STAGE IS SET FOR NDP 2012

At this year's National Day Parade (NDP), the stage at the Marina Bay floating platform will be a giant multimedia canvas.

Videos and graphics, approximately 50m by 35m, will be painted onto the 5572sqm main performing stage from 24 digital projectors, complementing the mass displays that take place during the show.

Ranging from 10.5m to 15m high, nine LED mesh screens replicate the urban city skyline, with the centre screen shaped like the Singapore island.

The seamless transition of multimedia from screen to floor and across LED panels creates a larger multimedia canvas space that will bring the NDP show closer to audiences, said Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Yee Kok Meng, Chairman of the Multimedia committee.

He added that audiences can expect to see multimedia elements like "fire and waves of sea water crashing down" on the LED screens as well as projected on the stage floor.

It was therefore a deliberate decision to keep the stage and the backdrop simple, noted LTC S Arulmurugan, Chairman of the Infrastructure & Decoration committee.

He explained that the clean and simple look of the stage helps audiences to focus on the performers and the mass displays, as well as the multimedia projections which will be used in a new way this year.

"The stage is designed to complement and integrate (with) the city skyline as a backdrop for NDP... We have a beautiful city skyline, so we wanted to exploit that," said the 44-year-old, who added that this would allow audiences to appreciate Singapore's urban beauty.

In addition to the main stage which can hold up to 1,800 participants at any one time, there are also 10 mobile stages and an elevating stage that will be reconfigured to form different shapes during the show.

Measuring 6m by 6m and 2.3m in height, each mobile stage is moved around by up to eight participants, while the elevating stage - comprising four tiers - will rise up to more than 10m during various segments of the show.

On what the organisers hoped to achieve with these transformations, LTC Arulmurugan said: "It is to surprise, engage and captivate the audiences both at the floating platform and those watching the NDP from home."