A Doorway To The Heavens
Tucked away in the corner of a busy tech room Ken Chieh Hsu focuses on his computer panel tapping expertly on it with his electronic pen. On the enormous flatscreen mounted on the wall in front of him a mythical paradise rises out of the clouds complete with golden colonnades and marble steps. He taps once and the clouds at the foot of the screen begin rolling across the scene. Once more and a shining light appears slowly descending from a corner of the sky.
You might think that Hsu is animating a scene for the next Hollywood fantasy epic but he is actually a digital design expert for New Tang Dynasty Television a nonprofit Chinese television network based in Manhattan. Hsu is a fouryear veteran of the networks annual Chinese New Year performances having worked on the digital backgrounds for the show every year since its inception.
These digital backgrounds are a unique part of NTDTVs performances and are especially eyecatching on the gigantic LED screen at Radio City site of the 2007 Chinese New Year Spectacular. Using the uncluttered set space like a giant canvas Hsu and his team paint scenes of ancient Chinese palaces tall mountains and billowing seas and even a quiet Chinese village on New Years Evehushed expectant and with lanternhung streets traveling far into the horizon. Every year says Hsu we try to make it more detailed more realistic.
The end result is breathtaking but the complex creation of one of these backgrounds is amazing in itself. According to Hsu the process starts with the artistic director who comes up with the concept of a performance. Then the needed backgrounds are decided and the meticulous research begins. The digital designers go through stacks of books researching paintings from the period and gathering whatever sources they can find in order to make it as authentic and believable for the audience as possible.
But even though many backgrounds are based on traditional images and paintings there is still plenty of room for innovation. In last years performance the background for the dance Fairies Flutes was from a classical painting of a Han Dynastystyle palace. The color of the painting however had dimmed with age. Hsu learned through his research as well as though his background in fine arts that classical Chinese paintings were colorful and bright but their pigments did not have the staying power of Western oil paints. The designers decided to restore color to the image creating the soft radiant feel of a watercolor. In addition says Hsu some of the classic paintings have a limited scope whereas the digital artists need to create a much bigger space.
After the scene is drawn it is time for the technological wizardry. Each year the backgrounds become more technically challenging with more scenery changes and more animations. In Fairies Flutes for example the team filmed dancers in rehearsal then used digital effects to render these threedimensional images onto the twodimensional background. In the show the audience saw distant fairy maidens flying down from the sky only to appear on stage moments later.
The ultimate goal of these backgrounds is to use modern technology as a tool to transmit the true spirit of traditional Chinese culture. The audience should feel like the dancer is truly in the place created by the background. The audience does not just see the picture of a ship or ocean but is actually riding across the waves. The background opens the stage expanding the space beyond its boundaries. In short it is the creation of a world.
Such a world can only be created through an immense amount of collaboration. After all the digital background is one part of this whole along with the costumes the music and the performers. The colors of the background must harmonize with the colors of the dancers costumes; the animations and scene changes must be timed to shift exactly with the music; the backgrounds must often be tested during the dancers rehearsals and then worked on once again. Each background may go through extensive revisions but with each the artists reach deeper and deeper levels of meaning in the performances.
This entire process starts seven or eight months before the first show. As the work gets more intensive Hsu and the ten or so other designers dedicate most of their time to the backgrounds. Hsu may only sleep in his own bed once every three or four days but while he jokes about his starvingartist ways No money no wife but its still good he waxes enthusiastic about his work: Where else could I do something so wonderful? As an artist I can reflect the best traditional art through the best modern technology.
Hsu hopes that the audience will be pleased with what they see at this years show and is confident that it is of the highest quality. I never knew before that traditional art was so beautiful. I want to tell people: you should really take a good look because youve never seen this kind of beauty before.
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Daniel Tang is an independent writer covering cultural events and human rights issues and has an interest in preserving cultural and spiritual tradition. For more info about the NTDTV Chinese New Year Spectacular in your area please visit:
www.HolidayWonders.net
www.BestChineseShows.com
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