Very Proud of China - Opening Ceremonies

[Tom Lowe]

http://i37.tinypic.com/i73d5t.jpg

Wow. Those opening ceremonies were just mind-blowing. I couldn't help but feel very proud of China - they have come so far, so fast. Who could have dreamed of this even 20 years ago?

Congratulations to all our friends and reduser members in Hong Kong and mainland China. This was a great moment for the Chinese people, and for all of us.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif

[number6]

http://i37.tinypic.com/i73d5t.jpg

Wow. Those opening ceremonies were just mind-blowing. I couldn't help but feel very proud of China - they have come so far, so fast. Who could have dreamed of this even 20 years ago?

Congratulations to all our friends and reduser members in Hong Kong and mainland China. This was a great moment for the Chinese people, and for all of us.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif

Tom, do you remember the director's name who put it all together? What imagination!

[Tom Lowe]

Zhang Yimou. I think he did Hero, House of Flying Daggers, etc.

The word "epic" just doesn't do justice to the show they put on!

[number6]

Zhang Yimou. I think he did Hero, House of Flying Daggers, etc.

The word "epic" just doesn't do justice to the show they put on!

I quite agree... it's as though they shot "Titanic" with the aim of releasing it for a single shouing.

[Andrew Martin]

It was awesome. I had to watch it again today. The coordination was second to none, those drummers at the beginning - you can see where the year of rehearsing came in. Stunning.

Im from London - don't know how we are going to come anywhere near in 2012.

Andrew.

[number6]

Im from London - don't know how we are going to come anywhere near in 2012.

Andrew.

Andrew, that was one of the first things that crossed my mind, too. :help: Even four years later will be too soon for the memory of that event to fade. I suggest your Olympic committee consider going minimalist... no way you can out epic the Chinese.

[Tom Lowe]

I know, you guys in London must be sweating bullets now trying to think of how to top that!

I did not record this... I'm hoping at some point a Bluray (maybe with multiple angles) will come out. I mean, this was MADE for HD.

[Thom Steinhoff]

Look at these amazing pictures.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/2008_olympics_opening_ceremony.html

I hope some Reds were on hand to catch it all in 4K.

Anyone?

[Andrew Martin]

Youre right number6 - minimalist maybe the way to go.

I passed up an opportunity to build some of the epic items for the Beijing games as i used to be a model maker / spfx tech, now im a writer director - and after seeing that, i want to be a model maker again --- only for a few days mind then its back to filming things.

Tom. it was shown on BBC HD i think here in the UK, but unfortunately my plasma blew up, literally, a couple of weeks back so im HD and Monitorless doh! It might be out there somewhere in HD if you look in the normal places . . .

Andrew.

[Tom Lowe]

I'm sure an HD rip will be up on bit torrents soon, but I'd also love to get a real 1080p Bluray where I could switch to different angles and stuff.

by the way, I was thinking to myself when I was watching this last night: can you imagine if some aliens came down to earth and saw this ceremony? They would be like, "WOW! These humans kick ass!! Amazing!" Even they would be impressed.

[Andrew Martin]

Bluray would be cool.

One thing i would like to know is how did they fit all that stuff under the stage? . . . its like the tardis.

Andrew.

[Tom Lowe]

I wish I could have shot a timelapse of the workings of that underground system they must have had.

[conrad gaunt]

http://i37.tinypic.com/i73d5t.jpg

Wow. Those opening ceremonies were just mind-blowing. I couldn't help but feel very proud of China - they have come so far, so fast. Who could have dreamed of this even 20 years ago?

Congratulations to all our friends and reduser members in Hong Kong and mainland China. This was a great moment for the Chinese people, and for all of us.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif

Yeah, kinda distracts from all the human right abuse doesn`t it. Now everybody, this is the sun..

[Andrew Martin]

(Sorry was out playing Golf). Tom, that would be a crazy timelapse, but way cool. I saw one once of the back of house of a London theatre which was amazing to see, i love BTS stuff. (BTW i've seen the timelapses you have posted here and they are amazing, all the best with the Imax film)

"Now everybody, this is the sun" with a Chinese Tennor and Sarah Brightman adorning the North Polar region.

Andrew

[Tom Lowe]

Yeah, kinda distracts from all the human right abuse doesn`t it. Now everybody, this is the sun..

There is a time and a place to criticize their government, but there is also a time and place to celebrate the great advancements the Chinese people have made in recent years in joining the world community and lifting themselves out of despair. This thread is for the latter.

[Jeff Coatney]

Is it as impressive as Tank Man?

[David M]

Bluray would be cool.

One thing i would like to know is how did they fit all that stuff under the stage? . . . its like the tardis.

Andrew.

I heard one commentator mention there is a large elevator and access system built under the arena. The performers dance on two giant LED TV screens which can be periodically slid apart to let let new stuff be lifted up by the elevator. The "scroll" bits at the ends are simply cylindrical LED TV screens where the picture is rotated to make it look like the cylinder is rolling rather than just sliding along.

Interesting to speculate how they managed to coordinate all the people lifiting up the boxes for the "moveable type" sequence. Since every performer I saw a closeup of was wearing earphones I would bet that they are all getting individual spoken prompts generated by a computer, either through hundreds of radio channels, or maybe simply by having individual instructions stored in customized MP3 players, that are all somehow Jam-synced at the start of the performance.

Whatever, it was a truly incredible spectacle, like something out of wherever the last astronaut ended up in 2001 A Space Oddysey!

[michael zaletel]

Yes. China has made unbelievable progress in a very short time. Not easy to do with 1.3 Billion people and 3.7 Million square miles of land to govern. It's a good time to focus on the positive. Excellent post Tom.

-shooter

[Anthony Gratl]

There is a time and a place to criticize their government, but there is also a time and place to celebrate the great advancements the Chinese people have made in recent years in joining the world community and lifting themselves out of despair. This thread is for the latter.
No offense Tom I usually quite like your posts because they're well thought out and articulate. I understand the spirit of what you're trying to cultivate, but if you think that putting on a nice show is a good reason to stop talking about human rights abuses, I beg to differ. The "great advancements of the chinese people" has been done mostly on the backs of the poor working peasant classes of china, and at great expense to the environment. The chinese were never "in despair" and to say otherwise is a bit of an insult. This is an ancient culture you're talking about. They know the idea of time well, so let's not kid ourselves here with a modern western historical interpretation. The real despair is in the atrocious human rights record that the chinese government has, the complacency of western politicians and indeed western populations who want their cheap shit, and the grinding poverty that still afflicts a large segment of the population.
And for the record, a thread shouldn't be restricted to just one point of view should it? That would be very undemocratic.

[conrad gaunt]

There is a time and a place to criticize their government, but there is also a time and place to celebrate the great advancements the Chinese people have made in recent years in joining the world community and lifting themselves out of despair. This thread is for the latter.


I understand the spirit you meant this post, but..

Nonsense Tom. There is a time and place to mention things like this, and now is that time. The perfect time. Getting distracted by shiny balls of light is for children at christmas frankly.
The Chinese people (ie, army/government) have improved things economically, at great expense to the people, culture and the environment very often, but to suggest its happened in recent years, as apposed to half a century, is naive frankly. Many many people have died for that progress, often against their will, obviously. Also, saying you`re "Very Proud of China" in the title, kinda sounds patronising to me too. You`re proud of them because they`re hosting a dubious sporting event? What are you proud of? Tell that to a Tibetan woman who`s had her f. tubes ripped out without anaesthetic. Are you gunna attribute these policies to the Chinese people too, or just their government? I know you like timelapse, but come on..

[Jason Francois]

I don't think anybody should stop talking about human right abuses, but China is not the only country or the biggest offender, at times. There are problems world-wide, but the Olympics are supposed to be a time to unify for even a few moments. It may be superficial to try to pretend that certain things in the world don't exist for a few days, but some times progress can be made in a few moments of hitting the "pause button"....sometimes not. We'll see.

I think the show was amazing. We can't ignore the human rights and political issues that still plague China on the world scene, but my take on it is this:

China seems to care about what the world thinks and the Olympics show a bit of that. Most of it is to show off their ingenuity and present some pomp and circumstance, but that has to still be followed by a bit of self-awareness. It may take decades for the capitalistic desires of China to match with a true democracy but IN MY OPINION the show that we saw gives a glimmer of hope for the future.

China is so front and center on the world stage and so pivotal to the economies of so many countries (like it or not) that they will have no choice, but to learn (over time) to handle some serious issues that are facing the country from a civil rights perspective. As Shooter mentioned there are 1.3 billion people in this country...nothing is going to be easy with the country history and so many people.

OK, sorry about getting political. There are no easy answers, so I guess what I'm really saying is that the opening ceremonies were amazing regardless of all the other serious issues.

j.

[Johnny St.Ours]

I read a lot of posts, and my self, post rarely, and I start by apologizing for not responding in your other threads, Tom, cause I've been really impressed and grateful of your timelapses.

I just wanted to say that power was diverted from a province of china for that light show. People who may have just survived a pretty bad quake had their new frigidaires go warm for the night or the week and the rest of the world got to feel proud.

I really respect Zhang Yimou, the story of him selling his blood on China's black market for his first camera has always inspired me, as well as his incredible storytelling visuals in Red Lantern, To Live, and Yellow Earth. But I have to say, I liked him better when the Chinese government didn't. He couldn't even come to USA to collect Raise the Red Lantern's awards. I saw him in NY when he presented Qui Ju, and that film pretty clearly was aimed to please the party. I thought Flying Daggers, Hero, and the Olympic ceremony were all pretty ridiculously wasteful. This is a guy who could win Academy Awards with a couple pints of blood. Somebody tell China they could have spent the other $300 million on their hurting poor and still gotten a hell of a show.

[Tom Lowe]

Sorry several of you feel this way. I'm not Chinese, but I lived there for a couple of years recently, and even in those couple of years, the country was changing dramatically right before my very eyes. Literally, every month my Chinese friends would tell me of new freedoms - for travel, education, the press, land ownership, arts, etc.

I could write twenty pages about the problems China has. But there are also good things happening there.

I just thought the opening ceremonies were incredibly beautiful, and wanted to express my feelings about that. I wasn't looking for a debate about human rights.

[conrad gaunt]

I don't think anybody should stop talking about human right abuses, but China is not the only country or the biggest offender, at times. There are problems world-wide, but the Olympics are supposed to be a time to unify for even a few moments. It may be superficial to try to pretend that certain things in the world don't exist for a few days, but some times progress can be made in a few moments of hitting the "pause button"....sometimes not. We'll see.

I think the show was amazing. We can't ignore the human rights and political issues that still plague China on the world scene, but my take on it is this:

China seems to care about what the world thinks and the Olympics show a bit of that. Most of it is to show off their ingenuity and present some pomp and circumstance, but that has to still be followed by a bit of self-awareness. It may take decades for the capitalistic desires of China to match with a true democracy but IN MY OPINION the show that we saw gives a glimmer of hope for the future.

China is so front and center on the world stage and so pivotal to the economies of so many countries (like it or not) that they will have no choice, but to learn (over time) to handle some serious issues that are facing the country from a civil rights perspective. As Shooter mentioned there are 1.3 billion people in this country...nothing is going to be easy with the country history and so many people.

OK, sorry about getting political. There are no easy answers, so I guess what I'm really saying is that the opening ceremonies were amazing regardless of all the other serious issues.

j.


I don`t think anyone has said China are the biggest human rights abusers, although if you use a gross proportional representation system, and take the abused population of China into account, they might well be.

The modern day olympics was started by an old fascist? Privately owned? The country who pays the biggest bribes usually wins the bid?, although bribes are often taken from many sources? And half the athletes are doped? Who dares wins, seems to be the message coming from the olympic organisation?

China has shown little/no sign of caring about the views of other nations or even its own people, and pretend to even less than Russia does (I mean Putin..), I`m not sure why you think this will change? Both China and Russia are following policies that fit in very nicely with "The Art Of War". Both are using long term economic strategies, coupled with ever present military threat, to gain power and to control people and territory, and its all quite calculated. It seems to be working so far too.. The IOC is about as useful as the IMF and World Bank are to developing countries..Europe needs Russian gas and oil, let the games commence...

[Jason Murphy]

Here's hoping that Zhang Yimou also planned out a way to shoot his show the other day, without commentators, without cuts for commercial breaks, etc. and will release an official cut of it on Blu-ray or something. That was one of the most impressive performances I've ever seen.

[Tom Lowe]

I'm with you on that, Jason.

[Petr Dvorak]

I got over 4 hours of this ceremony without commercials in 720p and with natural sound. It`s like 26GB :biggrin:

I really like art aspect of it, but extremely hate political and megalomaniac ones :gun:

Athens opening was cool too

[vstm10]

I just wanted to say that power was diverted from a province of china for that light show. People who may have just survived a pretty bad quake had their new frigidaires go warm for the night or the week and the rest of the world got to feel proud.

Somebody tell China they could have spent the other $300 million on their hurting poor and still gotten a hell of a show.

My thoughts exactly.

[Mark Phelan]

I hate to say it, but I missed the opening ceremony and have been searching for a replay. If anyone hears of one, post the time and channel please. The photos and stories from family and friends are just rubbing it in.

[Johann Schulz]

Thom's got a great link right in this thread that made me cry. Every pic is unreal! The Chinese eat dogs. They skin cats alive. The culture is different, to be sure. But one look at these pics makes you realize that CONTROL IS NECESSARY. Ask the Pharoahs, ask the Founding Fathers, ask imbiciles.... All great culture has been built upon the backs of workers, but the freaky fact is that workers should NOT unite. They should accept their work and work on.

[Luis Otero]

I don't think anybody should stop talking about human right abuses, but China is not the only country or the biggest offender, at times. ...


Like what we have been doing in Irak... We only keep the counting of our troops losses, but we we have forgotten that over 250K civilians have died at Irak in order to "free them up"...

Sorry, could not resist...:angry03:

But, going back to the real subject, the openings were just spectacular. It makes me feel proud of living on this place called Earth...:innocent:

[Luis Otero]

I just wanted to say that power was diverted from a province of china... Similar to the rolling black-outs in California few years ago to supply evenly the energy to different counties of the state?:sarcasm:

[Johann Schulz]

I don't know how Beijing got the Olympics - growing consumerism obviously, but I think, after talking to those involved in the Cultural Revolution, on Chinese soil, that many Chinese just act as they're told. That's it. Follow orders.

"Kill your teacher."

"Okay. If it's allowed."

Same thing would happen in Brooklyn, or Saskatoon, or Seattle, without a doubt. You think not? Where's the tipping point? When does anarchy seem reasonable? Well, usually sooner than you think, and often when you can get away with it....

The Chinese are great. Period. The Americans are great. Period. And so on....

[Luis Otero]

Agree... But the openings were out-of-this world!!!:weight_lift:

[Johann Schulz]

Absolutely fantastic, and I love Zhang Yi Mou! He was a cinematographer before becoming a great director. Obviously his last couple of flicks, trying to emulate Hollywood and shooting for an Oscar in their conceptions, lost reality. But just watch RED SORGHUM or RAISE THE RED LANTERN and forget about the over processed shite, excluding the OLYMPICS, of course!

It's 5am and I've got to give my well-heeled negativity a break. Good night!

[James T Mather]

Channel 4 news here in europe has just broken a story that the opening ceremonies were faked using CGI - the footprints in the sky effect was post apparently.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26139005/

Nice effect though.

[Luis Otero]

Do you mean enhanced due to weather conditions? Similar to what was needed when Whitney Huston sung the national anthem years ago due to poor accoustic conditions! It was the entire song, not just her final "fireworks"...:innocent:

[Dylan Reeve]

The organisers claim that the footprint fireworks were real and did actually happen bu that they thought it would be unsafe to film, so the shot that was used for broadcast was a CGI effect...

I'm not sure I really believe them.

[A. Bastaki]

i dont see the big deal about this olympics shulympics thing... a bunch of gay guys and a bunch of lesbos go around and jump in the air with a stick, or a braud turns around 3 times around herself, or some dude jumps off a ledge and slides underneath it and above it. big f-kin deal.

its like u have a kid who tries to mock an actor from a silly tv show.. only these guys show their vast failed attempts of being circus clowns. its like watching a clown without a circus and his silly painted smile do clown-like stuff.

i want the god damn silly smile. i want the gray elephant with the silly hat. i want to see monkeys juggling, and i want to see the dudes flippin' in the air and holding them gymnasticy stuff in mid air... and do a reverse body split in air. i want the silly music too.. and see the clown get from 1 side to the other with a single cycling wheel.

[James T Mather]

the post above leaves me a little speechless. I can only assume you're being ironic or something.

[Radoslav Karapetkov]

It was really something.

I watched it on crappy SD broadcast, as I'm currently away from civilization and all its vanity.

And, yeah. :)

A 1080p version of some sort would be nice.

Amazing.

[Luis Otero]

the post above leaves me a little speechless. I can only assume you're being ironic or something.

Ditto...!!!

[C.H.Haskell]

Where can I watch this in HD?

[conrad gaunt]

Actually, Tom, I appologise. I dont think you re endorsing China, simply pointing out they ve done a good job of the ceremony, and hopefully plenty of the workers feel proud of what they ve done, and they should. I jumped on this thread early on because i was probably in a bad mood a few days ago, probably smoking, and probably a bit pi**ed off with the Georgia stuff. Half of my family are Latvian as it goes. I m not a big fan of the Olympic message either, or the people who run/own it. Anyway I ve been away for 36hrs or so and this need to appologise has been bugging me, I m sure as an ex-soldier? you aint naive or blind to human rights abuse, and to suggest it is probably patronising on my part, I m just a big killjoy. very sorry Tom :bye2:

[Johann Schulz]

A lot of smoke and mirrors going on right now.

[Radoslav Karapetkov]

There are many troubled peoples and regions in the world, why should Tibet be different?

Are there priorities in fighting injustice?

WTF?

[tricardo]

The thread seems a little off Red topic. But hey maybe not.

As expected, the Olympic opening ceremony was an unforgettable spectacle.

However, I am now starting to feel conned.

First there was the 3D fireworks, replacing the real ones for the world wide broadcast to ensure that they looked better.

Now we discover that LIN MIAOKE, 9, the Chinese girl in the red dress who captured the world's hearts with her beautiful voice when she sang during the Olympic opening ceremony was not the owner of that voice.

Unfortunately what we heard was a pre-recording of another child, Yang Peiyi, 7, who was dropped from the opening ceremony at the last minute in the "national interest". The switch happened at the behest of a member of China's politburo.

Surely what we are actually watching is the worlds biggest ever RED advertising campaign.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/off-the-field/opposing-force-silenced-little-star-in-red/2008/08/12/1218306898050.html

[James T Mather]

Apparently the child was dropped in favour of a prettier one.

Nice.

Maybe China's government should get it's act together. All the shallow imagery can't hide the backdrop of it's violation on basic human rights and highly dubious public relations choices. A pretty thin veneer.

[Thomas Mathai]

The thread seems a little off Red topic. But hey maybe not.

As expected, the Olympic opening ceremony was an unforgettable spectacle.

However, I am now starting to feel conned.

First there was the 3D fireworks, replacing the real ones for the world wide broadcast to ensure that they looked better.

Now we discover that LIN MIAOKE, 9, the Chinese girl in the red dress who captured the world's hearts with her beautiful voice when she sang during the Olympic opening ceremony was not the owner of that voice.

Unfortunately what we heard was a pre-recording of another child, Yang Peiyi, 7, who was dropped from the opening ceremony at the last minute in the "national interest". The switch happened at the behest of a member of China's politburo.

Surely what we are actually watching is the worlds biggest ever RED advertising campaign.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/off-the-field/opposing-force-silenced-little-star-in-red/2008/08/12/1218306898050.html

It seems no matter what, The Olympics is still show biz. Guess China would make a great movie producer.

[Tom Lowe]

Actually, Tom, I appologise. I dont think you re endorsing China, simply pointing out they ve done a good job of the ceremony, and hopefully plenty of the workers feel proud of what they ve done, and they should. I jumped on this thread early on because i was probably in a bad mood a few days ago, probably smoking, and probably a bit pi**ed off with the Georgia stuff. Half of my family are Latvian as it goes. I m not a big fan of the Olympic message either, or the people who run/own it. Anyway I ve been away for 36hrs or so and this need to appologise has been bugging me, I m sure as an ex-soldier? you aint naive or blind to human rights abuse, and to suggest it is probably patronising on my part, I m just a big killjoy. very sorry Tom :bye2:

Don't give it another thought. It's easy to understand your concerns about China's human rights record. I definitely share your concerns.