Olympic Opening Ceremony, London 2012

[smmudge]

A couple of my friends who worked on the day as extras have confirmed that they didn't have to sign anything and only posted up their photos after the event.

Yeah I'm sure they went easy on the volunteers, just pointing out it wasn't all fluffy inside the stadium. Mind everyone agreed that this guy who got chucked out was an idiot for taking pics, and we got him back in after much grovelling!

 

[ricbake]

Brilliant description of the opening sequence of the opening ceremony.

http://blog.osirra.com/2012/08/01/the-olympics-opening-ceremony-part-1-of-2/comment-page-1


Edited to remove oops bit

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Brilliant description of the opening sequence of the opening ceremony.

http://blog.osirra.com/2012/08/01/t...mony-part-1-of-2/comment-page-1/#comment-6942

oops

 

[Shreddy]

Is this dementia or just plain smug ?

Gratuitous thread bump...

 

[Orang Utan]

She didn't really say that.
You know those lolcats? They're made up too

 

[DJ Squelch]

The Big Picture, as usual, has some great photos
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/07/olympics_2012_opening_ceremoni.html

 

[ddraig]

and our boy High Contrast mixed the music!

Such was his commitment to the cause his time spent mixing and behind a computer in the studio has given him a trapped nerve and he watched Friday’s ceremony in the stadium – but in a wheelchair.
But he can take consolation from the fact his name is now carried heavily on the CD which rocketed to number one on iTunes when it was released after the ceremony.
Meanwhile his music is being featured on the BBC’s coverage of the Olympics.
He describes the amount of exposure his music has had over the past few days as “crazy”.
He said: “Normally I make drum and bass music but on this project I was making a variety of different styles and it has kind of opened my mind.”
“Over a billion people have heard my music including Muhammed Ali and Paul McCartney – it’s just crazy to think.”

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/music-in-wales/2012/07/30/olympics-meet-the-welsh-dj-who-mixed-opening-ceremony-soundtrack-91466-31508562/#ixzz22HyxLC8T​

dedication

 

[paolo]

Yeah I'm sure they went easy on the volunteers, just pointing out it wasn't all fluffy inside the stadium. Mind everyone agreed that this guy who got chucked out was an idiot for taking pics, and we got him back in after much grovelling!

Isolated incident.

The article about it all being on trust reflects what I saw with my own eyes.
There were *fuckloads* of people taking photos - I mean, it seemed like half the audience had their phones out for the rings, and I saw staff taking photos too - security, volunteers...

All in all there must have been tens of thousands of photos taken - and very very little was leaked.

 

[AnnaKarpik]

Isolated incident.

The article about it all being on trust reflects what I saw with my own eyes.
There were *fuckloads* of people taking photos - I mean, it seemed like half the audience had their phones out for the rings, and I saw staff taking photos too - security, volunteers...

All in all there must have been tens of thousands of photos taken - and very very little was leaked.

I agree.

 

[skyscraper101]

Fair play to everyone who didn't leak anything. I knew a fair amount of people who saw the dress rehearsals and didn't spoil the surprise.

 

[smmudge]

Isolated incident.

The article about it all being on trust reflects what I saw with my own eyes.
There were *fuckloads* of people taking photos - I mean, it seemed like half the audience had their phones out for the rings, and I saw staff taking photos too - security, volunteers...

All in all there must have been tens of thousands of photos taken - and very very little was leaked.

Well it is weird because it happened about 6 weeks ago and I'm not sure there would have even been much to see then anyway.

 

[elbows]

Why did people object to the competitors bringing phones and cameras? Why wouldn't they?

Did loads of people object? I was just messing about with my comment, it didnt actually bother me, the competitors can do what they like and the last thing the olympics needs is any more restrictions. I dont want to see people behaving like its some military parade, but I do want more ents.

 

[Orang Utan]

Yeah, there was a bit of a twitterstorm and the odd columnist bleating that it wasn't in the Olympic spirit and some other shit like that

 

[paolo]

SOOO... the tunes... the big anthemic ones we didn't already know but were epic?

At work we were pondering. A music enthuso friend was wondering specifically about the whistling war tribute (he really liked it). Whilst we concurred that it was probably written for the occasion... seems like it was a bigger vision than we'd speculated...

..."And I will kiss" - the epic 17 minutes that led to the rings.



Take a bow Rick Smith of Underworld*. Now take another one. And another.

* And there was me thinking you were a one trick pony

 

[skyscraper101]

Yep. Rick Smith did a great job. Feel very proud of that as I'm a huge underworld fan. Also very pleased to see at least five other underworld tracks get used during the athletes parade.

 

[paolo]

Yep. Rick Smith did a great job. Feel very proud of that as I'm a huge underworld fan. Also very pleased to see at least five other underworld tracks get used during the athletes parade.

I was curious to see (hear) how the appointment would work out... (I really liked Tiesto at Athens, if only because I'd expect ceremonial dirge music for this kind of thing).

Smith seemed to balance a sense of formal occasion, with some proper dynamics. In hindsight (chortle) Smith definitely a proper 'songwriter' rather just a bloke with good drum patterns.

 

[Orang Utan]

High Contrast wrote some new music for Smith too, don't forget. I'm not sure what though as I'm not familiar with his music and I didn't see the last third of the show. He's a drum n bass artist though ain't he?

 

[paolo]

High Contrast wrote some new music for Smith too, don't forget. I'm not sure what though as I'm not familiar with his music and I didn't see the last third of the show. He's a drum n bass artist though ain't he?

Can't help on any of that... but I'm interested though. Anyone?

 

[paolo]

Rewatching: I love how the members of the LSO are clearly in on the whole bean thing, and trying not to laugh before the gag is revealed. It's like watching school kids who know someone's planted a fart balloon under the teacher's seat.

 

[Orang Utan]

Can't help on any of that... but I'm interested though. Anyone?

Ddraig posted an interview with him earlier in the thread. Not too many details though, except that he mixed all the music live, was brought in only a few weeks before the ceremony and that he worked so hard that he had to conduct it all on the night from a wheelchair cos he'd trapped a nerve from sitting in a studio for so long!

 

[paolo]

Ddraig posted an interview with him earlier in the thread. Not too many details though, except that he mixed all the music live, was brought in only a few weeks before the ceremony and that he worked so hard that he had to conduct it all on the night from a wheelchair cos he'd trapped a nerve from sitting in a studio for so long!

Ah yeah!

I like how we're now finding out about the 'real' people who were part of Boyle's vision.

I want to know who the couple were who did the love story (amazing dancers)... and... and... I want to know every single detail. I'm enamoured with the whole production.

From PopBitch:

"DannyBoylesMole writes:
"A retired BBC TV personality from the
1980s and 1990s applied to be a GamesMaker.
He wasn't very happy with the length of
the selection process. So sent
a letter to LOCOG saying they didn't
want to be involved any more
blah blah etc.

"Well, this person ended up having a
brief cameo in the Opening Ceremony,
which doesn't really fit in any
particular narrative. It's a moment
everyone remembers when you mention
this person's name but he would be
happy if we all forgot it had happened.

"So, for everyone wondering why there
was suddenly a video clip of
Michael Fish.. now you know."

 

[Orang Utan]

There was a puff piece about the girl in the Mail. All i remember was that she is from Deptford.

 

[Orang Utan]

I like how there were so many moments that would have bamboozled foreign viewers.

 

[paolo]

I like how there were so many moments that would have bamboozled foreign viewers.

I know.

A housemate (not british) worked on it. After I saw the rehearsal, I said to her "err... not sure how 'foreigners' are going to get this"... and almost in unison, we said "fuck 'em".

As it happened, it got massive approval. The American audience ratings were the highest ever for an opening ceremony (despite NBC fucking it up).

Yay to us. Yay to Boyle. He can have a pint on me anytime.

 

[skyscraper101]

I know.

A housemate (not british) worked on it. After I saw the rehearsal, I said to her "err... not sure how 'foreigners' are going to get this"... and almost in unison, we said "fuck 'em".

Yeah the bits that I thought immediately, nobody (or very few) outside the UK will get this...

The South Bank Show theme tune as the opening Thames sequence passed by the south bank
The Eastenders drum beats (thank God they didn't play the cringe awful tune)
The bit with Harry Hill's TV Burp opening credits
and...the Michael Fish bit.

 

[paolo]

Yeah the bits that I thought immediately, nobody (or very few) outside the UK will get this...

The South Bank Show theme tune as the opening Thames sequence passed by the south bank
The Eastenders drum beats (thank God they didn't play the cringe awful tune)
The bit with Harry Hill's TV Burp opening credits
and...the Michael Fish bit.

Oh it was only Harry Hill I disapproved...

The Michael Fish bit I had to explain to the (now living here) Kiwis sat next to me. I mean, that was a *very* in-joke. Younger brits would have been equally baffled.

 

[paolo]

Bit weepy again:

http://twitter.com/timberners_lee/status/228960085672599552

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

How those pixel thingies worked

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ing-ceremony-audience-giant-video-screen.html

 

[free spirit]

Ddraig posted an interview with him earlier in the thread. Not too many details though, except that he mixed all the music live, was brought in only a few weeks before the ceremony and that he worked so hard that he had to conduct it all on the night from a wheelchair cos he'd trapped a nerve from sitting in a studio for so long!

I wondered who'd done the mixing for the music mashup segment, was this the stuff high contrast was doing?

 

[ddraig]

he did the bit for the athletes parade, his own write up here
http://www.highlycontrasting.com/2012/07/30/high-contrasts-olympic-story-part-1/

This also meant that drum and bass was not on the cards. The plan was to keep the music around the 120bpm mark as that felt like it would keep everyone at a pretty pacey walking speed. The fear was that something as fast as drum and bass would make the athletes run around or rave on the spot or worse just stop completely. I had to agree, dnb doesnt feel like something you can just walk to, it demands a more extreme reaction from the body.
A start had already been made in that the entire Underworld back catalogue had been gone through and the most appropriate tracks for the parade had been picked out already. Darren Price, their long time engineer and a big part of their live show (as well as a dj in his own right) had begun work on getting the stems for these tunes out of the archive and ready for manipulation. A lot of their music was around the 140bpm mark so they had to be time stretched or re exported at a slower tempo. I was to have access to all these files and could pick out the ones that jumped out at me and begin trying to rework for them for the parade.

Time was of the essence so thankfully the job I had just been working on, a controversial play in Cardiff called Pornography (which ironically was about London during the announcement of the winning Olympic bid in 2005), had just finished and I was able to just pack up my computer and monitors and move up to London to begin work. My equipment was set up at 3 Mills and I just jumped straight in. It was so cool to have access to whatever tracks I liked from Underworld’s fantastic back catalogue. I also had a few demo tracks that I’d made basic versions of during the writing of The Agony & The Ecstasy as well as a couple of 120bpm versions of dnb tracks from that album that all seemed to have the right vibe for this project.

with part 2 ere http://www.highlycontrasting.com/2012/08/03/high-contrasts-olympic-story-part-2/
original post about 'getting the call'
http://www.highlycontrasting.com/2012/07/27/olympics-opening-ceremony/