2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony Gets In High Gear

With only 45 days to go before the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, preparations have picked up a pace.  Artistic Director for the Opening Ceremony, Danny Boyle paid tribute to the 10,000 volunteers, cast and crew rehearsing night and day to make the Opening Ceremony a success.

The London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony entitled ‘Isles of Wonder’, inspired by Shakespeare’s play, have already been through 157 cast rehearsals for the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, with volunteer performers giving up their evenings and weekends to take part in 37 rehearsals at the new site in Barking & Dagenham,  where detailed preparations for both the Olympic Opening and Closing ceremonies are taking place.

London-based 3 Mills Studios continues to serve as “production base “ for the London 2012 Ceremonies Team , where the prop store is currently looking to complete the production of 2,956 props and staff in the costume department are working hard to produce 23,000 costumes for all four ceremonies, including sewing 24,570 buttons onto the costumes for one of the opening sequences of the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.

Installation In the Olympic Stadium will begin shortly for ceremonies lighting, which includes 1,100 automated lamps, 1,000 conventional lamps, 500 LED fixtures, and 32 follow spots. This will be accompanied by a million watt sounds system using more than 500 speakers and 50 tons of associated sound gear.

 Workers have now started to install the set for the opening scene of the Ceremony, which is called ‘Green and Pleasant’.  On entry to the Olympic Stadium in East London the audience will see a scene that represents a traditional and idyllic view of the British countryside.   The whole of the field of play in the Stadium will be transformed into the rolling British countryside as the London 2012 Ceremonies Team creates one of the largest sets ever built. The set will be complete with meadows, fields and rivers, and featuring families taking picnics, sport being played on the village green and farmers tilling the soil whilst real farmyard animals graze – including 12 horses, 3 cows, 2 goats, 10 chickens, 10 ducks, 9 geese, 70 sheep, and 3 sheep dogs. Each of the four nations will be represented by their national flower– the rose of England, the thistle of Scotland, the daffodil of Wales and flax from Northern Ireland.

 Danny Boyle, London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony Artistic Director, said:  ‘The Ceremony is an attempt to capture a picture of ourselves as a nation, where we have come from and where we want to be. The best part of telling that story has been working with our 10,000 volunteers. I’ve been astounded by the selfless dedication of the volunteers, they are the purest embodiment of the Olympic spirit and represent the best of who we are as a nation.’

 Seb Coe, LOCOG Chair, said: ‘With only 45 days to go to the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony one of the biggest sets ever built for a show is beginning to develop in the Olympic Stadium. With a worldwide TV audience of a billion people and a cast of over 10,000 talented volunteers, I’m sure that Danny’s ceremony will be a fantastic celebration that will welcome the 10,500 athletes from around the world and make our nation proud.’

 The BBC was today officially announced as the ‘London 2012 Olympic Ceremonies Featured Film Producer’, with the news that it will make two short films for the Olympic Opening Ceremony. With the title ‘Isles of Wonder’, the first film will be at the very opening of the show. The other will appear later. Other than the films, working in partnership with LOCOG, the BBC will also be offering live camera feeds into the ceremony on the night.