SINGAPORE \u2013 For more than a year, lighting designer Michael Chan has been mapping out and tinkering with every beam, colour change and transition for Singapore\u2019s upcoming 61st birthday celebrations<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The 42-year-old spent months designing and programming every lighting cue before the production even entered the stadium.<\/p>\n But coming up with the plan was not easy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was actually convincing ourselves and the committee that it is worth the investment,\u201d 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\u2019s much larger scale.<\/p>\n The lighting system for NDP 2026 comprises 54 laser units, 1,654 entertainment lighting fixtures and 170 special effects units.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The need for seamless transitions also shaped the stage itself.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s scale, audience sight lines and operational requirements.<\/p>\n It is equipped with six stage lifts and eight tunnel entrances and exits, enabling faster transitions and more dynamic choreography.<\/p>\n Set designer Randy Chan, 56, jumped into preparations for the set shortly after the previous NDP wrapped up.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \u201cAfter many months of meetings, understanding the multimedia, the storyline, the formation of this set is the culmination of many people\u2019s feedback,\u201d the 56-year-old said.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s parade will also see 300 drones put on a synchronised light show,\u00a0alongside singer Jasmine Sokko and two aerialists.<\/p>\n Kwek Qing Wei, a senior programme manager (unmanned systems) for land systems at the Defence Science and Technology Agency, said there were several challenges to pulling off the segment effectively.<\/p>\n The 40-year-old said: \u201cOne of the challenges that we faced was getting all 300 drones to fly together in a synchronised manner onto the stage and perform with the aerialists. It must also be in sync with the music and the lights.\u201d<\/p>\n Kwek Qing Wei, senior programme manager (unmanned systems) for land systems at the Defence Science and Technology Agency, said that there will be 12 standby drones on Aug 9.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Preparations such as getting the indoor positioning system into place so that the drones are able to receive signals took almost a month.<\/p>\n For safety, each drone maintains at least 3m from performers. They can fly as high as 24m.<\/p>\n On the rare occasion that a drone loses connection during rehearsals and lands, the programming allows a backup drone to take its position. Such incidents have occurred in less than than 1 per cent of flights, Kwek said.<\/p>\n There will be 12 standby drones during the parade.<\/p>\n The camera director\u2019s room at the National Stadium on July 31.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The responsibility of keeping every moving part running smoothly falls to the NDP show management committee, headed by Lieutenant-Colonel Koh Jun Kiat.<\/p>\n Koh said spotters are stationed around the stage and beneath it, while quick response teams stand ready to deal with mishaps like stray props or stalled floats.<\/p>\n After each rehearsal, the team makes adjustments to choreography, timings and entry and exit points for over 2,600 performers, based on debrief pointers and feedback given to improve the show.<\/p>\n LTC Koh Jun Kiat, chairman of show management (in red), in action at the National Stadium on July 31.<\/p>\n ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The 34-year-old added: \u201cFor everything on the ground and in the air that the audience sees on stage, the show management committee is working steadily behind the scenes to operationalise the creative vision for NDP (this year) and deliver a show that will wow our audience.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n SINGAPORE \u2013 For more than a year, lighting designer Michael Chan has been mapping out and tinkering with every beam, colour change and transition for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/73676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/picture><\/div>
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