HUNAN TV NYE: CHINA
Client: Vita Motus / Hunan TV China
Site: Chengdu Sports Stadium
Concept: Wuxing Elemental XR Oracles
ROLES:
lead stage designer (both sub-stages)
concept artist
graphic detailing artist
OVERVIEW
Commissioned by Vita Motus, HNZLR was embedded across a long-running slate of international projects, culminating in a creative relationship with Hunan TV- one of China’s premier broadcast giants. The apex of this collaboration was their 2019 New Year’s Eve celebration, a stadium megashow.
HNZLR’s contributions were critical across several domains:
Scenic Sculpting – Modeled and posed monumental human figures that served as the symbolic and spatial centerpiece of the show.
Visual Language Design - Pioneered the use of XR goggle motifs rendered through lighting fixtures, bridging sci-fi iconography with stage technology.
Cinematic Tethering Concept - Concepted the “neural wiring” system: retro-futuristic cable paths extending from the heads of the figures, running across the deck in a circuit-like network.
Satellite Stage Architectures - Designed and modeled the twin sub-stages flanking the main deck, enabling multi-directional performance flow.
Real-Time Visualization - Led Unreal Engine visualization and created cinematic flythroughs that captivated stakeholders and greenlit the final design.
Technical Production – Produced fabrication-ready CAD for physical realization.
Philosophy & Form
The stage unfolds as an immersive sculptural environment: a central thrust flanked by twin elemental sub-stages, each loosely inspired by the Wuxing philosophy. The hand-sculpted goddess busts, finished in silver leaf and adorned with augmented reality eyewear, are “plugged” into the circuitry floor network, forging a symbolic link between ancient wisdom and speculative futurism. This concept, an interdependent digital mythology, struck a deep chord with Chinese audiences.
CINEMATIC CONCEPT RENDERING
CINEMATIC CONCEPT RENDERING
HNZLR presents live Unreal Engine scenes to clients during reviews, alongside unparalleled CAD models with custom shaders.
These state-of-the-art graphics are created in-house and are a critical part of our persuasion to seal concept viability and to communicate intent to our lighting programmers.
The client is empowered by seeing these worlds being modified in real time, able to suggest prop movements, visualize lighting, test new orientations, and witness the changes happening while on calls.
Creative vision meets technical knowledge.
technical drawing
Technical Features & Performance Dynamics:
Mechanical Systems – Included riser lifts stage left and right, a central thrust lift with rotational capacity, and a kinetic cube center-stage framed by X4 fixtures, capable of expanding and contracting in sync with choreography.
Sub-Stage Special Effects – The fire stage boasted an array of flame units rising behind a tetrahedral LED monolith, while the water stage featured a recessed pool and a wall of falling water, refracting multicolored light across performers’ silhouettes.
Performer Flow – Artists entered via a sliding upstage wall or through curved bridges extending from left and right, spiraling around the busts and converging at center stage.
PHOTOGRAPHY
