John Holland Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 What a great Cinematic job Danny Boyle did on the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics really amazing . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Phil Rhodes Posted July 28, 2012 Premium Member Share Posted July 28, 2012 Didn't rate it. Bit of a mess of unconnected things, and the dancing nurses were utterly ridiculous. I don't know how it looked to the rest of the world, but celebrating public healthcare in the UK is rather like celebrating a municipal parking structure. There were high points; the "forging the rings" thing was excellent, and the design of the cauldron and the way they got it lit was outstanding. Otherwise, meh. Confused and lacking direction. And hey, it's not like he's ever sung Hey Jude before, is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Didn't rate it. Bit of a mess of unconnected things, and the dancing nurses were utterly ridiculous. I don't know how it looked to the rest of the world, but celebrating public healthcare in the UK is rather like celebrating a municipal parking structure. Exactly Phil, a giant lit up "NHS" on stage? How many non UK people would even know what that is? Things that baffled me.....announcements made in French before English in the birth place of the English language. :blink: The political correctness was over the top, even for 2012. Does anyone even care anymore, that's so nineties. R, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Peter J DeCrescenzo Posted July 28, 2012 Premium Member Share Posted July 28, 2012 Mostly loved it, every messy minute of it. :-) My wife & I laughed out loud when the "health care" segment started. Not because it was silly for a country to proudly (and literally) parade health care as one of their major achievements (whether true or not), but because it's in such stark contrast to the "Medical Insurance Industrial Complex" of my very own "We're Number 1!" , "Wrong Football" country. I bet Michelle Obama, who reportedly was in the stadium audience, also laughed out loud, too. The truth hurts, but it's also funny. Apologies for the quasi-political aside. Watching the broadcast I kept wondering if the spectacle was being properly "filmed" by Mr. Boyle's people, too. The live TV version looked like BTS footage from a feature film DVD. It would be interesting to see the same scenes shot & graded in a more cinematic style. Cheers! EDIT: Oh, and did I sleep through World War 2? I saw they did something to acknowledge WW1, but maybe with Germany, Italy, etc. standing right there they couldn't do anything about the unpleasantness of the 1940's? However, I did nod off a couple of times, so I could've missed it ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Howell Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 much better than expected, although it peaked way too early. One minor gripe: some of the footage and graphics from the opening film looked really really cheap and 'corporate video'esque', and what was that horrible under-cranked effect they had on the queens pet corgis in James Bond bit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Howell Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Watching the broadcast I kept wondering if the spectacle was being properly "filmed" by Mr. Boyle's people, too. The live TV version looked like BTS footage from a feature film DVD. It would be interesting to see the same scenes shot & graded in a more cinematic style. Apparently Mr Boyle had no say in how the event was filmed for TV. The IOC insisted on having their own people handle it, from what I've read in the press this was understandably the cause of a massive fight between Boyle and the outside contractors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freya Black Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Apparently Mr Boyle had no say in how the event was filmed for TV. The IOC insisted on having their own people handle it, from what I've read in the press this was understandably the cause of a massive fight between Boyle and the outside contractors. I did wonder if they were missing bits too in the way they were covering it. Like the bit where the girl loses her phone and so the guy uses her phone to call her and tell her he has her phone. Didn't quite make sense and I wondered if a bit got left out or maybe it's like Phil suggests, it was just disjointed. Seems very obviously confused tho. However overall I liked the fact it tried to be inclusive, and I don't think any accusations of it being politically correct are true. I mean they sang the national anthem and had the queen in it and all those quakers and stuff. Thought it was quite balanced really. I know one extremely right wing tory MP was claiming it was too multi-cultural (!!??!!), and was glad when the athletes were coming on. I thought it was a very odd thing to say because of course the athletes are also going to be multi-cultural. Seemed kinda like he had missed the whole point of the games, or maybe he just really likes triumph of the will or something. Dunno. I thought it also had loads going for it tho. Nice lighting, lots of imaginative designs, sets, costumes. I thought it seemed slightly "it's a knock out" (games without frontiers) to start with and then it started to reference that too which got a smile from me (I think that explains the French bit too BTW!) I mean these kind of big theatrical type events are always slightly disjointed feeling, it's the nature of it a bit but I thought it was really well done considering. of ...and I liked all the quiet tongue in cheek stuff that is probably supposed to go over a lot of peoples heads and clearly has! love Freya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Holland Posted July 28, 2012 Author Share Posted July 28, 2012 The Modern Olympics was invented by a Frenchman and so French is always used as the first language even in America when they had it ! To me it just was technically perfect ,i cant imagine getting all the mechanical effects tied in with pre- recorded inserts !! I have no interest in the Olympics. I would have been proud to be involved with that production ! So there !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Bill DiPietra Posted July 28, 2012 Premium Member Share Posted July 28, 2012 I thought the Beijing Opening Ceremonies were far better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Connolly Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 I think there were.some real fun and different visual ideas and it was quite bold for something of this nature. But the Tv coverage was hugely let down by the director - Hamish Hammelton. He's too much of a wing it concert director. This show needed to be planned and scripted more and the coverage could have been more cinematic. The coverage and vision mixing was deeply random and it was obvious the director was busking. Ok for a rock concert dvd with lots of iso's and post production but huge mistake for the olympics. Sound mix was horrible well. Shame we got glimpses of amazing images but lots lost in the shakeycam mess. Danny Boyle must be pissed off right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freya Black Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 (edited) Shame we got glimpses of amazing images but lots lost in the shakeycam mess. Danny Boyle must be pissed off right now. Nah! I'm sure by now he has moved on. The event got a great reaction from people and probably deservedly so. I felt he did a great job especially when you look at every other aspect of the olympics in comparison. He did good and now he can get back to what he is really into... making movies... ...and on that note, I want to point out that you can see one of his more obscure films "millions" on the BBC iplayer right now for free! Gotta be worth checking out right? love Freya Edited July 28, 2012 by Freya Black Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freya Black Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 What a great Cinematic job Danny Boyle did on the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics really amazing . ...and to back up Johns original statement, check out the photo's at this link! 2012 opening ceremony photos Danny Boyle did a great job. You only have to look at the embarresing mess almost every other aspect of the 2012 olympics has been, right down to that logo, to realise that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 I thought the Beijing Opening Ceremonies were far better. Well when you need thousands of people to do anything in unison, who better than the Chinese? Westerners have too much of a "me" mentality to match the Chinese opening ceremonies, or even South Korea in 88. R, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Peter J DeCrescenzo Posted July 29, 2012 Premium Member Share Posted July 29, 2012 ... To me it just was technically perfect ,i cant imagine getting all the mechanical effects tied in with pre- recorded inserts !! ... I would have been proud to be involved with that production ! ... Agreed! I loved the transition from the "agrarian age" to the "industrial revolution". The I.R. sequence was awesome. Reportedly they pumped sulfurous smells into the stadium, too? Reminded me of scenes in Terry Gilliam's "Brazil", one of my all-time favorite films. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Holland Posted July 29, 2012 Author Share Posted July 29, 2012 At last you are all getting what i was trying to say . It was Danny Boyle vision i was talking about not the BBC's coverage of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Jensen Posted July 29, 2012 Share Posted July 29, 2012 Anything with Kenneth Branagh in turns me off. The first half was atrocious. The forging of the rings was incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Gregory Irwin Posted July 29, 2012 Premium Member Share Posted July 29, 2012 I found it completely disjointed and boring. There was never a decent payoff to any of the themes. A real missed opportunity for London which happens to be one of my favorite cities! I don't know if any opening ceremony will ever be better than Beijing. That's definitely the benchmark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Dunn Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 At last you are all getting what i was trying to say . It was Danny Boyle vision i was talking about not the BBC's coverage of it. Not the BBC. OBS. The BBC had to take what they were given. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Drysdale Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 Anything with Kenneth Branagh in turns me off. The first half was atrocious. The forging of the rings was incredible. I don't get him as Brunel http://www.thekidswindow.co.uk/images/CMScontent/Image/bettmancorbis_brunel3.jpg He seemed more like a banker or a businessman. The digital bit seemed less interesting section, how although how it appears at the live event can be different to television. The Mr Bean and James Bond parachuting in with the Queen seem to be the most commented on sections in the press. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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