Olympic Opening Ceremony

MFB

Senior Member
The whole thing was controlled by a single 28X4 running at 4MHz. That's what you call Pommy ingenuity!
 

russbow

Senior Member
Wow! That was Spectacular.
Thank you for your kind comment. I voiced at the time that I wondered if the significance of the story would be understood in the wider world. Indeed a BBC presenter commented likewise this morning. Perhaps it was too "Brit" and too obscure.
 

Buzby

Senior Member
Perhaps it was too "Brit" and too obscure.
Very Brit indeed !.

I have never met anyone who did not know the Industrial Revolution started in Britain.

Admittedly, the NHS segment might have been a bit obscure, but children's nightmares, Harry Potter, and Mary Poppins are the same the world over.

The whole show had meaning on so many levels that it could be enjoyed by anyone.

My best bit ?, Casting the Rings of Fire. Reminded me of Tolkien, another Brit !.
 

manuka

Senior Member
It came over a real teat here in the the (formerly) indoctrinated colonies - I half expected even the likes of Spike Milligan to put in an appearance!
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
I suspect a lot of people thought Boyle would never pull it off while characteristic British cynicism created a 'must watch' feel here. Against expectations, a fine history of stage musicals and a tradition for 'putting on a show' did us proud.

It apparently captured 27 million home viewers which is pretty impressive and I think most people could say there was some part of it they liked. It was pretty subversive in places with some subtle jibes hiding behind the spectacle of it all. I'm going to watch it again, and that is perhaps a definition of success.

Available on BBC iPlayer for those who have access, and IMO it's far better without any commentary ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00w2r5c/Olympic_Ceremonies_London_2012_Online_Opening_Ceremony_no_comm
 

Paix

Senior Member
@Buzby, you missed the important Peter Pan and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) connection and it's significance that kicked off the NHS part of the performance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_and_Wendy#Copyright_status

Pop down to the "Copyright status" part of the wiki link for the interesting bit about JM Barrie's contribution and the regard that that gift has been held in for many decades.

I did wonder how much a Chinese visitor might manage to take in and understand without a comprehensive explanation of events.

I have to admit to being a bit of a sceptic, but was very pleased with the outcome.
 

boriz

Senior Member
I'd have thought 'er madge was too old for skydiving!

The live show was great. It was clever and moving. Most people in this country don't realize that Mr Bean is recognized internationally by more people than the Queen. Nice cameo that. Would have liked to see a Python or two :)

But the BBC coverage was *expletive*. I watched it recorded in HD, and had to skip over 2 hours of it. Pundit > montage > pundit > montage ... yawn ... And to add insult to injury, they kept cutting clips over the fireworks display. Which probably cost a million on it's own and I'd have liked to have seen it all.

I liked what happened with McCartney. He started Hey Jude about two seconds before the dubbed 'studio' version. so he was out of sync and we could hear both versions overlapping. Fortunately a BBC engineer had the presence of mind to kill the fake version and turn up the live version after a few moments. So Maccas performance was live, yey. wasn't perfect. He's an old man. But I enjoyed it much more live. Two fingers to the BBC shirt who wanted to overdub him in the first place. I like to think Macca did it on purpose :)

I wonder if any of those Olympic 'pixels' will end up on ebay. Hmmm...
 

Buzby

Senior Member
@Buzby, you missed the important Peter Pan and Great Ormond Street Hospital ...
Hi Paix, I did not miss the GOSH / JM Barrie link, my S-i-L worked there !.

But the significance may be lost on people who are not steeped in British culture, that's what I was trying to say.

Admittedly, even I did not immediately recognise Kenneth Brannagh as Brunel, but I certainly didn't think he was dressed as an ex-president of the USA.

( See : http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/367786/20120727/kenneth-branagh-olympics-opening-ceremony-abe-lincoln.htm )
 

Paix

Senior Member
@Busby, I have to admit that for a moment I thought that it might be Abe Lincloln, or Captain Ahab before he lost his leg ... Only for a moment though :)
 

John West

Senior Member
Judging from this thread, it looks like the Olympics have started. I hear they allow professional athletes these days. Interesting.
 

Buzby

Senior Member
Having just watched most of it again, there is still one part I don't get.

It's the part that starts with an orange disk, lots of smoke, and dancers dressed in black.
Then there is a man and a boy who dance around a bit before joining the other dancers.

Does it mean something, or was it just a 'performance' ?.
 

eclectic

Moderator
Having just watched most of it again, there is still one part I don't get.

It's the part that starts with an orange disk, lots of smoke, and dancers dressed in black.
Then there is a man and a boy who dance around a bit before joining the other dancers.

Does it mean something, or was it just a 'performance' ?.
Genuine "don't know", but is it this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19037588

(From posssibly the only person on the Forum
who hasn't watched the opening)

e
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
That was the "Abide With Me" sequence, symbolising the struggle between life and death, dedicated to those who were no longer with us.

The commentary from the BBC, noting the terrorist attack in London soon after the awarding of the Olympics, has had a number of people saying it was a 7/7 memorial but the official stadium announcement was not so specific ...

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Please pause to respect our memorial wall, for friends and family of those in the stadium who cannot be here tonight. Thank you".
 
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Buzby

Senior Member
@eclectic, yes, that's the part I was talking about.

It was very atmospheric, and I enjoyed it even though I didn't realise it's meaning.

NBC must have their reasons for not showing it.
Manpulative mass media always has a reason for everything they do, or do not, show.
 

boriz

Senior Member
And I noticed a surprising number of empty seats. You'd have thought they would all have people fighting over them. Guess the 'organizers' made them too expensive/exclusive. Go corporate fascism!
 

Jamster

Senior Member
According to most of the news channels the empty seats are due to sponsors not turning up for the games after being allocated the seats. It's not easy to blame the sponsors because they could quite easily pull out of future events... They are now giving them away to the army and many school kids, although I'm yet to receive mine :)

Jamster
 

Jamster

Senior Member
Musn't get confused with the british "pants" and other parts of the world's "pants". I don't think they'd let me in without trousers. :p
 

Paix

Senior Member
Best not turn up late for your £zillion seat, as LOCOG are now thinking of making the unused seats available for resale.

That reminds me of the Jewish gentleman when talking about the worlds oldest profession. You have a product, you sell it and you still have it, so you can sell it again and again. A wonderful business model. Hmmmmm.

So they will expect queues of people to patiently wait in the hope of getting a late seat for an event, in order to pull LOCOG chestnuts out of the fire. Did I say, chestnuts? :)
 

papaof2

Senior Member
@Buzby, you missed the important Peter Pan and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) connection and it's significance that kicked off the NHS part of the performance.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_and_Wendy#Copyright_status

Pop down to the "Copyright status" part of the wiki link for the interesting bit about JM Barrie's contribution and the regard that that gift has been held in for many decades.
The US commentators had done their homework and mentioned the connection.
 

John West

Senior Member
I must admit I pay almost no attention to sports, as I lead a pretty busy life these days, but I did watch a bit of the Olympic badminton competition. That was about all I had time for. Very interesting matches.
 

Jaden

Senior Member
THE best opening ceremony! Well done Endgland. As a sport buff it just goes to show at the Olympics...never put your money on a favourite!
 

SAborn

Senior Member
I missed the opening of the Olympics but throughout the game they show the cauldron, what i cant work out is the cauldron design and the significance to burning golf clubs, and if it has some tie to the UK history.

Also can someone show the Australian's where the gold is handed out there in the UK, as we are having trouble finding it.
 

MartinM57

Moderator
It's a flower with 204 flaming petals, one for each participating country. When the country entered the stadium, they brought their petal with them and they ended up on the stalks

The Australian pending-gold medal cupboard is already empty - that's your lot :D
 

SAborn

Senior Member
What didnt you lot make enough gold medals to share, Perhaps we should steal them, is the punishment still a trip to Austraila for theft in the UK, Gold and a free cruise?
 

Dippy

Moderator
Yes, the punishment is still a trip to Australia.
Prepare yourselves for 5000 riff-raff from last year's London Riots.
 

russbow

Senior Member
Brits top of the table

Looking at the medal table, the brits have more medals per head of population than any other country.

How's that for playing with statistics.
 

SAborn

Senior Member
Dont worry Dippy, we are currently have boat loads arriving from somewhere?? each week, then we house them, feed, clothes, and give free every service that want.
So a few Brits wont even get noticed.
 

SAborn

Senior Member
How's that for playing with statistics.
Nah, they just found the key to the medal cupboard before we did, the games are just a decoy to the treasure hunt in the background.
 

Buzby

Senior Member
Looking at the medal table, the brits have more medals per head of population than any other country.

How's that for playing with statistics.
Yes, and over 50% of our winners come from private schools, but only 7% of the UK students are in private schools.

What does that tell us ?
 

JimPerry

Senior Member
Yes, and over 50% of our winners come from private schools, but only 7% of the UK students are in private schools.

What does that tell us ?
All medal winners are government ministers? Sorry no - that would be 90+% vs 7% :(
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
All over for another four years

The star of the closing ceremony was perhaps the "world's largest digital video screen", created by Crystal CG and Tait Technologies using Barco FLX LED technology. Restrained in use during the opening ceremony it revealed its full capabilities in the finale.

70,500 individual 'pixel panels'.
Each containing nine individually controllable RGB LED's - 634,500 in total.
Each LED apparently has 180 degree viewing angle.
230 miles of cable connecting it all.

Not sure what hardware, software and protocols used were but it all added up to being pretty impressive for something so simple in principle.

For anyone inspired; it's worth noting that we offer bulk discounts on many of our PICAXE products purchased through www.techsupplies.co.uk and we are always pleased to discuss any large purchase orders :)
 

MartinM57

Moderator
Not sure what hardware, software and protocols used were but it all added up to being pretty impressive for something so simple in principle.
Was trying to think that through whilst watching - didn't get very far. 230 miles of cable still only equate to less than 6 yards of cable per panel.

Then there's the cleverness of transforming the required visual effect (e.g. the walking people images at one stage) into what each panel has to do, let alone how to make it do it

Very impressive...
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
The panels seemed to be daisy-chained along the row, partly coiled and perhaps 2 metre of cable between each panel. That allows them to be picked-up and waved and conveniently discourages people walking off with one ! I bet they have continuity checking feedback anyway so effectively alarmed.

I suspect everything does work like digital TV at a high level. The creative aspect is in producing a video at the right resolution and the technical playback side is simply grabbing each frame and throwing it out.

With 640,000 LED, at 25 frames per second, that's only a 2MBps baud rate for serial but I suspect they use something like ethernet at least to some distribution hubs per section/row. That way each can grab the full or relevant part frame really quickly, then pump out just their part of it at leisure so easier but pretty responsive.

I reckon it is a viable PICAXE project but needs a deep wallet and at least one good set of batteries.
 

SAborn

Senior Member
It was impressive with the display and the graphics, although i did wonder on the power needs for the stadium during the finally, it will take another 40 years for the UK to pay the power bill.
 

obroni

Member
Hippy,

I was thinking exactlly the same watching it last night. Although there is 640,000 LED's there are 9 on a single unit of which there are around 70,000. If you allow 3 bytes for a unit address and 3 bytes for a RGB colour then the bandwidth goes up by quite a large amount. They must be split into some sort of zone system as I can't see some sort of huge daisy chain working, buffered or not.
 
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