The Great Emperor Qin

OBJECTIVE

In order to boost Shaanxi province’s profile as an international tourist destination, the Shaanxi Cultural Industry Investment Group commissioned a theatrical interpretation of the history of Xi’an’s 兵马俑 (Bīngmǎ yǒng), also known as the Terracotta Army. To achieve this, they hired legendary architect and set designer George Tsypin, multimedia designer Olivier Goulet of Montréal’s Supply + Demand, and lighting designer Donald Holder. The shared objective was to create a historical journey on a massive scale, featuring huge sets, multimedia projection onto multiple surfaces, and epic lighting looks.

CHALLENGE

Supply + Demand (based in Montréal) created the multimedia’s look and feel, sending concept art and style frames to Beijing video production company Blackbow. Since both companies were far removed from Xi’an, the challenge was to ensure that the production looks matched the concept and design. The multimedia also needed to complement Zhou Liya & Han Zhen’s stylized theatrical direction, with large-scaled calligraphy and symbolism. But it also needed to appear to extend George Tsypin’s more naturalistic set design into the far distance.

SOLUTIONS

Communication was the key factor, helping to bring together the disparate views and needs of show direction; set design and architecture; multimedia design; multimedia projection; and lighting design. Navigating between Chinese, Russian-American, French-Canadian, American, and British cultures was greatly helped by an army of interpreters, shared meals, and by learning the basics of Mandarin.

In terms of technical solutions, we:

• Built the naturalistic scenes in 3D, to mimic the set design.

• Applied digital files used in the set design to applications such as Blender, to mimic textures;

• Used 3D game engine Unreal to align video perspective with set design, based on audience sight lines;

• Explored the cultural history of the Qin dynasty and Shaanxi Province, including multiple trips to the Terracotta Army Museum, to portray more abstract looks.

• Adjusted video brightness and saturation within After Effects to complement lighting design;

RESULTS

The production has been a huge success, with sell-out performances and stellar reviews, on an epic scale:

• Stage Area: 4,393.40 m² (Guinness World Record for “Largest Theater Stage”)

• Theater Footprint: 32,000 m² total area

• Auditorium Capacity: 1,500 moving seats on a hydraulically driven platform

• Track & Speed: Glides along a 220m track at top speeds of 1.3 m/s

• 30,000 lighting fixtures, 600 computer lights, and a 45-meter aerial flying stage

• 80 minutes duration spanning 6 narrative acts with no intermission