ssorrell Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 (edited) Wow. I can't believe the Opening Ceremonies concluded hours ago and no one has commented yet. Surely everyone wasn't glued to their computer watching the Fan Network or waiting on scores? If you missed it, it sure was the most spectacular thing I've ever witnessed. And spectacular isn't strong enough a word. It was absolutely unbelievable. And as usual in most things in my life, I drew lots of parallels between the ceremony and drum corps...the possibilities of what could be on our field in the future. There were lots of visual things inside the Bird's Nest stadiuim last night that we might end up seeing on the field in the near future, especially if we increase the size of drum corps to a couple thousand members. LOL...of course that won't happen, but I'd be willing to bet that many of the manual visual effects that were used might work on the field to a much lesser degree. The extremely large "oars" or the costumes with the lights on them. Who's going to the first corps to "light up"? But last night also put a couple things in perspective for me. Here we are, drum corps...an activity working on pefercting a snare line of 8 to 10 members, while this ceremony had 2008 drummers playing in perfect unison while doing large moving visuals with their bodies and torso. The whole thing was done so well, it seemed as though I was watching something done via CGI...but it wasn't, it was live (or rather tape delayed!). And then there was the group of men, again 2008 of them, that surrounded the center of the field doing Tai Chi. There were no markings on the field, no lines, no hash marks, yet they formed PERFECT circles...huge circles. Perfect, with nearly perfect intervals. It was as if they had spots marked on the floor and they never strayed from them, but in reality, they ran quickly around the floor keeping their distance and forms, only to stop again...in a perfect formation of concentric cirlces. These two things in particular were done so well with so many cast members (both used 2008), it sort of made our strive to perfect a drill of 150 members insignificant. What was their secret? How did they do it so well? We need to find out their secret...it isn't dot marching for sure! Bob Costas and Matt Lauer commented on how they formed circles with such perfection without any aid on the floor. They said that Tai Chi was responsible for their harmony with their surroundings...that all they used in their performance was their acute sense of awareness of the space around them. Wow. Just Wow. Drum corps needs to do some Tai Chi. If you missed it and want to see pictures (even though they don't have a good aerial shot like we saw on TV) go here. Specifically Picture 8 is the Tai Chi guys...with their perfect intervals...too bad you can't see the form. The 2008 drummers on the floor in pictures 30, 31, and 32...oh and BTW, their drums lit up as they hit them, and they used that to form numbers and other figures as they played. Too cool. Edited August 9, 2008 by ssorrell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skywench Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 it was AMAZING! from what i understand (and what the talking heads were saying) the designer of the ceremony (won't even try to name him, my cantonese is pathetic!) designed the ceremony, then they designed the stadium to suit the ceremony. i did get a laugh about the "look at those circles. they're perfect. there are no marks on the floor, this is all done in rleation to their neighbor." i just cannot fathom getting 2008 performers for each segment organized, choreographed and performing perfectly. one of the most spectacular events i have ever seen. the only thing that marred it for me was when the 56 children handed the chinese flag to the soldiers to post. i just wish the military had been left out of this. man, what a show! jan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prodigal bari Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 Actually, there were marks on the staduim floor....they used very light colored dots to form a grid for the performers. BUT...the scale of the performance is so stunning and massive that it would be very easy to mess it up; and cause a pile-up that would have destroyed the entire production. The scatter run that hit into a HARD block (the perfection of which even the top corps could not match) was STUNNING. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfrontz Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 Steve, I WAS glued to the Fan Network, but my children were watching the opening ceremony. I got to see the 2008 drummers. My first thought was "Ohmigosh, it looks like a Nuremberg rally." I think Costas thought so too - he said he found it both awe-inspiring and a little bit intimidating. But it was an unbelievably impressive spectacle of percussion and movement. I hope people post some of the ceremony on YouTube so I can catch up. Maybe MSNBC.com has it archived? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssorrell Posted August 9, 2008 Author Share Posted August 9, 2008 Actually, there were marks on the staduim floor....they used very light colored dots to form a grid for the performers. I missed that. but even so, how would each of 2008 performers running around the floor know which dot to go to on the grid? Again...WOW. Every Olympics after this might as well just go to the stadium and start with the Parade of Countries, because this ceremony will never be topped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baritone Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 I missed that. but even so, how would each of 2008 performers running around the floor know which dot to go to on the grid?Again...WOW. Every Olympics after this might as well just go to the stadium and start with the Parade of Countries, because this ceremony will never be topped. Yeah, on BBC radio 4 this morning they were saying that they won't even be able to go remotely close to anything in London 2012 and they can't (and won't) even try to top that. I can't even imagine the amount of practice that the Chinese people put into this ceremony. I wonder how long they had been working on it? Probably a while I would think. And the honour of being in the opening ceremony was probably a drive to the ultimate perfection too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 I missed that. but even so, how would each of 2008 performers running around the floor know which dot to go to on the grid?Again...WOW. Every Olympics after this might as well just go to the stadium and start with the Parade of Countries, because this ceremony will never be topped. I agree Steve...it was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Zhang Yimou did an amazing job. He also directed two great films I have seen, "House of Flying Daggers" (Zhang Ziyi) and "Curse of the Golden Flower" (Chow Yun Fat and Gong Li). Gong Li: Zhang Ziyi: Both were stars of "Memoirs of a Geisha", fyi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanguard87 Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 (edited) Living in Japan, I got to watch the Opening Ceremony live on Friday night, then Semis Saturday morning. What can you say about the ceremony? Totally awesome, and like a lot of you I was watching it thinking about what a drum corps could steal (um... adapt). The director of the ceremony is Zhang Yimou. If you haven't seen "House of Flying Daggers," stop reading this right now and put it in your Netflix queue. That movie is a treasure trove of drum corps ideas. "Hero," too, to a lesser extent. His older, more serious movies like "Raise the Red Lantern" are pretty great, too. The oar flags are a definite possibility. So is the "painting dance" (having the athletes step in ink and tramp across it to form the rainbow was absolute genius). I think the giant globe prop with the dancers on wire harnesses would actually be legal under current DCI rules. The big mystery to me is: How did Team Jamaica get their hands on the Bridgemens' uniforms? Most of all, I want to buy the football-field size screen built into the floor and donate it to Vanguard. They could hook it up to a computer running Pyware or whatever program they use to instantly check drill sets (and check transitions on the fly). Then I'd electrify it to give the members "feedback" when they drift off their dot. Edited August 9, 2008 by vanguard87 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TA67 Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 Whoever was the guy running across the wall holding a torch which then lit up the huge torch is now a God. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern Thunder Posted August 9, 2008 Share Posted August 9, 2008 The entire thing was incredible! Bob Costas said it all when he stated that they can retire the opening ceremony trophy right now. My daughter has been in China for the last 6 weeks doing research on the Olympics effect on the entire country. The bad air is finally starting to get to her now, unfortunately. She'll probably have the after effects for a month after she returns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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