mr.x
August 8th, 2008, 09:55 PM
Vanoc has tough act to follow after Beijing opening
JEFF LEE, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, August 08, 2008
BEIJING - At the Beijing Games if there is one lesson that John Furlong and his team at the Vancouver Organizing Committee are taking away from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Games, it is that there are no limitations on human ingenuity.
China's spectacular performance broke barriers Furlong never thought could be broken, from the artistic performances to the lighting of the torch.
As a result, Vanoc's ceremonies planners will probably sweep away many ideas and rewrite them knowing that the Chinese just put on "the greatest show on earth," he said.
"David Atkins (Vanoc's executive producer of ceremonies) and his team will be going over every inch of this," Furlong said. "I can tell you that their minds will be racing with all the opportunities to put on a better show. It will be done in a very Canadian way."
Summer and winter Games are vastly different in many respects.
Different sports, different scale, different climate.
Vancouver's Games will have half the athletes, officials and media of Beijing's.
But one thing largely the same is the treatment of the opening and closing ceremonies.
Whether it is staging the pre-ceremonies show, making sure the media tribunes work, corralling and coordinating the performers or making sure every one of the seats has a guest package, the issues are similar from one Games to the next.
But it is the artistic performance and the parade of athletes that always draws the attention of the audience.
For Beijing, this ceremony was about linking China's history with its modernity while paying homage to the promises it made to the International Olympic Committee to make this "a green Games, a technological Games, a peoples' Games."
Furlong said that message came through loud and clear.
"I have to tell you that I had very high expectations when I came into the stadium," he said. "Beijing went far beyond what I expected. It was a stunning night. Anyone who underestimated the Chinese won't do that again.
"I mean, did you ever think you would see a torch-bearer running around the inside of the stadium roof?"
Beijing's stunning opening ceremony brings the 2010 Games into sharp focus.
In less than two years it will be Vancouver's turn, something that Premier Gordon Campbell said he is keenly aware of.
"It is hard to believe that the next time we will see athletes from every corner of the earth gathering together for a Games, it will be in 2010 in Vancouver."
Campbell said the ceremony left him both in awe at the Chinese ingenuity and excited about the opportunities Vancouver will have to put on just as great a show.
"It was mesmerizing, inspirational, and a real invitation to get to know China, all of its' history, from the start to the modern day," the premier said.
Campbell, who was critical of Vanoc for using cliched Canadian images during its segment of the closing ceremonies for the 2006 Turin Games, said he believes Vanoc will put on a performance that will cover the sweep Canadian history, culture and sport.
"I would hope that we would do a ceremony that takes in all of Canada, and would be as inspiring as this one was."
David Guscott, Vanoc's executive vice-president of celebrations and partnerships, had a chance to tour the stadium during the dress rehearsal. He said there is no comparing Beijing's event in scale to Vancouver's, and he was stunned by the size and logistical complexity of the project.
Underneath the cavernous stadium was a "rabbit warren of rooms and interconnecting hallways" where many of the estimated 15,000 performers and 2,000 handlers lived and practiced.
"I would describe it as organized confusion," he said. "A lot of the performers are from the military, and when you went into their rooms you'd find their backpacks and beds all in a perfect grid, parallel to one another. You'd go into another room where the performers weren't from the military and it was all a jumble."
Guscott said Vanoc doesn't have the budget to put on a spectacle like China's but it will capture the quintessential elements that make Canada what it is.
Unlike Beijing, Vanoc also doesn't expect its performers to live in the stadium, Guscott said.
He said Vanoc's creative concepts for the ceremonies are still under development until the end of the year, but already the committee is working with computer modeling to prevent the kind of bad camera imagery in Turin that led to Campbell's criticism.
"That all translates into a book and a script that will be used to make sure every part of the ceremony is properly choreographed," he said.
"What tonight was really was the breaking of barriers," Furlong said.
"While the bar has been set incredibly high, we've now got a target to aim above."
jefflee@vancouversun.com
JEFF LEE, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, August 08, 2008
BEIJING - At the Beijing Games if there is one lesson that John Furlong and his team at the Vancouver Organizing Committee are taking away from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Games, it is that there are no limitations on human ingenuity.
China's spectacular performance broke barriers Furlong never thought could be broken, from the artistic performances to the lighting of the torch.
As a result, Vanoc's ceremonies planners will probably sweep away many ideas and rewrite them knowing that the Chinese just put on "the greatest show on earth," he said.
"David Atkins (Vanoc's executive producer of ceremonies) and his team will be going over every inch of this," Furlong said. "I can tell you that their minds will be racing with all the opportunities to put on a better show. It will be done in a very Canadian way."
Summer and winter Games are vastly different in many respects.
Different sports, different scale, different climate.
Vancouver's Games will have half the athletes, officials and media of Beijing's.
But one thing largely the same is the treatment of the opening and closing ceremonies.
Whether it is staging the pre-ceremonies show, making sure the media tribunes work, corralling and coordinating the performers or making sure every one of the seats has a guest package, the issues are similar from one Games to the next.
But it is the artistic performance and the parade of athletes that always draws the attention of the audience.
For Beijing, this ceremony was about linking China's history with its modernity while paying homage to the promises it made to the International Olympic Committee to make this "a green Games, a technological Games, a peoples' Games."
Furlong said that message came through loud and clear.
"I have to tell you that I had very high expectations when I came into the stadium," he said. "Beijing went far beyond what I expected. It was a stunning night. Anyone who underestimated the Chinese won't do that again.
"I mean, did you ever think you would see a torch-bearer running around the inside of the stadium roof?"
Beijing's stunning opening ceremony brings the 2010 Games into sharp focus.
In less than two years it will be Vancouver's turn, something that Premier Gordon Campbell said he is keenly aware of.
"It is hard to believe that the next time we will see athletes from every corner of the earth gathering together for a Games, it will be in 2010 in Vancouver."
Campbell said the ceremony left him both in awe at the Chinese ingenuity and excited about the opportunities Vancouver will have to put on just as great a show.
"It was mesmerizing, inspirational, and a real invitation to get to know China, all of its' history, from the start to the modern day," the premier said.
Campbell, who was critical of Vanoc for using cliched Canadian images during its segment of the closing ceremonies for the 2006 Turin Games, said he believes Vanoc will put on a performance that will cover the sweep Canadian history, culture and sport.
"I would hope that we would do a ceremony that takes in all of Canada, and would be as inspiring as this one was."
David Guscott, Vanoc's executive vice-president of celebrations and partnerships, had a chance to tour the stadium during the dress rehearsal. He said there is no comparing Beijing's event in scale to Vancouver's, and he was stunned by the size and logistical complexity of the project.
Underneath the cavernous stadium was a "rabbit warren of rooms and interconnecting hallways" where many of the estimated 15,000 performers and 2,000 handlers lived and practiced.
"I would describe it as organized confusion," he said. "A lot of the performers are from the military, and when you went into their rooms you'd find their backpacks and beds all in a perfect grid, parallel to one another. You'd go into another room where the performers weren't from the military and it was all a jumble."
Guscott said Vanoc doesn't have the budget to put on a spectacle like China's but it will capture the quintessential elements that make Canada what it is.
Unlike Beijing, Vanoc also doesn't expect its performers to live in the stadium, Guscott said.
He said Vanoc's creative concepts for the ceremonies are still under development until the end of the year, but already the committee is working with computer modeling to prevent the kind of bad camera imagery in Turin that led to Campbell's criticism.
"That all translates into a book and a script that will be used to make sure every part of the ceremony is properly choreographed," he said.
"What tonight was really was the breaking of barriers," Furlong said.
"While the bar has been set incredibly high, we've now got a target to aim above."
jefflee@vancouversun.com