I need that word too - 1:30 in and even though I knew what was going to happen - the hairs on the back of my neck stood up - and it just got better from there. Thank you woodstockbirdybird. I too needed that.
I thought it was pretty neat, beats the crap out of most online vids.
And extra bonus for not being on YouTube, where the comments would have instantly dashed any illusion of the world being a non-sucky place.
Embarrassingly, when the bassist started, I thought he was playing With a Little Help From My Friends. It wasn’t until the cellist joined him that I recognized Ode to Joy.
Why was that so great? When the voices joined in, I got chills.
Yeah, if you look at how many different camera angles they have in the clip, the plaza must have been crawling with cameramen. The audience clearly knew that some sort of “event” was about to happen. Part of the cool thing about flash mobs is that sense of surreality when real life turns into a choreographed dance performance with no warning, and this video is lacking that element.
It’s still pretty fucking wonderful, though.
Part of why that worked for me is that I didn’t realize that was a chorus gathering until they started singing - I thought they were just more onlookers.
They’re gonna need a bigger hat.
Yeah, but watching the clip, it seems like nearly everybody in the crowd has a camera pointed at the performance. Cameraman? Interested onlooker?
I bet a few people were actually swept up in what they perceived to be spontaneity.
That was just so, JOYFUL! (no no, no the song title part :D) This almost never happens for me with these things, but I got chills and teared up a little.
Love, love, LOVE it!
Me too, and tears – twice. I played it for my husband, who’s all “Yeah? So?” Which is odd, because we usually tear up at the same movies, songs, etc. Except for classical stuff. He’ll tear up if classical music is playing over an emotional scene, but the music by itself does nothing for him. His loss.
I know Ode to Joy isn’t an anthem, but it has an anthem feel, and anthems have an emotional impact.
Nah, no way. It’s way too polished and professional a film to have been edited together from camera phone footage. A lot of the shots are from angles that are pretty unlikely to have been taken by a bystander - extreme closeups of the instruments from right over the musician’s shoulder or under their arm, crane shots, shots taken from in among the musicians, the shots of musicians walking out of buildings to join the orchestra. Also, a lot of shots of the crowd watching - if you had been there in person, how much time would you have spent filming the crowd, versus filming the performers?
I kind of doubt it. There’s already people filming on their cameras when it’s just one guy in a tux playing a bass, and you can see there’s a pretty big crowd watching already when the little girl walks up, although they’ve made sure the square looks empty for the crane shots. I’m guessing there was some active crowd control involved in filming this. Hell, there’d have to be, just to make sure there’s enough room for the larger groups of musicians (such as the strings, or the choir, who all show up at once) to assemble in time to hit their cues. I wonder how important it is for the musicians to be in a particular position? If the oboe is in a different place every night, does that throw off the conductor?
Yes, this.
Also this. 
Uh, sorry if I’m being a buzzkill, btw. It really is a very lovely video.
I was thinking the same thing. The onlookers conveniently leave mostly enough room for each set of musicians to show up and have enough room. There must be un-video’d people shooing them gently back at some point. Add all the camera angles from way up high, many from in the crowd, and so many looking around in tight shots at the onlookers, all of that twigs this as a very carefully planned production. A very well done one, but not spontaneous for most of the people we’re seeing or the people documenting them.
Well, none of what you said takes away from the awesomeness of the video. This isn’t journalism - they’re hiding the wires that make the actors fly, so to speak, in a video music performance. It’s a little dishonest, but forgivable, in that we’re led to believe this was somehow spontaneous and the cameras were crowd-sourced, but most people will figure out that it wasn’t and they weren’t. Well, I hope so.
Also, at least in the beginning, the music doesn’t synch up to the movements of the players, which annoys me beyond all reason. I don’t think the music you hear was actually recorded live at the event.
Fine, if you want one with a little more cinéma vérité, try this, but stick with it to the end: :).
Anyone know where this was filmed?
Lady dressed in black appears at about 1 min 10 seconds into video, with a musical instrument that I do not recognize. What is it?
It’s a bassoon.