Complete Version of the Opening Ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics

[Prometheus]

Here is the complete, definitive and official version of the opening ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics in 480p. It is significantly different (and a thousand times better) than what was broadcasted on television:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxZpUueDAvc

The site also has every Olympic event in its entirety.

[GeeCee]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

It is significantly different (and a thousand times better) than what was broadcasted on television

Yep, those OBS (Olympic Broadcast Service) guys seem to know what they're doing!

[Yume-sama]

Sigh. I miss the Olympics. Hard to believe it's nearly been a year...

I forgot just how good the city and province looked in that opening ceremony~

[nova9]

Interesting that in the OBS Broadcast, BC Place. I seem to recall that it was renamed for the duration Olympics.

[GeeCee]

Originally Posted by nova9

Interesting that in the OBS Broadcast, BC Place. I seem to recall that it was renamed for the duration Olympics.

Only GM/Rogers Place was renamed, due to an IOC rule prohibiting venue sponsorships by corporate entities.. even though GM was a sponsor of the Olympics, it was changed to Canada Hockey Place. Since BC Place didn't have a corporate sponsor at the time, the BC Place name stayed.

[mr.x]

Yes, the OBS feed was what the rest of the world saw (BBC, Nine Network, CCTV, SBS, and dozens and dozens of other foreign channels). It was like watching an entirely different, and much better, show.

NBC and CTV were able to bring in their own cameras and shoot their own footage. NBC has been doing this for sometime considering they pay $$$, and CTV also paid quite a bit and the host nation's broadcaster is often given permission to shoot their own. But of course, the CTV version was quite awful...poor camera views, poor timing. The OBS guys rehearsed with the Ceremonies team, they knew what they were doing.

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by mr.x

Yes, the OBS feed was what the rest of the world saw (BBC, Nine Network, CCTV, SBS, and dozens and dozens of other foreign channels). It was like watching an entirely different, and much better, show.

NBC and CTV were able to bring in their own cameras and shoot their own footage. NBC has been doing this for sometime considering they pay $$$, and CTV also paid quite a bit and the host nation's broadcaster is often given permission to shoot their own. But of course, the CTV version was quite awful...poor camera views, poor timing. The OBS guys rehearsed with the Ceremonies team, they knew what they were doing.

And don't forget the obtrusive and excessive commentary and commercials. You cannot blame them for running so many commercials (because you cannot pass up a gold mine like that), but the incessant commentary was completely unnecessary, annoying and distracting.

It's a pleasure to see a seamless, artistic, commentary-free, commercial-free production.

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

And don't forget the obtrusive and excessive commentary and commercials.

It's a pleasure to see a seamless, artistic, commentary-free, commercial-free production.

The NBC hosts, Costas and Lauer, were just complete asses to be mentioning Beijing's ceremonies throughout the Opening.

And with regards to NBC's Closing Ceremony, I really wonder how many people actually watched the "second part." It was a disgrace, and a lack of respect, that they decided to show Seinfeld's reality show in the middle of the Closing Ceremony. Most people probably thought that was the end of NBC's broadcast. And it's not that ratings were low for NBC, ratings were record high for a Winter Olympics - almost near Beijing levels too.

I have to say that watching the Opening Ceremony live in the stadium was an experience of a lifetime....

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by mr.x

I have to say that watching the Opening Ceremony live in the stadium was an experience of a lifetime....

But at least you're now able to fast-forward through John Furlong's speech.

[SpongeG]

i forgot how awful that canada national anthem was

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

i forgot how awful that canada national anthem was

The opening bars of that version are actually quite brilliant. The subtle change to the melody when Yanofsky sings "native land" provides an entirely new and beautiful perspective on the song. But it is all down hill from there.

[SpongeG]

been watching all afternoon

its entertaining but i don't understand the narrative if there was one

and without the commentary during the athletes march its dull

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

been watching all afternoon

its entertaining but i don't understand the narrative if there was one

and without the commentary during the athletes march its dull

I'm wondering if the Olympic Broadcast doesn't include commentary, because each national broadcaster would have their own people doing the commentary in their native language.


I remember something like that happened years ago when the CBC was too cheap to send their staff to the World Juniors Hockey tournament, so they took the raw satellite feed from Europe & had someone do the play-by-play from the CBC studios in Toronto.

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

I'm wondering if the Olympic Broadcast doesn't include commentary, because each national broadcaster would have their own people doing the commentary in their native language.

I remember something like that happened years ago when the CBC was too cheap to send their staff to the World Juniors Hockey tournament, so they took the raw satellite feed from Europe & had someone do the play-by-play from the CBC studios in Toronto.

Yes, that's precisely it. As part of the tv rights deal the IOC makes with tv networks around the world, the IOC's Olympic Broadcast Systems shoots all the footage at the Games and it goes directly to the International Broadcast Centre's channels where the broadcasters will have full access to it and they provide commentary. That's why the timers/clocks/titles/rankings/placings (provided by the IOC's sponsors, Atos Orgin and Omega) graphics are always the same on every tv network, although CTV and NBC were an exception.

Imagine if 30+ different tv networks were to all shoot their own feed...imagine how much more that would cost, and how many more media personnel it would require. Including the written press, the Winter Games is currently nearing 11,000 accredited and growing; with the Summer Games, it's close to 24,000 accredited and also growing.

[mr.x]

BTW, the Closing Ceremony in full is also on YouTube:

• Video Link


The roast speeches were pretty awful, but it did have its moments as well.....even the cauldron descending beneath the stadium floors with an instrumental version of "Long May You Run" was moving.

[mr.x]

John Furlong tells off the language fascists:

By JEFF LEE, Vancouver Sun December 15, 2010 5:02 PM

VANCOUVER -- The head of the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Winter Games struck back Wednesday at criticism by the Official Languages Commissioner that the Games missed an opportunity to celebrate Canada's linguistic duality.

John Furlong said his organization worked from top to bottom to make sure the organization of the Olympics and Paralympics included equal representation of both English and French.

He said Graham Fraser's receipt of complaints about a perceived lack of French language in the opening ceremony pales to the overwhelming support Vanoc received from the public at large.

"I understand that Mr. Fraser said he had had 38 complaints. Well, to be honest, I have 10,000 letters of thanks and congratulations for the way we delivered the Olympic Games and a lot of it had to do with this very thing (the opening ceremony), " Furlong said.

...

Fraser said he eventually concluded that Vanoc saw the Official Language Commissioner's office as being troublesome. (it most certainly is!)

"We felt our studies were being viewed not as helpful but as an irritation," the commissioner said.

There are also some bombshell revelations about the Opening Ceremony:

- Celine Dion had been contracted to sing the national anthem at the Opening Ceremony. But she cancelled when she became pregnant.

- Vanoc had also specifically asked Cirque du Soleil, the Quebec troupe known for their spectacular airborne artistry, to provide some production elements. The company declined because it was overextended on several productions in the U.S.

- Furlong said Vanoc had also engaged "a famous Quebec composer" to provide musical elements. That composer, whom he would not name, backed out of the arrangement months before the Games over what he termed "philosophical differences". As a result, the artist refused to allow Vanoc access to his music's rights and the organizing committee had to unwind part of the ceremony.

http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Van...#ixzz18Egaxkgj



Sounds like they had planned a much more amazing Opening...

I can't help but think if it was the finale segment of the Opening Ceremony's cultural show that got cut out, which we all know consisted of a five-minute slam poet going off on how great Canada was. That slam poetry could very well have been a last minute addition. It kind of makes sense now, it was a very odd segment to have.



I also wonder if the Closing Ceremony's roast speeches were also a replacement for a canceled performance segment with music by this Quebec composer.

[Waders]

Despite its best efforts, VANOC was rebuffed by Quebec songwriter.

That "famous Quebec composer" Furlong referred to turns out to be Gilles Vigneault.

Too bad David Atkins' original plan for the Quebec segment didn't work. It could have added a lot more to the Canada identity in the Opening Ceremony.

When David Atkins was designing the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Olympics, he crafted what he thought would be a spectacular segment around the Quebec anthem Mon pays.

Written in 1964 by Gilles Vigneault, Mon pays became an anthem, of sorts, for Quebec independence. Mr. Vigneault was a prominent separatist. But Mr. Atkins and John Furlong, CEO of the Games, thought including the song in the opening ceremonies would send a powerful message to Quebec that the Winter Olympics included everyone in the country, even those who saw Canada as two solitudes.

Mr. Atkins had to get every piece of music cleared by those who had authority over its use. In this case, it was Mr. Vigneault himself. It didn’t take the Quebec songwriter a second to inform the Olympic organizing committee that the song could only be used under strict conditions: It could not be sung anywhere the Canadian flag was displayed and it could not be used in any production that promoted Canada as a country that included Quebec.

David Atkins was devastated. He had not anticipated that reaction. He had already lined up Quebec sensation Garou to sing the song. The segment was completely mapped out. Mr. Furlong decided to phone Quebec Premier Jean Charest to see if he could intervene to change Mr. Vigneault’s mind. Mr. Charest tried – no luck.

In the end, Mr. Atkins had to abandon his plan and add a new song to the lineup: Un peu plus haut, un peu plus loin, which was performed by Garou just before the cauldron was lit marking the climax of the show.

Quote from Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...rticle1843171/

I wonder what else will be revealed in Mr. Furlong’s soon-to-be-released Olympic memoirs Patriot Hearts?