Card stunt

Last updated
Large card stunt
performed at the 2004 Rose Bowl; instructions to performers are visible on screen at upper right CardStunt-010104-RoseBowl.jpg
Large card stunt performed at the 2004 Rose Bowl; instructions to performers are visible on screen at upper right
Card stunt during a Jaturamitr Samakkee match in 2017, performed by Assumption College (Thailand) aepr`aksr khunph`k`lmebt 2560.png
Card stunt during a Jaturamitr Samakkee match in 2017, performed by Assumption College (Thailand)

Card stunts are a planned, coordinated sequence of actions performed by an audience, whose members raise cards that, in the aggregate, create a recognizable image. The images they create can range widely and, through careful planning, the same cards can create a number of different images by systematically changing how the cards are held up. Although card stunts are now performed at a variety of events ranging from sports to political rallies, the card stunt is closely associated with American football, particularly college football, as well as football (soccer), where it can form part of a tifo. The North Korean mass games Arirang Festival, however, were the first to extend the card stunt to an art form, using flip-book cards to produce enormous hour-long animated sequences.

Contents

Card Stunts created on a smaller scale (50 to 1,000 cards) are used as team-building exercises for corporations, or to promote a new company logo, or recognize a company milestone. These card stunts, known as "billboard card stunts," are created using cards that are held above the card holders' heads. The largest billboard card stunt was created on September 17, 2013, in the desert outside Las Vegas by Kivett Productions. The card stunts were to promote the opening of Britney Spears' new show at the Planet Hollywood Las Vegas Resort & Casino.

By country

Mexico

In Mexico's Heroic Military Academy, card stunts are done during various occasions, especially on September 13, the anniversary of the Battle of Chapultepec, where a program is made in honor of this great battle.

North Korea

Arirang Festival in North Korea North korea mass games.jpg
Arirang Festival in North Korea

North Korea's yearly Arirang Festival, also known as the Mass Games, in Pyongyang capitalizes on choreography and card stunt to create sweeping images across the stadium. The festival is famed for the use of this technique as part of the iconographic propaganda art of the regime.

Thailand

Colored card booklets on a card stunt "plate"--the performers arrange the cards according to predesigned patterns in order to achieve a detailed aggregate image. Card stunt coloured card booklets from 66th CU-TU match.jpg
Colored card booklets on a card stunt "plate"—the performers arrange the cards according to predesigned patterns in order to achieve a detailed aggregate image.

Card stunts (Thai : การแปรอักษร) are regularly performed in certain sporting events in Thailand. They are especially associated with Jaturamitr Samakkee and Chula–Thammasat Traditional Football Match, but are also employed in most school- and university-level sporting events where performances by the seated crowd often play an important part in the competition. In addition to plain colored cards, other objects such as umbrellas, flashlights and reflective surfaces are also used, and special plates with multiple tiles of colored card booklets are used to create detailed aggregate images.

The origin of such performances in Thailand can be traced back to Assumption College, a member of the Jaturamitr, where in 1942, by the instruction of Cherd Sudara, a teacher at the school, differently-uniformed students in the audience arranged to form the school's initials. This developed into dynamic messages by physical movement of the crowd and later the covering and exposure of specific-colored clothing. The Chula–Thammasat Traditional Football Match adopted the card stunt in 1957; in the following years, cardboard cards became the predominant medium for the stunts. As a part of larger events, performances by Chulalongkorn University students were featured in the opening ceremony of the 1974 Asian Games in Tehran, and eight thousand students from the Jaturamitr schools performed during the 1999 FESPIC Games in Bangkok. [2]

United States

A 2006 Super Bowl commercial by Budweiser, titled "The Wave", features a fictional card stunt using computer animation. The crowd at the Rose Bowl performs a card stunt which shows a beer bottle being opened and poured around the stadium into a glass and subsequently being consumed one gulp at a time. The crowd finished with a collective "AHHHH".[ citation needed ]

In February, 2006 the Gillette company sponsored the "World's Largest Card Stunt" at the NASCAR Daytona 500 with over 118,000 fans set to participate. The Card Stunts were produced by Kivett Productions. [3] During the singing of the US National Anthem, fans held up cards forming a patriotic design consisting of stars and stripes. Following the anthem, fans flipped the cards to display the "Gillette Fusion" logo.

On August 25, 2007, the Bristol Motor Speedway and Kivett Productions broke the Daytona 500 record, by creating what is now the World's Largest Card Stunt with 128,000 cards. There were two card stunts that were sponsored by Sprint; and the Card Stunts took place during the Food City 500 Race. An army of 325 workers spend 5 hours placing the cards in the seats.

Other performances

College traditions

The first card stunt was performed by students at the University of California, Berkeley ("Cal") during the 1910 Big Game against rival Stanford University, and consisted of two stunts in total: a picture of the Stanford Axe and a large blue "C" on a white background.[ citation needed ] While the card stunt is closely associated with college football, this first instance took place at a rugby match because all the major colleges and universities on the West Coast of the United States had briefly dropped football in favor of rugby during the early 1910s. As universities switched back, students brought the card stunts with them and by that time they became a national phenomenon associated with college football. While the tradition has subsided at many American colleges and universities, Cal maintains the tradition through the UC Rally Committee.

"Block I", the football student cheering section at the University of Illinois, also maintains the tradition by performing a 2000-member, 12-image card stunt during halftime of each home football game.[ citation needed ]

Card stunts have been the object of several famous college pranks, including the Great Rose Bowl Hoax and the 2004 Harvard-Yale Prank.

Olympics

Misha in 1980, Moscow RIAN archive 488322 Flag-bearers of states-participants of the XXII Summer Olympic Games cropped.jpg
Misha in 1980, Moscow

At the opening and closing ceremonies of Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow at the Olympic Stadium (now Luzhniki Stadium), some 6,800 Soviet Army cadets in front of the presidium created many images using this technique. The cadets practiced some six months to perfect their card formations. One of the most memorable was a Misha with a tear dropping, during the closing ceremonies of the event. [4] [5]

The opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympics at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum boasted the single, biggest card stunt at the time. 85,000 spectators found colored cards in their seats (which had been preassigned by a computer simulation); and at one point the ceremony, just before the Parade of Nations segment, all 85,000 spectators flashed their cards to form supposedly all the flags of the nations in attendance. [6]

This idea was tried again during the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games held in Vancouver, Canada. But the idea was discarded when during rehearsals it was realized that the same effect would not be achieved due to the fact that BC Place was an indoor stadium, while the Los Angeles Coliseum was an open stadium and the ceremony took place in the late afternoon. [7]

At the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, an effect similar to a card stunt was achieved by mounting a small panel with LED lights next to every spectator seat in the stadium, effectively turning the entire seating area into a big display for the audience seated on the opposite side. The show's producers, rather than the audience, controlled the light panels.

Card stunts involving large numbers of people have become a standard part of similar celebratory gatherings in countries such as North Korea.

Fiction

In 1958, the science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke published "A Slight Case of Sunstroke" (also called "The Stroke of the Sun"), a short story in which a diabolical card stunt was used to kill an unpopular soccer referee. [8] In the narrative, a large number of hostile spectators aim reflective program covers at the unfortunate umpire, who is vaporized in the resulting solar furnace.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wave (audience)</span> Synchronized action by a stadium audience

The wave is an example of metachronal rhythm achieved in a packed stadium when successive groups of spectators briefly stand, yell, and raise their arms. Immediately upon stretching to full height, the spectator returns to the usual seated position.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maracanã Stadium</span> Stadium in Rio de Janeiro

Maracanã Stadium, officially named Estádio Jornalista Mário Filho, is an association football stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The stadium is part of a complex that includes an arena known by the name of Maracanãzinho, which means "The Little Maracanã" in Portuguese. Owned by the Rio de Janeiro state government, the stadium is now managed by the clubs Fluminense and Flamengo. It is located at the Maracanã neighborhood, named after the Rio Maracanã, a now canalized river in Rio de Janeiro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Valley Stadium</span> Football stadium in South Yorkshire, England

Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, was completed in 1990, and hosted the 1991 World Student Games. It was named after the nearby River Don. The stadium was demolished in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cotton Bowl (stadium)</span> Stadium in Dallas, Texas, United States

The Cotton Bowl is an outdoor stadium in Dallas, Texas, United States. Opened in 1930 as Fair Park Stadium, it is on the site of the State Fair of Texas, known as Fair Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Estadio Olímpico Universitario</span> Multipurpose stadium in University City, Mexico City

Estadio Olímpico Universitario is a multi-purpose stadium located inside Ciudad Universitaria in Mexico City. It was built in 1952 and at that time was the largest stadium in Mexico. This stadium has a capacity of 72,000. The first major event held in the stadium was the 1955 Pan American Games. During the 1950s and the 1960s this stadium was used mostly for college American football matches between the largest Mexican public universities at the time: UNAM and IPN. From the late 1950s it was used for football matches, some American football matches and athletics. American architect Frank Lloyd Wright called it "the most important building in the modern America".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1999 SEA Games</span> Multi-sport event in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

The 1999 SEA Games, officially known as the 20th SEA Games and commonly known as Brunei Darussalam 1999, was a Southeast Asian multi-sport event held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. This was the first time Brunei hosted the Southeast Asian Games and also in Borneo island. These were the last to have ever staged during the 20th century, and this was the only occasion, to date, that Brunei had held the SEA Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1974 Asian Games</span> Multi-sport event in Tehran, Iran

The 7th Asian Games were held from 1 to 16 September 1974 in Tehran, Iran. The Aryamehr Sports Complex was built for the Games. The Asian Games were hosted in the Middle East for the first time. Tehran, the capital of Iran, played host to 3,010 athletes coming from 25 countries/NOCs, the highest number of participants since the inception of the Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Rose Bowl Hoax</span> 1961 college football prank

The Great Rose Bowl Hoax was a prank at the 1961 Rose Bowl, an annual American college football bowl game. That year, the Washington Huskies were pitted against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. At halftime, the Huskies led 17–0, and their cheerleaders took the field to lead the spectators in the stands in a card stunt, a routine involving flip-cards depicting various images for the audience to raise. However, a number of students from the California Institute of Technology managed to alter the card stunt shown during the halftime break, by making the Washington fans inadvertently spell out CALTECH.

The Chula–Thammasat or Thammasat–Chula Traditional Football Match is a football match between Chulalongkorn University and Thammasat University. It is held annually, usually in January, at the Suphachalasai Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. Apart from the match itself, the event also focuses on card stunts performed by both sides' audiences, cheerleading, and the opening ceremony parades, of which Thammasat's politics-mocking sequence is an anticipated highlight. The event is regularly broadcast on national television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jaturamitr Samakkee</span> Football league

The Jaturamitr Samakkee is a traditional secondary school football competition played by the four oldest boys' schools in Thailand: Suankularb Wittayalai School, Debsirin School, Assumption College, and Bangkok Christian College. It is held biennially, usually in November, at Suphachalasai Stadium in Bangkok, with the schools rotating as hosts.

The Closing Ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on August 4, 1996, at the Centennial Olympic Stadium in Atlanta, United States at approximately 8:00 PM EDT (UTC−4). It was produced by Don Mischer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King Fahd Sports City</span> Multi-purpose sports venue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

King Fahd Sports City, also nicknamed "The Tent" or "Pearl of Stadiums", is a multi-purpose stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Seating 58,398 spectators, it is currently used mostly for football matches as the home of Al Hilal SFC and the Saudi national team, as well as athletics events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1980 Summer Olympics opening ceremony</span>

The Opening Ceremony of the 1980 Summer Olympics was the official opening ceremony held in the afternoon at 16:00 Moscow Time (UTC+3) on 19 July 1980 in the Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium. It was attended by the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Leonid Brezhnev, and IOC President Lord Killanin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1980 Summer Olympics closing ceremony</span> Olympics ceremony in Moscow, USSR

The Closing Ceremony of the 1980 Summer Olympics was held at 19:00 Moscow Time (UTC+3) on 3 August 1980 at the Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium. It was attended by the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Leonid Brezhnev. IOC President Lord Killanin closed the Games for the final time and passed the position on to Juan Antonio Samaranch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venues of the 2002 Winter Olympics</span>

The 2002 Winter Olympic Games were held in and around Salt Lake City, United States from February 8 to 24, 2002, and the Paralympics from March 7 to 16, 2002. The sporting events were held in ten competitive venues, while non-competitive events, such as the opening ceremony, were held in six other venues. Three venues were also created for training purposes. All Olympic venues were scattered throughout Northern Utah and the Wasatch Front.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Louisville Cardinal Marching Band</span>

The University of Louisville Cardinal Marching Band is the official marching band of the University of Louisville (UofL) in Louisville, Kentucky. It is considered a Music Ambassador for UofL. The CMB performs at all home football games at Cardinal Stadium, all postseason bowl games, and select away football games. It also plays at the annual Spring Scrimmage Game which pits the Cardinal Offense against the Cardinal Defense.

The opening ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics took place in the evening on Friday, July 19 at the Centennial Olympic Stadium, Atlanta, United States. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal and ceremonial opening of this international sporting event, including welcoming speeches, hoisting of the flags and the parade of athletes, with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation's culture and history. The Games were officially opened by President of the United States of America Bill Clinton.

The 1999 FESPIC Games, officially known as the 7th FESPIC Games, was an Asia-Pacific disabled multi-sport event held in Bangkok, Thailand from 10 to 16 January 1999, 20 days after the 1998 Asian Games. It was one of the two FESPIC Games to have held at the same host city as the Asian Games, the other being the 2002 FESPIC Games in Busan, South Korea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super Bowl XXIII halftime show</span> 1989 show in Miami, Florida

The Super Bowl XXIII halftime show took place on January 22, 1989 at the Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, Florida. It was entitled "BeBop Bamboozled in 3-D". It featured a 1950s theme, an Elvis impersonator, 3D effects, and a magic trick.

The opening ceremony of the 1988 Winter Olympics was held on February 13, 1988, beginning at 1:30 p.m. MST at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

References

  1. "2004 Rose Bowl - World's Largest American Flag". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-19. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
  2. Assumption Association (2003). อัสสัมชัญประวัติ (Assumption College 115th anniversary commemoration) (in Thai). Bangkok: Assumption Association. pp. 114–124. ISBN   974-91380-1-5.
  3. "2006 Daytona 500". Pginvestor.com. Archived from the original on 2006-10-22. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
  4. "Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics | Olympic Videos, Photos, News". Olympic.org. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
  5. "Secrets of the Olympic Ceremonies" by Myles A. Garcia, MAG Publishing, (c) 2010, page 23.
  6. "los-angeles 1984 Summer Olympics | Olympic Videos, Photos, News". Olympic.org. Retrieved 2012-04-23.
  7. "Secrets of the Olympic Ceremonies" by Myles A. Garcia, MAG Publishing, (c) 2010, footnote, page 39.
  8. Valia, Tinkoo. "Arthur C Clarke's "A Slight Case of Sunstroke" aka "The Stroke of the Sun" (short story, free): An innocent murder weapon". Variety SF. Retrieved 2011-04-16.