Passion Pictures and Red Bee Media have teamed with agency Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, London, to create an opening sequence to herald the BBC’s coverage of the upcoming London 2012 Summer Olympics. While the full-length 2 minute and 40 second piece has premiered on BBC1, it is not yet available online or elsewhere. Still, a trailer offers a healthy taste of the project’s animation artistry as directed by Passion’s Pete Candeland.
The concept centers on Stadium UK bringing the nation together to enjoy the BBC’s comprehensive coverage of the Summer Games. Viewers are taken on an epic cinematic journey across the U.K. showing how every corner of the country is involved in hosting the world’s greatest sporting event. Each U.K. locale is depicted as part of an enormous Olympic stadium; the locations provide the backdrop to CG character animation sequences of iconic Olympic events, such as the men’s 100 meters and women’s gymnastics. Imagery of the country-wide stadium brings all the locales and events together. Designed to be used across all the BBC’s television, radio and digital Olympic content, the film features specially commissioned music by Elbow.
Passion had been working on the ambitious project since January.
FireAid Concert Features Major Music Stars, Shares Stories Of Loss To Raise Money For L.A. Wildfire Relief
Pop stars, first responders, rock stars and those who've lost everything in the devastating LA-area wildfires came together for FireAid, a massive benefit concert Thursday that combined spectacular performances with moving storytelling from survivors and reminders of the destruction.
In a night full of surprises, a reunion of Nirvana — fronted by St. Vincent, Kim Gordon and Joan Jett in the place of the late Kurt Cobain — tops the list. They launched into "Breed," "School" and "Territorial Pissings" respectively, inspired and unexpected choices.
Drummer Dave Grohl's daughter, Violet, then emerged on stage for "All Apologies."
Closer Lady Gaga, after powering through the Oscar-award winning "Shallow" and "Always Remember Us This Way" from "A Star Is Born," played a new song on the piano. "It's just for tonight, it's just for you," she said of the song she wrote with fiancé businessman Michael Polansky. "Time is a healer."
"All I need is time," she sang in the folk-y pop chorus. "To heal my broken wings and then I'll soar."
Green Day kicked off the massive show by launching into "Last Night on Earth" at the Kia Forum and were soon joined by Billie Eilish for the first surprise of the night. The lyrics are surprisingly astute: "If I lose everything in the fire / I'm sending all my love to you."
After their set, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong hugged actor Billy Crystal, who was there to welcome to the crowd at the Kia Forum.
"Our goal is simple tonight, to spend more money than the Dodgers spent on free agents," he joked. He told the audience U2 offered the first big donation of the night: $1 million dollars.
Crystal said he was wearing the clothes he had on when he evacuated. He lost his home in... Read More