who choreographed the 2012 olympic opening ceremony

It was also the first time any individual had opened a Summer Olympics twice (two more Olympiads had been opened on her behalf, with a further two Winter Games opened on her behalf). ", "Sochi 2014 opening ceremony: Ernst delivers disco-led paean to the past", London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony in pictures, Independent Newspaper, Opening Ceremony – London 2012 Olympic Games, IOC's Official Channel, "Words of Wonder: The books that inspired the London 2012 opening ceremony". It took less than four hours on the night of Friday 27 July to turn the whole country around. Out of his genius flowed the mills, looms, engines, weapons, railways, ships, cities, conflicts and prosperity that built the world we live in. I was completely surprised [by the positive response]. Episode. London 2012 Opening Ceremony Humour played a prominent part in the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, an extravaganza conceived by film director Danny Boyle. "We don't have high culture," he explained. "Of course we have some pianists, some maestros and some orchestras, but that's not us. The film followed the helicopter across London, with shots of a cheering crowd on The Mall, Nelson's Column, the Palace of Westminster with an animated Winston Churchill statue in Parliament Square, and of the Thames past the London Eye, St Paul's Cathedral, the financial district City of London. For the scenes with the helicopter, the Queen was doubled by actress Julia McKenzie,[65] and for the parachute jump by BASE jumper and stuntman Gary Connery wearing a dress, hat, jewellery and with a handbag. The three hour extravaganza that played out before a crowd of 80,000 on July 17 was indeed long and strange. Hamish Hamilton on filming the ceremony, 4:47-7:40, Filming the opening ceremony, with input from Danny Boyle and Hamish Hamilton, 7:33-9:06, Map-portal to online videos of the firework finale, Video compilation recreating the warm-up/Prologue to the ceremony, Video of Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee speech, Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee's speech, London Olympics Opening Ceremony Explorer, Opening Ceremony Music List and Credits, Official Explorer website, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2012_Summer_Olympics_opening_ceremony&oldid=1002024742, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Played during the prologue, not on iPlayer, Played during the prologue (an excerpt from a, "The Road Goes on Forever" (One Minute to Midnight Mix) (which samples ", Played during the one minute countdown to the ceremony going live to the world, William Johnson Cory, Capt. Dancing nurses, singing children and amazing special effects. ", Business leaders also took inspiration from the event, admiring its risk-taking[197] and creative freedom, as well as the trust placed in and loyalty inspired from the workers and volunteers. An extended dance sequence followed, with songs including "My Generation" by The Who, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones, "My Boy Lollipop" sung by Millie Small, "All Day and All of the Night" by the Kinks, "She Loves You" by the Beatles (with footage of the band performing the song), "Trampled Under Foot" by Led Zeppelin, "Starman" by David Bowie, "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen (during which the sound of the TARDIS from Doctor Who could be heard), "Pretty Vacant" by the Sex Pistols (during which dancers on power jumpers wearing large heads with Mohawk hairstyles performed a pogo dance, and the lyrics to the song were spelled out in LED lights around the stadium), "Blue Monday" by New Order, "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (during which Frankie, asked by June for his name, replied by revealing one of the band's "Frankie say..." T-shirts), "Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)" by Soul II Soul, "Step On" by Happy Mondays, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by Eurythmics, "Firestarter" by The Prodigy, and "Born Slippy .NUXX" by Underworld, ending with the cast singing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" as Frankie and June walked towards each other. The helicopter then passed through Tower Bridge, accompanied by the Dambusters March. This, he said, is for everyone. [17][29] At the same time the team moved to the Three Mills studio complex in east London, where a 4x4 metre scale model of the stadium was built. [40] Much of the music for the ceremony contained 'bell' references, linking to the large bell forged for the ceremony and evoking bells as "the sound of freedom and peace". The acronym 'GOSH' then changed into the initials 'NHS', turning into the shape of a crescent moon as the children were hushed to sleep and read books by the nurses. [16] A 'BBC commentary-free' option for the opening ceremony is available on the DVD, as well as a commentary track by Danny Boyle and Frank Cottrell-Boyce. Danny Boyle later explained: "It wasn't actually Mr. Bean. Bradley Wiggins, who had won the Tour de France five days earlier, opened the ceremony by ringing the Olympic Bell that hung at one end of the stadium. After lifting to an aerial view of East London mirroring the title sequence of the BBC soap opera EastEnders, to the sound of the drum beats from the closing theme, the film flashed down through the Thames Barrier, into Bow Creek, and then below surface through a London Underground train and station, historic footage of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Thames Tunnel, and through the Rotherhithe Tunnel. The Australian Daily praised a "glorious pandemonium devoted to London's thriving, chaotic energy ... deliberately revelling in the chaos of Britain's free society and popular culture". Boyle gave significant emphasis to the London 2012 theme 'inspire a generation' and devised a programme relying heavily on children and young people, and built around themes that would relate to the young. "[199], Reviewing the 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony at Sochi, Russia, Owen Gibson of The Guardian observed that with his 'complex, intimate snapshot of "who we were, who we are and who we wish to be"', Boyle “rewrote the rule book for opening ceremonies”. Frank Turner performed three songs ("Sailor's Boots", "Wessex Boy" and "I Still Believe") on the model of Glastonbury Tor, joined by Emily Barker, Ben Marwood and Jim Lockey, as well as his regular backing band the Sleeping Souls. [37][38] The use of animals (40 sheep, 12 horses, 3 cows, 2 goats, 10 chickens, 10 ducks, 9 geese and 3 sheep dogs, looked after by 34 animal handlers) drew some criticism from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics took place on the evening of Friday 27 July 2012 in the Olympic Stadium, London. [119][120], Technical director Piers Shepperd masterminded the complex change from rural to industrial during 'Pandemonium'. [149] Vieira and Lauer admitted to not knowing that Tim Berners-Lee was the inventor of the World Wide Web,[150] as she commented "If you haven't heard of him, we haven't either", before Lauer told the audience to Google him. "[40], The overwhelming majority of the music used was British. [69] The blankets on the beds illuminated and the beds were arranged to depict a child's face with a smile and a tear (the Hospital Children's Charity's logo). The beauty of Brazil comes from the roots.". [20], Boyle acknowledged that the extravagance of the 2008 opening ceremony was an impossible act to follow — "you can't get bigger than Beijing" — and that this realisation had in fact liberated his team creatively. [198] In February 2013 the BBC's Head of Drama Ben Stephenson told an audience of writers, commissioners and producers that he "wanted them to seek inspiration from the opening ceremony of the London Olympics" which, he said, "had scale and brilliance and, above all, had succeeded not in spite of its Britishness but because of its Britishness, delighting viewers here and around the world by rooting itself in the authentic stories and spirit of these islands. [54][77] The programme explained "Music connects us with each other and with the most important moments in our lives. Boyle suggested that the Queen be played either a lookalike, or by a world-class actress such as Helen Mirren, in a location to double as Buckingham Palace. The flag was received by a colour guard of Her Majesty's Armed Forces[85] and hoisted to the Olympic Hymn, performed by the LSO and the Grimethorpe Colliery Band. We can't, and you wouldn't want to, so we're going back to the beginning. 25 schools in the six original East London host boroughs were used to recruit child volunteers for the performance, and 170 sixth formers (16–18-year-olds), between them speaking more than 50 languages, were recruited from their colleges. The principal sections of the artistic display represented Britain's Industrial Revolution, National Health Service, literary heritage, popular music and culture, and were noted for their vibrant storytelling and use of music. The opening show was designed by Oscar-winning film director Danny Boyle as an ode to British history and culture. She won the Lawrence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance in 2001. [20] Boyle himself says this was the most important thing he took away from the Olympic experience: "How important it is to believe in something. Watching from the tor were specially invited hospital staff and nine child patients from Great Ormond Street Hospital. [195], Boyle was offered a knighthood in late 2012, but turned it down, saying "I'm very proud to be an equal citizen and I think that's what the Opening Ceremony was actually about. [20] The performing artists were paid a nominal £1 fee to make their contracts legally binding. 26 July, 2012 was a warm evening. [70], At the close the larger house was raised to reveal Tim Berners-Lee working at a NeXT Computer, like the one on which he invented the World Wide Web. In the centre of the arena the sides of another house, three times larger, were used as screens to show clips from various TV programmes, music videos and films, including A Matter of Life and Death (June is named for its protagonist), as well as Gregory's Girl, Kes, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Snowman, The Wicker Man, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Spanish TV show Cuéntame cómo pasó, and Boyle's own Trainspotting. A decade after the fact, the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing games is still regarded as one of the greatest in Olympics history. As the noise level and tension built, driven by the relentless rhythm of the music and the drumming, participants mimed repetitive mechanical movements associated with industrial processes such as weaving. It was noted that they spoke about some countries with "outright condescension". When the five rings formed the Olympic symbol above the stadium, they ignited and rained fire in silver and gold. Boyle approached many of the artists personally, to see if they would be interested in performing, and he also flew to Barbados for an hour-long meeting with Mike Oldfield. In November 1990 another Briton sparked another revolution – equally far-reaching – a revolution we're still experiencing. The sequence then moved on to celebrate British children's literature. Young 'listened sagely, laughed, and promised to ask the boss'. The motorboat driven by David Beckham arrived with the Olympic Flame via the Limehouse Cut and the Lee Navigation. [60] Underworld's "And I Will Kiss" began to play, as the cast rolled away the grass and other rural props. The Queen declared the competition officially open, immediately followed by a trumpet fanfare based on a theme from Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield and then a fireworks display. It's going for a world record . The 50 men stepped down from the carriages and surveyed the land approvingly. [21][24], The different sections of the ceremony were designed to reflect aspects of British history and culture, with the title Isles of Wonder partly inspired by Shakespeare's play The Tempest (particularly Caliban's 'Be not afeard' speech[25]), and partly by the G. K. Chesterton aphorism: "The world shall perish not for lack of wonders, but for lack of wonder. [163][164], Foreign reaction was overwhelmingly positive. Boyle said that this section celebrated the "tremendous potential" afforded by the advancements of the Victorian era. Frankie and June first notice each other as a snippet from "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton plays, but when Frankie saw that June had dropped her phone on the Tube, he set off to return it (communicating using last number redial to her sister's phone). Intel Choreographed 1,200 Drones for the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. [56] Welsh drum and bass DJ High Contrast mixed and sequenced the music for the athletes' parade.[41]. Danny never blinked. The depiction of rural life already in the arena was billed as "a reminder and a promise of a once and future better life". Each contained four industrial fans at the base to inflate them, and a smoke machine near the top, and were hoisted into the air from the overhead rigs. [143] The filming was directed for television by Hamish Hamilton, who described it as "easily the most difficult job of my life".[156]. Seated in the Royal Box were the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, and other members of the British Royal Family. This anticipated the next section of the ceremony. [50] This concert featured artists selected to represent the four nations of the United Kingdom: Duran Duran, Stereophonics, Snow Patrol and Paolo Nutini.[51]. In 1709 Abraham Darby smelted iron in a blast furnace, using coke. The closing ceremony of the London 2012 Summer Olympics, also known as A Symphony of British Music, was held on 12 August 2012 in the Olympic Stadium, London. Workers began casting an iron ring. In addition, the paper discusses the perceptions of cultural identity, i.e. The characters Ratty, Mole and Toad from The Wind in the Willows were briefly seen, as was a 'Monty Python hand' pointing towards London on umbrellas, and an InterCity 125 train passing the Olympic rings as crop circles in a field. The BBC offered several options including 'no commentary' coverage for both its TV and online transmissions. [17] In 2016 Boyle recounted how he had come under pressure from Jeremy Hunt, then the Olympics and Culture Secretary, to cut back the NHS section, which he had saved only by threatening to resign and take the volunteers with him. A few turned him down, including Elvis Costello and David Bowie. [113] Life-size beam engines were constructed onstage by teams of stage hands and members of the Volunteer Staging Team. The Queen was wearing the same dress as in the film, as if she had just arrived with Bond. … Each nation's flag was planted on the Glastonbury Tor. Although key contributors had to sign non-disclosure agreements and some elements were codenamed, Boyle placed immense trust in the volunteers by asking them simply to "save the surprise" and not leak any information. The hymn "Abide with Me" was then sung by Emeli Sandé[54][70] while a group of dancers choreographed by and including Akram Khan performed a contemporary dance on the theme of mortality. [43], Sebastian Coe was instrumental in asking the Queen to take part, responding positively when Boyle first pitched the Happy and Glorious film sequence featuring the Queen.

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