An amalgamation of waterworks, pyrotechnics, lasers, animation, and 3D projection mapping lets you experience the sunrise at night at an outdoor amphitheater built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. French production company ECA2's latest multimedia spectacle, Eastern Sunrise, takes place in the city of Rizhao in China’s Shandong Province, a oceanside town that sees the first rays of sunlight because of where it is geographically. Known to use water as the canvas for their projections, ECA2 incorporates what they call "wave water screens": jets shoot columns of water into the air creating a wall of water to project the animations onto.
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The dynamic stage, equipped with projectors and an arrangement of complex light fixtures, projects 3D map animations onto 4 symmetrical, sail-shaped panels that fan out from either side of the stage’s center—a design decision that references the city’s tradition of sailing.
The cinematic animation in Eastern Sunrise tells the story of a forbidden romance set in Rizhao. Two lovers struggle to stay together and eventually unite the once-fractured community. “It’s a tale of two forces colliding yet completing each other. Yin & Yang, Sun & Earth, Land & Sea,” ECA2 explains. From conception to arrival, ECA2 and a Rizhao construction investment company took 12 months to create, design, build, and install the show. Though footage of the full show is not yet available, you can watch a teaser for Eastern Sunrise below:
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