Winter Olympics Photo Shoot

[B.Cooper]

IIRC, the NBC promotional shoots go back at least to 2010. You can go to the Getty Photo website, and search for "Olympic Media Summit" for various Olympic games and pull up photos of invited athletes, that NBC/Universal has released. i.e., 2010 http://www.gettyimages.com/photos/2...S Olympic Team Media Summit&sort=best#license

 

[SCeline]

Disappointed with the Shibs shoot. Too juniorish. Would have liked to have seen them in costume and posing like the other couples.

Obviously, the Getty images galleries are just a sampling of photos that come from what seems like a very full day for the athletes, involving numerous photo and video sessions, each with a targeted purpose. While you see "juniorish" photos, I immediately see Maia and Alex looking great in branded Team USA logo clothing and official Ralph Lauren designed Olympic gear. To me, this implies that NBC and US Olympic intend to use content involving Maia and Alex, not just as "skaters in their costumes" but more broadly as well. For instance to promote Team USA, to align content with an official sponsor, and in promos across multiple platforms (print/image/video) of NBC's Olympic coverage in general.

 

[Sylvia]

I just looked at the Getty photos and wondered about that distracting carpet background, a very odd idea.

Turns out this carpet background is a traditional Korean pattern: https://cpowellschoolblog.org/2013/...nsights-upcoming-events/resizedkoreanpattern/

Speaking of cross-promotion, a couple of minions (characters from the Despicable Me films from NBCUniversal) danced with the skaters and other athletes at the end of the day on Friday - clip: https://www.instagram.com/p/BTc5bROhyF2/?taken-by=nbcolympics&hl=en

Day 4: NBC Olympics & Team USA Winter Olympic/Paralympic Promo Shoot: https://twitter.com/i/moments/858174447936831488

Group photo of all the athletes at the end of Day 4: http://www.gettyimages.com/license/674852386

 

[jenniferlyon]

Baby goats!!!

 

[el henry]

Jason Brown's "Dancing Through" series (dancing through Helsinki, dancing through Tokyo) continues with

"Dancing Through the NBC Olympic Photo Shoot", with cameos by many other USA skaters

https://twitter.com/jasonbskates/status/858443204269453312

 

[Sylvia]

Behind-the-scenes photos from the 4/28/17 shoot (some are linked earlier in this thread; others are new): https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154606152081342.1073741898.209118026341&type=3

Compilation of photos posted by the 15 athletes: http://www.usfigureskatingfanzone.c...d-the-scenes-with-team-usa-in-west-hollywood/

 

[hockeyplayer2]

To be more clear... I don't understand why NBC hasn't gotten the picture that ice dancing has been the US's most successful discipline for nearly a decade, and it will continue to be its most successful discipline for the foreseeable future. I've been complaining about the lack of attention NBC has given ice dance for years -- they show men and ladies SPs but not SDs -- so I suppose it was naive to think that Meryl/Charlie's victory changed anything.

Not to mention, H/D are legitimate medal threats, which is more I can say for some of the other skaters invited.

I agree, wickedwitch. Dance is the strongest US discipline, and the most likely to medal. Not to mention, if they're looking for a story, 3 of the top 5 teams in the World are from USA-C/B (1), Shibs (2), H/D(5). Pretty amazing in itself. Sad that they'd leave one of them out.

 

[SCeline]

Any more photo galleries posted besides the Getty Images?

 

[aftershocks]

Loving all these photos, especially Jason (is there an event more tailor-made for him?) and Alexa and Chris are also super sweet, but....

the true stars are Pearl the kitten and Chunk the puppy

Ashley holding the pug while giving the interview was cute too, especially when the pug went limp in her arms, enjoying himself.

 

[barbk]

To be more clear... I don't understand why NBC hasn't gotten the picture that ice dancing has been the US's most successful discipline for nearly a decade, and it will continue to be its most successful discipline for the foreseeable future. I've been complaining about the lack of attention NBC has given ice dance for years -- they show men and ladies SPs but not SDs -- so I suppose it was naive to think that Meryl/Charlie's victory changed anything.

Not to mention, H/D are legitimate medal threats, which is more I can say for some of the other skaters invited.

I think NBC is pretty agnostic. If viewers cared more about ice dancing, they'd show more of it. We care, but apparently, that doesn't translate into a groundswell of interest on the part of the viewing public. I doubt any insult was intended to H/D; they seem to have just gone by the rankings.

 

[Willin]

I think NBC doesn't show much ice dancing because it's the one that viewers who don't watch figure skating outside of the Olympics understand least and therefore care about least. Not to mention many people I know who don't watch figure skating find ice dancing the discipline that's hardest to take seriously.

If you look at social media discussions/posts and other general online forums that happen to have Olympic threads, you'll note there is little confusion about the results of singles/pairs competitions. (There's some gripes here and there, but relatively minor). On the ice dance threads people are confused, angry, frustrated, etc. about results because they have no idea how the scoring works. Well, that and the fact that previous judging scandals have made any ice dance result suspicious to people who only remember that about ice dance. Speculation in 2014 (I think from someone in Canada?) that the US rigged the judging panel so Davis and White would beat Virtue and Moir didn't help that perception.

If NBC promoted it more, maybe the perception of the public would change, but right now all people really care about in the US is singles. You can't change a perception if people don't care enough to change their perception.

 

[skatingguy]

If you look at social media discussions/posts and other general online forums that happen to have Olympic threads, you'll note there is little confusion about the results of singles/pairs competitions. (There's some gripes here and there, but relatively minor). On the ice dance threads people are confused, angry, frustrated, etc. about results because they have no idea how the scoring works. Well, that and the fact that previous judging scandals have made any ice dance result suspicious to people who only remember that about ice dance. Speculation in 2014 (I think from someone in Canada?) that the US rigged the judging panel so Davis and White would beat Virtue and Moir didn't help that perception.

First, where were you Feb. 11, 2002? Second, like every figure skating scandal it started with the French.
https://www.thestar.com/sports/soch.../02/08/is_the_fix_in_for_virtue_and_moir.html

 

[Dobre]

If NBC promoted it more, maybe the perception of the public would change, but right now all people really care about in the US is singles. You can't change a perception if people don't care enough to change their perception.

IMO, this is bunk. Who says people don't care enough to change the perception? And exactly what kind of expertise do those people have?

NBC has the technical counter up on the screen now to help the audience see the technical comparisons. And they have been hiring real dancers to do the commentary now--athletes with actual experience under IJS. IMO, those athletes are doing their best to change that perception. Belbin & Agosto, Davis & White, and the Shibs have all worked pretty hard, IMO, to help make ice dance more accessible to the general public. And U.S. Nationals has had real movement, surprise upsets, & split placements based on the quality of performances in the moment over the past two seasons.

Of course, there is more controversy in dance than other disciplines as the difference in technical difficulty is far less widespread than in singles/pairs and most of the medals are being determined based on footwork sequence calls that are 1.generally not visible to the average viewer on television and 2.subjective even for the callers. When mistakes are visible to the audience, however, I think people understand. And the protocols are right there for anyone to look up. Even after Worlds this year, which was such a mess, people did understand that V&M had the lead after the SD. Are there poorly called and poorly judged dance events? Absolutely. But those exist in singles as well. If every singles event was as closely competed as the men's short program at Junior Worlds this season, then you would get the same kind of arguing about whether so-and-so should really be ahead based on solely GOE and PCS. It's a hazard of having a lot of great performances with essentially the same top-level BV. Kind of a nice problem to have when you think about it.

 

[B.Cooper]

Here is an article that perhaps provides more insight into how athletes are selected to participate in the spring media event....

http://www.bizjournals.com/losangel...c-shoot-in-hollywood-grows-in-importance.html

 

[chapis]

Shania Twain:Incredibly excited to share a preview of my new single 'Life's About To Get Good' - released next month! Thanks @nbcolympics

https://twitter.com/ShaniaTwain/status/865555228979888129

Some winter athletes, figure skaters: Shibs, Nathan, Gracie and Ashley.

 

[Sylvia]

Jason Brown is on the cover of the June/July 2017 issue of USFS' SKATING magazine and his 4/28/17 Olympic photo shoot experience is featured on pages 32-33 with a Team USA article/photos on pages 30-31: http://content.yudu.com/web/y5b2/0A1uvwc/SkatingJuneJuly2017/flash/resources/index.htm?refUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usfsa.org%2Fstory%3Fid%3D84165

Jason's 5-minute vlog about his exciting day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFAHC5FBZcM

 

[Sylvia]

New video uploaded by USFS today - "Jason Brown shares his favorite moments with a behind the scenes look at the NBC Olympics promotional shoot for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn7eudxJk4Q

 

[Sylvia]

Re-posting @Mrs. P's link to the Team USA 2018 Olympic Media Summit, Sept. 24-27 in Park City, Utah: http://www.teamusa.org/mediasummit

Figure Skating (16 as of today 7/20/17):
Evan Bates
Mariah Bell
Jason Brown
Nathan Chen
Madison Chock
Zach Donohue
Gracie Gold
Madison Hubbell
Alexa Knierim
Chris Knierim
Mirai Nagasu
Adam Rippon
Alex Shibutani
Maia Shibutani
Ashley Wagner
Vincent Zhou

 

[Sylvia]

IceNetwork's photo gallery (by Getty Images & IN's Mickey Brown): http://web.icenetwork.com/photos/256018812

2 articles by Mickey Brown:

Hubbell/Donohue, Knierims, Chock/Bates, Zhou: http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2017/09/27/256206072

Brown on the quad, comments re. ISU rule proposal by N. Chen & Rippon, Nagasu & Wagner on 3A, Shibutanis: http://web.icenetwork.com/news/2017/09/25/256007960/

Links to the individual photo shoots in Park City, Utah (4 ladies, 4 men, 3 dance teams, 1 pair) by skater/team on Getty Images (also includes a few other random shots):

Mariah Bell

Jason Brown

Karen Chen

Nathan Chen

Madison Chock & Evan Bates

Madison Hubbell & Zach Donohue

Alexa Scimeca Knierim & Chris Knierim

Mirai Nagasu

Adam Rippon

Maia & Alex Shibutani

Ashley Wagner

Vincent Zhou