Work on the Olympic Opening Ceremony has been one of a kind experience. The volume of work on each member of the team has been massive, the formats are on mega scale and the level of quality of work very high…
My role in the production was related to informing and visualizing, sometimes producing, content for the massive projections across the stadium. Variety of moodboards, storyboards, design references, motion references, painting styles etc… It is hard to find larger canvas to paint on. Here are just a few images from few segments in the Cultural part of the show.
Homage to Emily Carr. Her style paintings of the NorthWest totem poles for the begining of “Sacred Grove” segment, performances by Alberta Ballet and Sarah McLachlan.
Maple Leafs everywhere. These few leaves informed the aesthetic of projected piles as well as stage props for the “Rhythms of the Fall”. Ashley McIssac on a fiddle with a hundreds more fiddlers and tappers.
Storyboard of ring screens’ projections throughout the Rhythms of the Fall segment.
For “Who has Seen the Wind” the whole stadium was painted blue. Central Field of Play with video projections and the audience seating with lights and PIGI all in sync. Entire storyboard for this sequence included the content for all the areas. With a great aerialist’s choreography by David Atkins and the music by Joni Mitchel this piece looked beautifully elegant.
Storm sequence and the thumbnail storyboard.
Homage to Lawren Harris and the Group of Seven, this mountain looked pretty good against red costume aerialists.
Design frames for verses for “Un peu plus haut”, performed by Garou
Style for choruses for “Un peu plus haut”, performed by Garou.
The design team that I worked with:
Artistic Directors: David Atkins, Ignatius Jones
Senior designers: Doug Parschuk, Leslie Frankish, John Powell
Associate designers: Kevin McAlister, Ellie Bunton
Visual Content: Cyril Meusy, myself and SPINIFEX
Related posts:
Breathtaking! Really! Maple leafs and totems look like old comics
All work about Olimpic Opening is extra high in quality but I really like the style of each graphic on this page.
car see
So glad to see two of my favourite Canadian painters (Carr and Harris) represented so brilliantly at the Opening Ceremony!
Glad you liked it Tim. I think that it was great that these and many more Canadian artists (including First Nations ones) were the base and the inspiration for the whole show. Glad I was able to help with the execution