the lack foresight of our government for not thinking of those damn renovation plans earlier. It seems that they realized the importance of the Olympic Stadium far, far too late, unlike all of the previous Olympic host cities.

It's going to take a miracle to reduce that echoing issue. Beijing's stadium had quite a bit of echo as well, but if we got it down to that level I would call it a success.

[mr.x]

Seating plan for the Opening/Closing Ceremonies:




The capacity of BC Place should be close to 70,000 for the opening and closing ceremonies! Maybe even more! 75,000? 80,000? I believe those seats aren't floor seats, they are tiered.

[GeeCee]

BUT THE ROOF OMG!!!!11

Can't wait. Wish I could see it first hand..

[mr.x]

I have a new found fear that our ceremonies could be quite mediocre, because of (1) what they have planned and (2) the limitations and lack of major renovations for BC Place (as in within the stadium bowl, not the concourse).

Hopefully, I'm wrong. For one thing, the number of performers at the ceremonies is absolutely puny compared to previous Winter Games.

[ravman]

Originally Posted by mr.x

Seating plan for the Opening/Closing Ceremonies:




The capacity of BC Place should be close to 70,000 for the opening and closing ceremonies! Maybe even more! 75,000? 80,000? I believe those seats aren't floor seats, they are tiered.

no level 4?

and even that plan looks werid... due to various reasons that cant be made public.....

[GeeCee]

Just because seats are numbered doesn't mean that they'll actually be present..

I'd be thrilled with a repeat of the Sydney ceremony.

[mr.x]

^ The ceremonies are a small production, with 4,000 or less performers. There aren't going to be many performers on the stadium floor at any one time, so they probably didn't want it to look too empty and void, and decided to fill it in with more seats. It's unfortunate VANOC didn't market the ceremony volunteer positions better, they would have been able to get more performers had they done it right.

It won't be anything like Sydney unfortunately, even though he was responsible for Sydney's ceremonies. The scale of Sydney was massive with 12,000 performers. I don't even know what to compare our ceremonies to.


The ceremonies would have had so much more potential had they gathered up their act together earlier to get the new roof built in time.

[raggedy13]

I noticed we've already got at least 2 other threads specifically about the ceremonies ("Vancouver 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremonies" and "Opening/Closing Ceremony Discussion") so I'm going to merge them with this one.

[mr.x]

Level 4

[ravman]

also i highly doubt the first floor will be open to general public ... i means its not like you are gonna have u2 or whoever on stage performing.....

[mr.x]

^ i think some will be open to the general public, assuming the diagram is accurate....that's a lot of additional seating. About 2,500 of those seats will be for athletes.

[SpongeG]

aren't the floor seats for the athletes etc?

where do they go and sit?

[Vancity]

This looks underwhelming.

[nova9]

I can't believe you guys are judging a show by the seating arrangements. Just trust in David Atkins.

The only thing to be worried about is how they plan to deal with BC Place's sound.

Just....believe.

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by nova9

I can't believe you guys are judging a show by the seating arrangements. Just trust in David Atkins.

The only thing to be worried about is how they plan to deal with BC Place's sound.

Just....believe.

lol, i'm certainly not judging the show by seating arrangements. More floor seating can actually be a very good thing to fill out void space if you're not having many performers.....but not to the point you're filling up so much of the stadium floor that it limits what you can do, i.e. Torino.

[sacrifice333]

Seat assignments for this and all other events should be happening this week I think.

Anyone have any clue what will be on sale on November 7?

[mr.x]

^ seats have already been assigned, check your account.

100,000 tickets are available for Vancouver, Richmond, and Cypress events on Saturday. No new tickets are available for Whistler as the bus network is already at capacity.