stadia.gr/forum

[Ypsilon]

Ξέρω να διαβάζω και δεν παραποιώ λόγια φίλε μου, ηρέμησε!
Αν το θέτεις έτσι, ήταν "βαρετό" επειδή δεν μπορούσε να ήταν αλλιώς. Δεν γινόταν να πάει πιο γρήγορα η τελετή, για τους λόγους που ανέφερα. Αυτό ήταν όλο.

[nikitas]

Και μια και μερικές φορές γίναμε υπερβολικά αρνητικοί με τους Αυστραλούς, κατέβασα το Video με την Τελετή Έναρξης όπως το έδειξε το αυστραλιανό κανάλι. Ένα σας λέω: Ο Κωστάλας μπροστά τους ωχριά σε κοσμητικά επίθετα και ωραία λόγια. Η λέξεις "extraordinary", "phenomenal" αναφέρθηκαν πάνω από 10 φορές σε μια περιγραφή που ήταν υποδειγματική και λιτή με αποτέλεσμα να επικεντρώνεσαι στην εικόνα χωρίς να σε αποσπάει ο σχολιαστής. Και η περιγραφή δεν ήταν από όποιον όποιον. Ο βασικός σχολιαστής ήταν ο Ric Birch, ο παραγωγός των Τελετών στο Sydney.

Ορίστε μερικά από τα σχόλια (και μερικές τεχνικές πληροφορίες για το πόσο δύσκολο τεχνικά ήταν αυτό που είδαμε, μαζί με όσα είχαν συζητήσει με τον Παπαϊωάννου):

Πρίν την Τελετή: It promises to be an incredibly exciting ceremony tonight. It's right on the edge on what's possible technically.... Isn't Athens a beautiful city? It's really, really stunning. And the people themselves are gorgeous, friendly, and prepared this city unbelievably well for these Olympic Games. I think they are very classy and elegant nation and I do believe the ceremony will reflect that.

Φλεγόμενοι Κύκλοι: I think that we can safely say that the ancient gods of Olympia gave the blessing to the start of the opening ceremony here in Athens. This is a very adventurous ceremony which is coming out with some technical effects that have never been attempted before.... Spectacular opening, this is the first time that a stadium has been turned into a theatre. Welcome to the games of 28th Olympiad. Olympia has been given approval.

Υποδοχή Σταφανόπουλου: This ceremony has been directed by a young Greek choreographer and director, Dimitris Papaioannou, who came up with the entire creative concept about 3-4 years ago. I was lucky enough to meet with him at the time that he was planning the ceremony and he said that he couldn't hoped to match Sydney in terms of the number of performers and so he decided to create a ceremony here with only a fraction of the number of performers but with huge allegorical and symbolical references to Greek history as it was developed, and the role of ancient Greece, which is indeed the cradle of Western civilization, is explained, is visualized here in a way that if have been presented to me in Sydney I would have thought to be impossible. But the technology has moved on since Sydney and as you will see as the show unfolds there are some extraordinary effects still to come.

Κυκλαδικό Άγαλμα: This is about 25 meters high and is raised out of an enormous tunnel in the center of the field.... What a technical genius underneath that lake.... It's absolutely phenomenal... It's taken a huge amount of technology... Just to watch that happen, live here at the stadium, it's absolutely extraordinary... if someone have came to me and said they wanted to do that I'm not sure that I could have agreed to begin it.. it's so expensive, so complicated, and even a little dangerous I suspect... These enormous rock fragments all together weigh 10.5 tones! There it is. Probably the most complicated, the most expensive special effect ever attempted in a stadium!

Κλεψύδρα: These costumes are magnificent... There's an exquisite detail in the costumes... quite extraordinary... beautiful wardrobe... really extraordinary work... Sxoliastria: The detail is amazing, isn't it? Unheard of previous Olympics... in terms of detail... Birch: Yes, to this extent is really extraordinary...

Έγκυος και DNA: We start to see one of the extraordinary effects with the water of the lake starts to reflects the lights, not only the theatrical lights but the lights of the audience, recreating a reflection of a galaxy... and the water itself reflecting the sky above...

[c_sun]

Καλησπέρα σας ύστερα από πολύ καιρό. Ας όψονται τα ξένα.

Δεν ξέρω πότε θα βγουν τα dvd με την τελετή έναρξης, ξέρω όμως ότι από χτες ακούω το νέο cd του Tiesto (Parade of the Athletes) με τα κομμάτια που παίχτηκαν στις 13-08 (όχι σε live). Δεν έχει παύσεις ανάμεσα στα κομμάτια. To cd θα κυκλοφορήσει σε 15-30 μέρες επίσημα, αλλά ήδη υπάρχει στα "γνωστά δισκάδικα"

1. Heroes
2. Breda 8pm (DJ Montana Edit)
3. Ancient History
4. Traffic
5. Euphoria
6. Athena
7. Olympic Flame
8. Lethal Industry
9. Coming Home
10. Adagio For Strings
11. Victorious
12. Forever Today

Και φυσικά το 2004 είναι μια ελληνική χρονιά, αφού, μετά το Εuro + Olympics, έρχεται το cd με το παρακάτω cover.


Enjoy it (ειδικά το Heroes).

[Mozart]

Μια που ανέφερε τον Κωστάλα ο φίλος πιο πάνω, ειδατε τη χθεσινή πρεμιέρα του ΜητσιΧώστα?
Ο κομήτης αντί να σχηματίζει κύκλους, σχημάτιζε το logo της εκπομπής, και ο Μήτσι έκανε περιγραφή αλα Κωστάλα
"Ο Έλληνας ταξιδιάρης από παλιά ..... . ....."

[Mozart]

Όσοι είδατε τη συνέντευξη του Παπαϊωάννου στην Παναγιωταρέα, θα είδατε και μερικές σκηνές από την τελετή, που έδειχνε που και που. Το αξιοσημείωτο με αυτές τις σκηνές ήταν ότι ήταν από κάμερες που δεν είχε επιλέξει ο σκηνοθέτης. Χαρακτηριστικά θυμάμαι το παιδάκι σε πλάνο από το πέταλο, και τον τυμπανιστή μέσα στο νερό σε πλάνο από τα δημοσιογραφικά θεωρία. Δυστυχώς δεν ήταν πολλές αυτές οι σκηνές.

Τι ωραία που θα τανε να έδειχνε η ΕΡΤ μια εκπομπή, με τέτοια πλάνα από τις δεκάδες κάμερες που υπήρχαν στο στάδιο. Τι ζητάω ε? Ποιος να κάτσει να ασχοληθεί με μεράκι να ετοιμάσει κάτι ανάλογο. Έχει κανείς καμιά άκρη στην Αγ.Παρασκευή να τους ρίξει καμιά ιδέα?

Αχ. Τι θυμίθηκα τώρα!!!

It was falling into the dream,
as I was coming out of the dream!!!!

[Mozart]

Χθες στο Ε της Κυριακάτικης Ελευθεροτυπίας, είχε ένα πολύ περίεργο άρθρο σχετικά με μια πρόταση που είχε κάνει κάποια κ.Οικονομίδου, Οικονομάκου, κάπως έτσι τέλος πάντων το 2001 προς την Αθήνα 2004, και αφορούσε σε ένα concept για τη τελετή έναρξης. Η πρότασή της, η οποία σύμφωνα με την ίδια είχε πρωτοσκεφτεί το 98 κατοχυρώνοντάς τη σε συμβολαιογράφο, προορίζονταν αρχικά απλά για μια καλλιτεχνική παρουσία στα πλαίσια της πολιτιστικής ολυμπιάδας και μετά βελτιωμένη τη πρότεινε για σενάριο της τελετής έναρξης. Προς τι όλος αυτός ο πρόλογός μου? Ε λοιπόν, η πρόταση αυτή, επονομαζόμενη "άθλος", έχει απίστευτα πολλές ομοιότητες με το σενάριο του ΔΠ που είδαμε στις 13/8!!!!
Πρωταγωνιστές είναι το υδάτινο στοιχείο (όπως η λίμνη), η γυναικία μορφή της θάλασσας (λέγε με Bjork), στοιχεία της ιστορίας με πρωταγωνιστή τον Μ.Αλέξανδρο που εκτοξεύει φωτεινά βέλη (όπως ο Κένταυρος το ακόντιο), μια σφαίρα στο κέντρο του σταδίου, με χορευτές να πηγαίνουν προς αυτή (όπως οι λαμπαδηδρόμοι "πετούσαν" προς μια σφαίρα στο κέντρο πριν μπει ο Γκάλης), τυμπανιστές που συνοδεύουν ένα κωπηλατικό καράβι που έχει καπετάνιο ένα μικρό παιδί (!!!!!) και ταξίδια πολιτισμών του κόσμου που πήγαιναν προς τους αγώνες της Αθήνας, με φιγούρες που έμοιαζαν με αρκετά κοστούμια της κλεψύδρας!!!
Το περίεργο είναι ότι όλα αυτά που ανέφερα τα παρουσίαζε με μακέτες-προσχέδια το περιοδικό και έχει και ένα διάλογο που έκανε τηλεφωνικά ζητώντας την άποψη του Παπαϊωάννου, όπου εμφανίζονταν φανερά ενοχλημένος με τις ερωτήσεις. Η εν λόγω κυρία, είπε ότι εξετάζει τις κινήσεις της για να βρει τυχόν διαρροές, πνευματικά δικαιώματα, ή κάτι άλλο περίεργο που πιθανόν κρύβεται πίσω από την ιστορία. Είδε μήπως κανείς χθες ειδήσεις στα αλτεροσταρκάναλα? Έχω την εντύπωση πως αμα μάθουν ότι υπάρχει τέτοιο "σκάνδαλο", θα ξεσαλώσουν!

[apari]

Μετα λύπης αναφέρω οτι το Σαββάτο που πήγα στο ΟΑΚΑ για αγώνα μπάσκετ είδα τα κομμάτια του αγάλματος της τελετής έναρξης σε ένα σωρό απο σκουπίδια σε μια γωνία του πάρκινγκ.
Κρίμα...

[marin]

Poso xazoi eimaste!
I xazomara mas mono ligo kairo xapostainei kai meta pros ti doxa traba! Opou ligo kairo bl. to magiko Augousto.
Anti na mazepsoun ola osa eftiaxan auti tin yperoxi teleti kai na ta ekthesoun kapou akoma kai mesa ston axani auti ti stigmi xwro tou OAKA ta petane sta mpaza.

Diladi ithele para poly skepsi na katalaboun oti tou xronou ton Augousto tha erthoun polloi touristes pou tha theloun na doun tis Olympiakes egkatastaseis (opws mporei kapoios na kanei sti Barkeloni meta apo 14 xronia) kai pou tha ithelan na blepan kai ena kommati tis "mageias"?

[donganos]

Γεια σας! Χαθήκαμε...

Δειτε τί διάβασα μόλις τώρα στο in.gr:

"Έκθεση, που θα παρουσιάζει τη διαδικασία σύλληψης και υλοποίησης της τελετής έναρξης των Ολυμπιακών Αγώνων της Αθήνας, θα παρουσιάσει την ερχόμενη άνοιξη το Μουσείο Μπενάκη, όπως ανακοίνωσε την Πέμπτη η αναπληρώτριας υπουργός Πολιτισμού Φάνη Πάλλη Πετραλιά, έπειτα από συνάντηση με τον εμπνευστή της τελετής Δημήτρη Παπαϊωάννου και το διευθυντή του Μουσείου Μπενάκη Αγγελο Δεληβοριά.

Σε δηλώσεις της, μετά το τέλος της συνάντησης, η κ. Πάλλη Πετραλιά ευχαρίστησε τον Δημήτρη Παπαϊωάννου και τον Αγγελο Δεληβοριά για τη συμβολή τους στην έκθεση και επισήμανε ότι η διοργάνωσή της προχωρά με γοργούς ρυθμούς.

Ο κ. Παπαϊωάννου ανέφερε ότι το κοινό θα μπορέσει μέσω της έκθεσης να εισχωρήσει στα «άδυτα» της προετοιμασίας της τελετής έναρξης, ενώ ο κ. Δεληβοριάς ανέφερε ότι η όλη διοργάνωση θα είναι μια έκπληξη, ανάλογη με την έκπληξη της τελετής έναρξης."

[Mozart]

ΠΡΟΣΟΧΗ ΠΡΟΣΟΧΗ!!!

Επιτέλους!!

Κυκλοφόρησε κασετίνα με 4 DVD που περιέχει τα εξής:

Τελετή έναρξης!
Τελετή λήξης!
Καλύτερες στιγμές Ελλήνων αθλητών!
Καλύτερες στιγμές ΟΑ Αθήνα 2004!

Όλα αυτά με 50 γιούρια και έρχονται σπίτι σας με ένα τηλέφωνο στο 211 750 2004.

Δε παίρνω ποσοστά από τη διαφήμιση. Εγώ ήδη το παρήγγειλα. Ελπίζω μόνο να είναι χωρίς περιγραφή οι τελετές.

[mfotinakis]

epitelous !!!
tha to paraggeilw aurio..

[yelos]

Τα επίσημα DVD των ολυμπιακών αγώνων ΑΘΗΝΑ2004 με τις τελετές έναρξης και λήξης και τις καλύτερες στιγμές των αγώνων είναι γεγονός. Πρόκειται για μία κασετίνα με 4 DVD (ένα με την τελετή έναρξης, ένα με την τελετή λήξης, ένα με τις καλύτερες στιγμές των ξένων αθλητών και ένα με τις καλύτερες στιγμές των ελλήνων αθλητών) που κοστίζουν όλα μαζί 50 ευρώ. Υπεύθυνη είναι η Victory Music, όπου και γίνεται τηλεφωνικώς η παραγγελία και τα στέλνουν δίχως επιπλέον επιβάρυνση μέσω ΕΛΤΑ (είναι επίσημος χορηγός) στο μέρος που επιθυμεί ο καθένας μετά από συνεννόηση. Παραδόσεις μετά τις 5 Δεκεμβρίου.
Οι παραγγελίες στο 2117502004.
Η τελετή έναρξης είναι ολόκληρη, ενώ η τελετή λήξης μέχρι και το σβήσιμο της φλόγας. Δεν περιλαμβάνεται το περιβόητο 2ο μέρος λόγω πνευματικών δικαιωμάτων των εταιριών.

edit: Περιέχεται και Πιστοποιητικό Γνησιότητας, ενώ περιλάμβανεται και βιβλιαράκι. Οι παραγγελίες από 08:00 έως 24:00

[chr.04]

Για διαβάστε κι αυτό:

The Olympic Ideal: Olympics 2004

By Robert Cashill

Nov 1, 2004 12:00 PM


E-mail this article


If there is a god for contemporary theatrical design, then surely he
or she smiled upon the XXVIII Olympiad, held last August in Athens,
the cradle of the international competition. The ill omens did not
come to pass: silencing critics, Olympic Stadium and other key
venues were finished (if on a down-to-the-wire schedule), and while
there was controversy during some of the competition, the specter of
terrorism did not rear its ugly head. Athens truly put on its game
face for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, where it treated an
audience of 80,000 in the stands (and four billion watching at home)
to twin evenings of spectacle and pageantry celebrating Greek art,
history, and culture.


Design Dream Team


An array of talent, from Los Angeles to Australia, contributed to
the stylized beauty of the ceremonies. But the genesis was in the
home country. More than two years ago the Athens 2004 Organizing
Committee (ATHOC) tapped Dimitris Papaioannou to be the artistic
director of the games. He led an eight-person team in
conceptualizing ceremonies that linked antiquity to the present day.
For the Opening Ceremonies, held August 13, the focus was on
Apollonian splendor, with a sea and sky theme that encompassed and
unified elements as diverse as the multifaceted "Allegory," with its
journey through Greek myth and civilization, a performance by avant-
garde pop performer Bjork, and the revelation of DNA as the common
thread that binds all. In contrast, the emphasis on the Closing
Ceremonies (held August 29) was on earthly celebration, with an
appearance by Eros (who figured in the Opening Ceremonies) and the
cultivation of 45,000 prop stalks of wheat "planted" in the DNA
spiral motif highlighted two weeks earlier.

To realize this ambitious program, ATHOC looked outside Greece and
in late 2002 chose Jack Morton Public Events, part of New York-based
Jack Morton Worldwide, for creative assistance and refinement. This
Olympiad was the first with ceremonies produced by a non-indigenous
company. David Zolkwer, president of Jack Morton Public Events,
spent his first year in Athens helping to transform ideas into a
script; his team, initially just four, swelled to 400 as fantasy
became reality.

"The ceremonies are like the opening sequences in James Bond
movies," says Zolkwer. "You know you have to provide certain
elements, like the lighting and extinguishing of the flame, but you
have to twist them each time, while adding something original and
stimulating." Indeed, personnel drawn from the Bond and Lara Croft:
Tomb Raider sagas were brought in for some of the effects-heavy
showpieces, like the reveal of the Cycladic head and its dramatic
break into eight airborne pieces, during the Allegory
segment. "Sequences like these we approached as a piece of film,
where you have 40 cameras running and everything has to happen the
first-and-only time because you're going to blow up the set."

As much as it could, however, Jack Morton relied on local talent.
Athina Tsangari produced and directed the Opening Ceremonies
projections, highlighted by the superlative collage of faces and
bodies that played across the 18 floating rock fragments positioned
above the water as Allegory proceeded. Sophia Kokossalaki, a Greek
couture designer, set up shop in an abandoned airport to develop the
striking costumes, from headwear to footgear all simulated to
resemble period artwork, for the classical parade sequence.
Eleftheria Deko, a theatre, dance, and music lighting designer with
experience at open-air venues, handled illumination. "I'll never
forget when Dimitris first took me to the stadium and said `Look at
what a big theatre I brought you,'" she laughs.

Contributions like theirs were augmented by design and vendor talent
that have seen past competition. Jack Morton re-employed its
teammates from the Olympics-like 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games,
London-based Creative Technology for video projection equipment, and
London-based PRG Europe (formerly VLPS Europe), for lighting supply,
along with Procon of Hamburg, Germany. PRG and Sydney, Australia-
based audio supplier Norwest Productions, a veteran of the Sydney
Olympics, worked in collaboration with Athens A/V firm Enttech SA.
Lighting designer Bob Dickinson, teamed with local designer Deko, is
a medalist from the Atlanta and Salt Lake City Olympics. Other firms
that made the finals included UK-based Stage One Creative Services,
which handled the cable net aerial flying system that got Allegory
off the ground, and the water below the sculptures; Tarm Laser of
Germany for lasers on the Cycladic head and a DNA spiral projected
on a water curtain during Allegory; Groupe F of France for
pyrotechnics designed by Christophe Berthonneau; FCT Adelaide of
Australia for the Olympic Rings of Fire for the Opening Ceremonies;
and, also for the first night, UK-based Severn-Lamb, which
engineered and fabricated the rolling parade platforms.

Design of Epic Proportions


The set pieces went into the computer once they were deemed
technically (and, of course, budgetarily) feasible. "Everything was
modeled in three dimensions or in a virtual environment, then
tested, from the centaurs and the breakaway heads to the olive tree
that was part of the Opening Ceremonies," Zolkwer says. "We built
larger and larger polystyrene models, then squirted lights and
projections at them, to see, for example, how different projection
images from Creative Technology would work with the contours of
different shapes of rock."

In August 2003, close to the Yorkshire headquarters of Stage One, a
large portion of the Allegory segment was field-tested. Full-scale
rocks were flown in the air as the impact of the technology was
tested. It was here, Zolkwer says, that "a practical solution
prompted a creative one. The rock pieces were so big and
monochromatic that you lost all sense of scale watching them, unless
you put in an object that people could identify with. So we put a
red duvet over the head of a member of our team and stood him in the
water area we had devised for the test. Once you recognized that a
person was there you got a better sense of what we were doing." Thus
came the idea for the javelin-hurling red centaur that propels the
sequence forward.

What was learned in the field then took shape virtually. "We made
all the rocks and heads in a 3D computer program and animated them,
then put the real cameras in their real locations in the virtual
environment to see what the show would look like from wherever you
were sitting," Zolkwer says. "And we took that computer program and
used that information to program the rocks in the stadium, which
saved us a huge amount of time. It was a productive-obsessive
attention to detail. Whenever someone says a show of this kind was
simple and perfect, it usually means a lot of time was spent and it
was very expensive. At the one extreme, it was an artist with a
paintbrush adding fine strokes; on the other, it was a civil
engineering project, digging the pit in the center of the
performance space that stored the sculptures and the olive tree,
putting a water tank under the stadium, and all that."

The impressive breakaway elements of Allegory — the Cycladic head,
the Kouros figure, and the classical statue, with a combined weight
of more than 20 tons — were the engineering handiwork of Stage One
and once realized were something like Russian nesting dolls, on a
gigantic scale. The head, sculpted at Stage One in January, was 18m
high, 9m wide, and 5m deep. It was made in eight individual pieces
that were locked together; each individual piece had two suspension
points within its structure to allow the sculpture (as a whole or
each piece on its own) to be suspended as part of the sequence. The
electro-hydraulic mechanism that joined the pieces together was
operated by radio control. The head housed the similarly composed
and manipulated Kouros figure (which, at 9m high and 4m wide and
deep, was no slouch, either), which in turn contained the classical
sculpture, half as tall, wide, and deep again.

Technical rehearsals began at the stadium in July. Prior to that,
show elements were tried out at a mock-up stadium 25 kilometers
away. There, the program continued to take shape. Despite its epic
scope, it used only a quarter of the number of performers that the
Sydney Opening Ceremonies did. "This was probably the most
technically advanced one-off show ever staged, but it wasn't a show
about the numbers of lights and the tons of steel," Zolkwer
says. "What we were doing was taking a multi-sport stadium and
turning it into an intimate theatre, with all its mechanics buried
underground or high up in the air."

Tempting Fate


The fates were with the design team as they assembled in Greece for
rehearsals. The soaring heat, dust, and mid-afternoon thunderstorms
that rumble through Athens in summer were anticipated but never
proved a factor. Time, however, was an issue, particularly as the
construction process seemed never-ending. The attention-grabbing
roof erected over the reconditioned stadium, built in 1981 for the
European Football Championships, was an 11th-hour element. Designed
by Santiago Calatrava of Spain, the 17,000-ton roof has two
stylishly bowed steel arches that cross over the sides of the
stadium. The arches, stylized after the parabolic arc of a shot put,
hold thousands of translucent, heat-shielding glass plates over
72,000 seats. After much controversy over its utility and multi-
million-dollar cost, it was finished in June, allowing the designers
access.

"We were confirmed on April Fools Day for a job on Friday the 13th,"
laughs Norwest Productions owner Christopher Kennedy, who said his
firm knew a year in advance that it would be supplying the Sydney
Games, not four months before showtime as in Athens. Kennedy says it
wasn't a problem, however. "The delays in construction had an impact
on us, but at the same time we never expected it to be any different
so we weren't caught out," affirms Zolkwer.

Stage One, however, was left in mid-air longer than desired. "Our
biggest difficulty was the amount of time we had available on site
for the install. This meant that our original scheme of supporting
the cable net off the roof had to be reconsidered as the roof was
running significantly late," says technical director Jim
Tinsley. "As a result of this, in cooperation with Aktor, the main
local contractor, we developed a scheme where the whole cable net
was supported off pylons bolted to the side of the stadium bowl.
This idea was first mooted in March and built and commissioned in
June."

Delays cut into Stage One's programming time. "Normally programming
on this scale would take about a month working day and night. The
time wasn't available, so we decided to develop a virtual reality
program to allow the programming to be undertaken offsite," says
Tinsley, who adds that the firm designed and manufactured all its
own automation systems to keep the show under its complete
control. "The artistic director simulated his ideas in a program
called 3dmax, then the data from this animation was exported into
Qmotion control computers and replayed in reality. Even with the
validation checks this reduced the programming time to about ten
days and allowed the creative team to modify and edit the moves
during the day for them to be replayed at night."

A long-time vendor helped Creative Technology clear its biggest
Olympics hurdle. Says technical director Andrew Hawker, "Athina
wanted to have really striking images that would stand out and look
like they were coming out of the rocks. Then Athens Olympic Broad-
casting (AOB) stipulated a brightness requirement of 600 lux.
Projectors for images that size (8-9m tall) that could achieve that
brightness didn't really exist. In the end, we put a High End
Systems Catalyst head on the front of eight of Barco's powerful XLM
H25 projectors. This meant that if you put the projector at right
angles to the direction of the projection, and had the mirror set
like that, it took the landscape format of the projector and twisted
it through 90°. That gave us a portrait orientation, which fit the
abstract shape of the rocks better and used more of the raster area,
and kept the brightness up. With a Stage One device called the
Interceptor (a trackball that gave DMX cues directly to the head) we
were able to put an operator on each position, and if the rig swayed
and moved a bit they could just move the beam into its proper
position, which made everyone more comfortable."

Despite the short schedule, Kennedy says Norwest found this Olympiad
a little more comfortable than Sydney. "Athens was Mach 2, and we
were able to improve on our last Olympics and use the expertise we
had gained. For one thing, the venue was circular (more
accommodating for signal distribution) and had two balconies; Sydney
was oval-shaped, with four balconies, all of which had to be
serviced." Technical improvements over the last four years also
helped simplify the task of giving Olympic Stadium its voice, and
allowed Norwest to finish slightly ahead of schedule. "All that
counts on a job like this is reliability, and the equipment turned
out to be bulletproof. The two Yamaha PM1D consoles (a main FOH
console plus backup) and the two Yamaha PM5D consoles (a main
monitor console plus backup) worked flawlessly, as did the Emerging
Technologies Pyramix Systems for replay." The equipment was linked
via MIDI, with a 4.5-kilometer Optocore fiber-optic system used for
signal distribution. The 400 FOH and monitor speaker cabinets were
sourced from EAW, Nexo, McCauley, and Tannoy, with amplifiers from
LabGruppen and Camco.

Let The Games Begin


PRG Europe, supplying Vari-Lite products, and Procon, which came
bearing Martin Professional MACs and followspots, were entrusted to
supply the stadium with light. Peter Marshall, PRG Europe's
production account director, met with Deko two years ago at PLASA to
discuss her plans. Last summer, PRG, Deko, and Dickinson met in
Athens to demo some products. "The stadium then was just a shell, a
concrete seating area with no roof, nothing," he recalls. But the
LDs (assisted by Ted Wells) had concepts to accompany the planned
production.

Deko and Dickinson met at LDI 96, at a panel discussion Dickinson
participated in about the Atlanta games. "I wanted to work with
someone who had Olympics lighting experience and a similar
aesthetic," she says. "I called him and invited him to Athens to
meet the creative team. It turned out to be one of the most
beautiful collaborations of my life." Even without a roof over their
heads for much of the job.

"We had to work without the Calatrava roof, so we didn't have the
actual place to hang our lights for the longest time. We worked with
3D models to compensate, but it challenged my visualization
ability," she recalls. "The roof had its peculiarities; it was high
in the middle and lowered downward at its edges, which created
slightly weird angles. But we managed."

The massive arches of the stadium roof were illuminated by a rig
that contained 96 VL2416s and 126 VL5Arc wash luminaires. Aside from
enhancing the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, these architectural
fixtures also provided illumination for the nighttime events that
took place in the stadium during the games.

The lighting rig (about 2,000 instruments in total) included 650
Martin MAC 2000 wash luminaires, 120 VL5 washes, 164 VL7B spots, six
250,000W Parabolic Lightning Strikes, 220 VL2415 wash luminaires,
and 220 VL3000 wash luminaires for the stadium show illumination
(the latter supplied by Enttech, which also brought in 18 Robert
Juliat Cyrano 2.5kW HMI followspots). PRG Los Angeles supplied two
key personnel, moving lights LD Andy O'Reilly and project
coordinator Jason Trowbridge.

O'Reilly and Trowbridge worked with programmers Mark "Sparky" Risk,
Christian Hibbard, and Mark Butts on three Virtuoso VX consoles
which were backed up by an additional three consoles. Two Virtuoso
DX consoles were used for remote focusing. PRG Europe's Risk
controlled all the VL7Bs, VL3000 spots, and some additional LED
fixtures. PRG LA's Hibbard ran all the MAC 2000s while PRG Chicago's
Butts ran the VL2415s and three Space Cannons.

The entire Ethernet DMX512 system and the mains distribution system
were designed and coordinated by Trowbridge and assisted by
production electrician Nick Jones (of Jack Morton Worldwide). The
lighting gaffers were Greg Hamlin and Mark Carver who were joined by
four lead technicians from PRG Europe, PRG Los Angeles, and Germany-
based Procon. Twenty other technicians were thrown into the mix by
PRG and Procon who also supplied the 26 followspot operators.

Once the lights were positioned, the biggest test the LDs faced was
the reflecting surface of the water. "The lights followed the
structure and architecture of the stadium, and provided even and
consistent illumination. Where there was reflection, it showed up
like a necklace pattern," Deko says. Color was kept at a minimum for
the Opening Ceremonies, where "the desire was to make each of the
images look like a painting. There was, however, a little blue, in
keeping with the theme of the blue sky and the blue sea."

The blue sea was also center stage during the Opening Ceremonies as
1,600 LED spotlights were submerged beneath the water in the flooded
pitch of the main stadium. Each light was DMX controlled and was
equipped with a scratch-resistant lens that could carry the weight
of a crowd. This effect — nicknamed the Galaxy Effect — was created
by Torhout, Belgium-based System Technologies BVBA and sister
company Innovative Designs. The result, as seen by the crowd in the
stadium and viewers watching on TV, appeared as though hundreds of
stars were twinkling below the water's surface.

The palette was less restrained for the Closing Ceremonies, which
was in part a celebration of ethnic and gypsy culture. Says
Deko, "It was like a feast. Like the costumes, the colors contained
fuchsia, ambers, reds, pinks, and of course blues."

Zolkwer says the feast had little prep time in the kitchen. "There
were run-throughs but no dress rehearsal. We could not rehearse it
in the stadium, which we had just 16 hours to turn into a theatre
again after the last sporting event ended. [The Beijing segment,
from Hero director Zhang Yimou, was produced by its organizing
committee and integrated into the event.] The Closing Ceremonies,
are, however, more forgiving, given that they are more of a party.
What I'll remember most about them is everyone on their hands and
knees planting the wheat."

You reap what you sow, and backed by rave reviews the Opening and
Closing Ceremonies brought home the gold for Jack Morton and its
multifaceted team. "There's a correlation between the risks one
takes and the rewards at the end of it," Zolkwer says. "You have to
slightly exceed your grasp and stack all the odds in your favor." He
says many of the historically accurate costumes and props created
for the show will eventually find their way into museums and
galleries. Left behind in Greece, however, is something special: A
generation of local artisans and technicians fully trained in up-to-
the-minute design craft, provided by international friends and
colleagues who wanted to return the Olympics to their place of
origin in high style. "This is our legacy to Athens," says Zolkwer.
The gods are pleased.

Robert Cashill is a former editor of Lighting Dimensions magazine.

[DonAlex]

Kanenas pou na pire ta DVD tis enarksis ??
Rwtaw vevaia kat'opin eortis, alla panta yparxei perithwrio
n'akyrwsw tin paraggelia...

[Giannis]

Μια φίλη μου που ανέβηκε χθές Ελβετία να με δεί μου πήρε δώρο πακέτο με DVD`s...της τελετής έναρξης και λήξης, καθώς και τις καλύτερες φάσεις των ολυμπιακών!!!

[DonAlex]

Kai ?????????
Ap'o,ti katalavainw milame gia to idio prama....
Akous Kwstala apo tin arxi ws to telos ???

[aquaman]

'Οταν είχα πάρει να παραγγείλω το DVD η κοπέλλα μου είχε πει πως
υπάρχει επιλογή αν θες να ακούς σχολιασμό ή όχι!
Δεν ξέρω αν ο σχολιασμός θα είναι από την ΕΡΤ ή από κάποιον άλλο...
Πάντως λόγω μεγάλης ζήτησης δεν είμαι και πολύ αισιόδοξος ότι
θα ισχύσει το περιθώριο παράδοσης 5-20 Δεκεμβρίου

[ael]

xerei kaneis an to dvd tha kykloforhsei sthn agora mesw diaforwn katasthmatwn?(hmv,virgin,seven ktl...)

[Grecolatin]

!!!!!!PERI8ORIO PARADOSIS!!!!!!!!

TI INE AFTA POU DIABAZO, MIN ME FOBIZETE PEDIA .
FTANO 21 DEKEMBRIOU ELLADA KAI PERIMENO 7 XRONIA AFTI TI STIGMI,NA AGORASO AFTO TO PAKETO DVD.

DEN NOMIZO POS IPARXI MIA SINGEKRIMENI HMEROMINIA GIA NA MPORIS NA TA PARAGILIS.

APANTISTE MOU FILI.........................

[chr.04]

Για παραγγελίες από Καναδά:

http://greekcity.com/music/status.taf?_function=detail&gcvvideo_uid1=2145891480&gcvvideo_uid2=ATHENS%202004%20OLYMPICS%20%284%20DVD%29%0D%0Aopening%2C%20closing%2C%20games%2C%20athletes

Με το 2ο μέρος της Λήξης, ισχύει τελικά ότι δεν υπάρχει στο DVD επειδή δεν τα βρήκαν στα πνευματικά δικαιώματα;

[Nikolas]

Προσβολή αισθητικής

Έψαξαν 4 μήνες αλλά το βρήκαν οι Αμερικανοί φίλοι μας. Μετά από 4 ολόκληρους μήνες έφτασε στα γραφεία του αμερικάνικου ραδιοτηλεοπτικού συμβουλίου ανώνυμη καταγγελία και αφορά την προσβλητική προς τη δημόσια αιδώ μετάδοση της Τελετής Έναρξης των Ολυμπιακών Αγώνων της Αθήνας.

Το επίμαχο κομμάτι είναι όταν ο θεός Έρωτας αιωρείται πάνω από μια γυναίκα και έναν άντρα οι οποίοι μέσα σε παιχνίδια και γέλια μοιάζουν να ερωτοτροπούν και στην συνέχεια έρχεται η γέννηση της ζωής. Η κοιλιά της γυναίκας αρχίζει να λάμπει δείχνοντας κατά αυτό τον τρόπο την έμφαση σε ένα θείο δώρο, την ίδια την ζωή.



Οι κατά τα άλλα πουριτανοί Αμερικανοί προσβλήθηκαν και μετά από την σχετική καταγγελία ζήτησαν την βιντεοκασέτα από το κανάλι που μετέδωσε σε πανεθνικό επίπεδο το γεγονός στις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες, το NBC. O εκπρόσωπος της Federal Communications Commission σε συνέντευξη Τύπου που έγινε την Παρασκευή αρνήθηκε να κάνει οποιοδήποτε σχόλιο επί του θέματος.

Είναι γεγονός όμως πως τα πρόσφατα και όντως προσβλητικά γεγονότα που μεταδόθηκαν στον περσινό τελικό του NFL με το στήθος της Janet Jackson να ξεπροβάλει και την προ εβδομάδων μετάδοση του Monday Night Football το οποίο άνοιξε με ένα διαφημιστικό στο οποίο η ηθοποιός Νικόλ Σέρινταν προσπαθεί επιτυχώς να σαγηνεύσει με το γυμνό της κορμί τον αθλητή των Eagles Τέρελ Όουενς, έχουν θορυβήσει το αμερικάνικο τηλεοπτικό κοινό που πλέον καταγγέλλουν ότι βρουν.

Ακόμα και ένα καλλιτεχνικό γεγονός όπως ήταν η Τελετή Έναρξης που αναγνωρίστηκε σαν αριστούργημα από δισεκατομμύρια κόσμου

Tι να πεί κανείς;;; ΑΠΛΑ ΑΣΧΟΛΙΑΣΤΟ!!

[aquaman]

Grecolatin
Μην αγχώνεσαι βρε φίλε. Προφανώς και θα μπορείς να παραγγείλεις και
αργότερα.Κορόιδα είναι να σταματήσουν ,όταν έχει τόση ζήτηση;

chr.04
Η τελετή λήξης θα είναι μέχρι και το σβήσιμο της φλόγας
Δε θα δεις τη Γιάννα να χορεύει μόνη της στις θέσεις των επισήμων

Όσο για το post του Nikola ...
Δεν ξέρω τι να γράψω....
Μάλλον πρέπει να προσφύγουμε κι εμείς στο ραδιοτηλεοπτικό συμβούλιο
γιατί οι Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες της Ατλάντα (όχι μόνο οι τελετές)
ήταν μια προσβολή για την αισθητική μας!!!

[smarg]

Δηλαδή αυτός που έστειλε την επιστολή αν δει κανένα ζευγαράκι πιασμενο χέρι - χέρι και μετα απο 3-4 μήνες δει την κοπέλα με φουσκωμένη κοιλιά θα κάνει καταγγελία???? Τι άλλο θ ακούσουμε!!!! Στο κάτω - κάτω στην τελετή άλλη ήταν η ερωμένη κι άλλη η γκαστρωμένη...

[crs]

ΝΕΑ ΠΡΟΒΟΛΗ ΤΗΣ ΤΕΛΕΤΗΣ ΕΝΑΡΞΗΣ!

Η ΕΤ1 προγραμμάτισε να προβάλει και πάλι την τελετή έναρξης των αγώνων της Αθήνας την Κυριακή στις 8.30 το βράδυ.

Ελπίζω να είναι χωρίς την περιγραφή του Αλ. Κωστάλα και τα σχόλια των υπολοίπων...

Αντε και δεν εχω παραλάβει ακόμα τα DVD...

[Mozart]

Εγώ τα περέλαβα πριν μια βδομάδα. Απογοητεύτηκα μόνο από το γεγονός ότι δεν είχε extras της προκοπής. Περίμενα διαφορετικές λήψεις, παρασκήνια κλπ, και δεν είχε τίποτα τέτοιο. Κατα τα άλλα η ανασκόπηση των αγώνων, είναι στην ίδια μορφή που έχουμε δει μεχρι τώρα ολυμπιάδες. Μάλλον τις ετοιμάζει η ίδια εταιρία πάντα.