Astonishing photos from the Opening Ceremony

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[karlhenning]

Fabulous, Paul!

[bhodges]

Thanks for posting these, Paul--marvelous!  I caught a bit of the end of the ceremonies on Friday, and from the little I saw, was sad I missed most of it.  But I suspect a DVD of the entire thing will make itself available at some point.

Definitely set a high standard for this kind of production.  When I heard Zhang Yimou was going to direct, I thought it could either be terrific or a huge bust, and apparently it turned out to be the former. 

--Bruce

[springrite]

Great photos. The newspaper today said that the terrific "footprints" fireworks were faked on a computer screen.

Well, there were rumors to that effect, BUT, there were 29 trucks stations from Yongdingmen through Tiananmen to the Bird Nest, and the first shot at Yongdingmen was no more than a mile from me, and many of my neighbors were there to see it. So they did fire them. I guess it is possible that for TV, most of the steps along the were were shot on simulation, if only because the distance covered can not be captured live too well, considering the difficulty of covering 20 miles in a matter of half a minute. But the first shot were seen by people I know and the last few shots around the stadium were certainly seen by the people inside. More than likely, all the shots were done, but for TV, much of the middle part that looked to be caught in flight were simulations.

[vandermolen]

Well, there were rumors to that effect, BUT, there were 29 trucks stations from Yongdingmen through Tiananmen to the Bird Nest, and the first shot at Yongdingmen was no more than a mile from me, and many of my neighbors were there to see it. So they did fire them. I guess it is possible that for TV, most of the steps along the were were shot on simulation, if only because the distance covered can not be captured live too well, considering the difficulty of covering 20 miles in a matter of half a minute. But the first shot were seen by people I know and the last few shots around the stadium were certainly seen by the people inside. More than likely, all the shots were done, but for TV, much of the middle part that looked to be caught in flight were simulations.

Yes, you are absolutely right. The "footprint" fireworks were there but they thought it too risky for the helicopter pilot to track them live, which is why they included a bit of computer simulation. The whole thing was extraordinary. When it comes to London in 2012 probably everything will be on strike 

[knight66]

I was disappointed that I could not get any footage on YouTube beyond the drummers, impressive, but clearly there was so much more to see. If there are any good links to clips, let me know.

Mike

[scarpia]

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What are those spirals in the background as the guy with the torch swings?

[springrite]

What are those spirals in the background as the guy with the torch swings?

If you have seen the torch you'd notice that it has the same design on it. It is traditional Chinese figure to depict clouds.

[knight66]

Paul, These seem to be opening ceremonies of a different kind that I expected, though undeniably interesting. Seems like the Russians have invaded cyberspace.

Mike

[Lethevich]

Paul, These seem to be opening ceremonies of a different kind that I expected, though undeniably interesting. Seems like the Russians have invaded cyberspace.

Where there is piracy and other related online media distribution, there is Russia

[Sarastro]

Where there is piracy and other related online media distribution, there is Russia

Get aboard, rob this forum!

[uffeviking]

Paul: Absolutely stunning and I thank you very much for posting them all. I do not have TV and it's at times like these I almost regret it, but as Bruce said, surely there will be DVDs produced by the Chinese government and they will be the biggest seller of all DVDs ever. - Maybe even more than the ones of The Three Tenors! 

Tell me, if you can, where did they get all the people to perform? I know China has the most people, but there must be thousands and all look young and slim and athletic. I wonder did the performers get to keep those fantastic costumes they wore?

[springrite]

Tell me, if you can, where did they get all the people to perform? I know China has the most people, but there must be thousands and all look young and slim and athletic. I wonder did the performers get to keep those fantastic costumes they wore?

Many of the male performers are from the constitutional guards, who usually perform ceremonial duties such as welcoming visiting heads of state. They are from the same institution as the guard doing the flag raising ceremony. The rest are selected dancers from various performing arts schools and institutions. For the students it sure looks good on the resume when they go job hunting. The girl who sang was seen by Zhang Yimou when he visited a school and saw her playing with other kids.

[Hollywood]

This is the first opening ceremony of a summer olympic games that I actually enjoyed. It was quite impressive and I really enjoyed the drummers. Living here in Austria we are only 6 hours behind Peking time so we were able to watch it live as well as all of the events (that is if you want to get up at 3 or 4am to see the early ones).

Thanks for posting all of those lovely photos as well. 

[Varg]

That opening was incredible.

"Astonishing". What else could we expect from China?!

Right now there is a documentary about China here in Québec. It just came out on DVD, so you might want to check it out. It's called "Wild China". I knew China's wilderness was beautilful, but not that beautiful!

[Bunny]

Many of the male performers are from the constitutional guards, who usually perform ceremonial duties such as welcoming visiting heads of state. They are from the same institution as the guard doing the flag raising ceremony. The rest are selected dancers from various performing arts schools and institutions. For the students it sure looks good on the resume when they go job hunting. The girl who sang was seen by Zhang Yimou when he visited a school and saw her playing with other kids.

The girl who sang was two girls.  The singer was not deemed to be pretty enough, so they had one girl sing (7-year-old Yang Peiyi) while the "cuter" girl (9-year-old Lin Miaoke) lip-synced and acted out the song. 

Here's a picture of the voice behind the face. I think she's just adorable, and certainly didn't deserve to be told that she wasn't pretty enough to perform on the international stage.  China needs to appreciate all of their girl children much more, imo!

[greg]

Awesome pictures........ i wonder what the crowds are like over there, though 

[Bunny]

Awesome pictures........ i wonder what the crowds are like over there, though 

They are very docile, except when they are murdering Americans and committing suicide.