Visualising a ceremony that beats Beijing’s

Rob Paul of LCI Productions speaks to Host City about how future opening ceremonies could achieve an even higher impact than Beijing’s

The host city, not just the stadium, could become
the stage for the opening ceremony

Over the years, the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games has become an increasingly lavish and impressive affair, with each host striving to create something bigger and better than the last edition. The world watched in amazement as Beijing opened proceedings in stunning style last summer –surely the zenith has now been reached?

Rob Paul of visuals specialists LCI Productions suggests that the peak of one particular ascent has indeed been reached. “Beijing was the pinnacle of what has become the conventional form of an opening ceremony in its use of new technologies and high production values and physical performance,” he says.

This “conventional” format is a ceremony that has a very long duration and which all takes place within the Olympic stadium. A parade of athletes is followed by a show element, both of which last for several hours. “To attain the same level of spectacle for such a long period costs a great deal of money if the show is going to grow and surprise people for that long.”

Palette and crescendo
Creating a show that grows throughout its duration is a challenge, particularly for a longer ceremony. “To achieve this you can use different combinations of effects, going from a single device to several. You take your palette of effects, you look at how you’re going to use them and you build that throughout the event. You create ‘looks’ that change and grow throughout the show, so the audience is always getting something new and larger throughout the piece rather than it feeling flat and monotonous.”

The basic building blocks of any show are lighting and audio. “You then decide what additional media you might want to include as punctuation points or to create a mood and style. In one section you might use a combination of conventional lighting and video and then use something more surprising, such as lasers and flames. You build it to the point at the end where you bring out all the toys for the ‘finale’ moment.”

Structure is crucial to hold attention. “You can have ‘chapters’ within the event, using the different combinations and then return to a “chorus” between them to link the messages that you want to convey. We are always trying to surprise the audience and grow the show throughout its duration.”

Certain styles of music work better with visual effects. “A lot of music has very little movement in it. You want music with highs and lows in volume and punctuation points and movement so you can move the show with it. If you combine the right music with the right effects, that’s when you get people’s hair standing up on end at the back of their necks.”

Just as important as choosing the combination of effects is how they are used within the environment to create a spectacle. This is where a ceremony on the scale of an Olympic opening creates particular challenges.

“If you have a very large space it’s about how to make the experience seem full and immersive to the audience – to fill their imagination. You need to use a greater number of all the technologies at the higher power end. You can use very strong visual effects and you can achieve subtle results in a large space by using bold effects.”

Breaking with convention
Bringing fresh ideas to the format will be crucial to allow future opening ceremonies to break with convention and ascend new peaks. One important change could be to shorten the timeframe of the ceremony to achieve greater impact while cutting costs.

“Instead of having a three-hour show we could have a one hour show. We could reduce the timescale, achieve a very high impact and produce a more satisfying experience for the audience on TV as well as in the stadium, rather than having something that is overly long where it is difficult to sustain interest,” says Paul.

In terms of content and effects, he suggests that a level of impact to match Beijing’s can be achieved with less investment. “Fireworks play a huge role and that could continue. There were very expensive set piece structures that were used in Beijing. London is going to have to build a show that is going to be exciting to the audience but that it can also afford.”

Money doesn’t necessarily create impact, as the majority of the audience is not aware of the cost involved. “An expensive set is impressive, but you can use something that is easier to deliver and have the same visual effect,” Paul says. “And instead of developing new technologies, we could use conventional techniques in an unconventional way.”

Taking the ceremony beyond the stadium
While the length of the ceremony could be scaled down, the stage could be widened by not just using the stadium but also dressing iconic parts of the host city. Paul sees great potential for this in London. “We could take the Houses of Parliament and make it a symbol of the Olympic Games by dressing it with lighting and video projection – imagery saying what’s good about the host city, the Olympic movement and sporting content from the Games.”

This presents an opportunity for the host nation to showcase its most famous icons to the entire world. “This idea could be extended to other sites around the city and also around the country. And in the build up to the Games these sites could be used to create displays that would generate news interest and promote the event.”

Although extending the ceremony beyond the confines of the Olympic Stadium may sound like a major investment, Paul asserts that it offers a very high return. “You could pick a small number of sites outside the main stadium. This would be very efficient in delivering high impact, surprising media, for a relatively low budget.”

Ultimately, imagination is just as important as technology in delivering a successful opening ceremony. “You’ve got to have technology to deliver your show, but without imagination you have nothing,” says Paul. “The most important things are that it should entertain, inform and convey the message of the Games and leave the audience members having seen a spectacle like they’ve never seen before.”

For more information visit www.lci-uk.com