Unlike Beijing's which feels grand because of the enormous amount of performers in sync; London offers the beauty of being individualistic. I was ming blown by the gazillion drummers counting down to the opening back in 2008; London's countdown feels so calm, relaxed, like the whole opening. They aren't as eager to impress as the Chinese because they are known to be extremely modern (30 years ahead of Singapore). I really liked the grass fields; its something unseen of in a stadium. Behind every Jacques, behind every oath taker etc. its always an endless sea of spotlights and camera flashes. Now we have green grass for a change! How splendid! My eyes are thankful! And I really appreciate the camera angles, although abit fail at times (e.g. inability to take the flag-bearers), those are solid narrative camera angles that wants to tell a story.
Top 3 things I really enjoyed. Dance! Give me more dance, baby, because I love them dance! The imagery is really good; seems that everything is framed just right. The next would be having the people who built the olympic village to line up and cheer for the torch bearer. And they are in cute construction hats! I don't think I have ever seen this before, and it certainly made the ceremony more meaningful. And the last; adding even more depth to the games, is having retired Team GB Olympians, wearing their medals, looking on at the final torch bearers, passing on the olympic spirit, passing on a little good luck to them. :))
I have always enjoyed the march-in ('parade of the nations' to be exact), no matter how draggy it is. Thing is, I can never remember all the countries in the world. And I love seeing how everyone from everywhere looked like. And hearing the commentators talk about the athletes' background as the production team give them a nice juicy close up - is just one of the best feelings in the world. A little glimpse into their life, their extraordinary story that brought them to the worlds' stage. Like how they said that the population in Bermuda is probably lesser than the people in the stadium and that they are good enough to participate...it's just amazing. My friend ( I was whatsapping with her as I watched the opening slouched on my couch - alone at home ) wonders why some countries have such few athletes. My guess is that - these are poorer countries that have problem feeding their people, least to invest in an olympic training program for their countrymen. :(
I love how everyone became one, became equal. The wealthy celebrity-sports megastars are one with other athletes. They are awesome like the rest, they are top-notch world-class like the rest, just that their sport have too much commercial value. Kobe! Usain! Torres! The list is endless. But the camera did catch some athletes going crazy over them. I would push through the crowd to get a picture with Kobe if I'm there too! In any given day, you might need to pay who knows how much $ for a ticket to their games just to catch them in their glory. And athletes marching in who are holding their personal camcorders/mobile phones/digital cameras up high to take the crowd...never fails to crack me up. Cute!
The juicy close ups and little stories that I was referring about include: the Rwandan flag-bearer Niyonshuti, a 25-year old who survived a genocide that killed 6 of his family members. Considered a national hero in his country. And Saori Yoshida, the Japanese flag-bearer, who from 2002 has won every world and international level tournament she has entered. And then there's Russia. Nobody won in synchronized swimming in the history of Olympics except Russia. What kept them going?! There goes another inspiring story. Mmmm-mmm. I would like to get to the end of it. That or I can imagine and weave up my own. :)
And lastly. The faces. The faces that tell a thousand stories! Looking at some of the proud athlete's faces brings a tear to my eye. The pride they feel for their country, and a voice in their head - 'wow, this is it. I'm finally here.'
