SINGAPORE – For more than a year, lighting designer Michael Chan has been mapping out and tinkering with every beam, colour change and transition for Singapore’s upcoming 61st birthday celebrations.
His efforts culminate in over 1,600 moving lights which will illuminate the National Stadium on Aug 9 and become the largest lighting production in National Day Parade (NDP) history.
The 42-year-old spent months designing and programming every lighting cue before the production even entered the stadium.
But coming up with the plan was not easy.
“It was actually convincing ourselves and the committee that it is worth the investment,” he said, explaining that his team requested about 50 per cent more equipment than when the parade took place at the Padang, to match the National Stadium’s much larger scale.
The lighting system for NDP 2026 comprises 54 laser units, 1,654 entertainment lighting fixtures and 170 special effects units.
Chan, who is participating in the parade for the third time, told media on July 31 the team decided to scale up the production to create an immersive experience for both spectators at the stadium and at home.
The trickiest part of the parade for the lighting plan is the fourth act, which features a medley of television and theme songs that transition every 30 to 50 seconds, he said. “We have to find a unique look for every single one, while moving seamlessly from one to another, but at the same time making it cohesive as one chapter.”
The need for seamless transitions also shaped the stage itself.
Set designer Randy Chan, who had worked on six previous parades, came up with an arrow-shaped stage stretching over 160m after studying the National Stadium’s scale, audience sight lines and operational requirements.
It is equipped with six stage lifts and eight tunnel entrances and exits, enabling faster transitions and more dynamic choreography.
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