After the rough High Def coverage of the last Olympics, I wasn’t expecting much from NBC — but boy, they’ve finally got their act together when it comes to high definition. The graphics are crisp and gorgeous, the high def footage is beautiful, and there’s lots of it. It looks like this time they are doing everything in HD and then downconverting for regular viewers — last time, the HD was supplementary and hosted by second stringers.
Even a good percentage of the commercials are in HD, which is astonishing! At the beginning of tonight’s coverage, there was a long commercial for United Airlines, in HD, animated with cut paper, which was probably the most beautiful ad I’ve ever seen. I’ve got to capture this one and save it.
As for the coverage itself… well, I’m one hour into the “opening ceremonies” and they have yet to show any opening ceremony — it’s just talking heads for an hour. Considering that this is WAY tape delayed, you’d think they’d have gone right into the edited tape without wasting my time…
So, an hour later, they’ve finally started showing the opening ceremony.
I really love stuff like this, the pageantry and symbolism paired with avant garde design. Of course, it is somewhat annoying to be getting into something symbolic like this and then being interrupted by some announcer reading the official synopsis of what’s happening. If you can’t figure it out without Bob Costas telling you what’s happening, then you shouldn’t bother watching. I mean, couldn’t they just put it into captions or something across the bottom of the screen? Or do away with the symbolism and costumes and whatnot altogether, and just have a guy sit in the middle of the stadium and read the story.
Hey, Gene, I LOVE the Winter Olympics. I still have a tape of Dan Jansen winning gold as a speedskater in Lillehammer, Norway.
Last night’s Opening Ceremony was awesome. I loved seeing Yoko Ono’s simple plea for peace. No one could have said it better. Peter Gabriel, however, did a really crappy job of singing Imagine. I don’t know what possessed him to sing half the verses an entire octave lower, then switch to an octave higher to sing the rest of the verse. Awful. Still, it’s a beautiful song.
I am not crazy about opera, but really, Luciano Pavarotti took my breath away. The man is incredible and his voice absolutely soared–I was thrilled. And, when the Olympic flame was lit, Italy showed how beautifully it could be done, complete with a circle of artfully placed fireworks. Yes, I loved last night’s opening. And I don’t even have HD TV!
And don’t knock Bob Costas too much. He’s a classy guy who knows his stuff and is just doing his job.
As far as announcers, the journalist I always admired most during the Winter games was Charles Kuralt. His voice was melodic, and he had a poet’s soul. How do I know this? Because once during the Winter games (can’t remember if it was Albertville or Lillehammer), he wanted to show the beauty of nature. So he figured the best way to do that was to put a camera outside at dusk, and let it record the snow falling. No sound, no music, no talk. Just the quiet, gorgeous, simple event of snow falling near the woods. I cried, as embarrassing as that might sound. How utterly beautiful, and a reminder that despite all the pomp and ceremony, what’s outside eclipses anything a man can make.