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