All About Winter Olympics

Everything about the Olympics is a big deal. This applies not only to competitors, but also to behind-the-scenes works such as commercial lighting.

Olympic Games ceremony

For the last four days, I have done nothing but watch the Olympics. Day and night, the Olympics have dominated the television in my house. The meeting has been canceled, dinners have been rearranged, and my DVR has been cleared of the events I miss.

There’s just something next to it, and more impressive to me, the whole massiveness of it. Just the commercial lighting to be used to turn on over a dozen venues for the fans is amazing. I know, I know, here are Olympic athletes who give too much of a chance for gold, and I focus on something as small as “lighting”, but if you think about it, it’s small things like this that need to be carefully considered. these games on.

Imagine it’s your job to figure out how to light a spot in the Olympics.

It sounds easy enough, but for anyone who has had to work with commercial lighting before (and I have maybe this is where this interest comes from) know that there is a lot to consider when turning on something as important as a Olympic venue. Take, for example, the Richmond Olympic Oval, home of the Speed ​​Skating events for the Games. When dealing with ice, be careful with the lights you use. If it’s too bright or set at the wrong angle, you may be dealing with massive glare from the ice. The trick, though, is that you need to be able to turn on the TV venue while being considerate of skaters. How do you do this? I do not really know, I guess that’s why they’re professionals and I’m just a blogger.

The opening ceremonies for the games were one of the most amazing light jobs I have ever seen. The director of the ceremonies (who previously directed the opening ceremonies of the Sydney Games in 2000) used over 70 projectors to create stunning visual moments that helped bring people a closer look at Canadian culture. One of the most striking moments was a pod of projected killer whales moving across the stadium floor. In all, the director was able to make the most out of little by using the projection lighting. Very rarely were live props used, but instead of using the lighting projected on white objects, it looked as if the arena was covered with water or leaves or snow. It was definitely a sight to behold.