Action-movie-style special effects for combined military display at NDP
The counter-terrorism display at the first preview of the National Day Parade on July 22, 2017. Photo: Ooi Boon Keong/TODAY
SINGAPORE — This year’s National Day Parade (NDP) will see heavy use of pyrotechnics to simulate the live-firing done by military units, including virtual “explosions” and special effects for “bullet hits” during a counter-terrorism display.
These will happen during the combined land, air and sea performance by the Singapore Armed Forces, also known as the Dynamic Defence Display, before the mass song-and-dance performances start.
The military display — a crowd favourite that is returning to the parade after a two-year absence — will have two segments for the first time, to showcase national capabilities and whole-of-government response against security threats.
In the first segment, audiences will get to see the AH-64D Apache helicopter, the Singapore Self-Propelled Howitzer 1 Primus, and the Leopard 2SG Main Battle Tank, among others. The firing of cannons from the Apache helicopter will be simulated as it swoops down near the Marina Bay Floating Platform.
The second segment will feature a mock terrorist attack, enhanced with action-movie-style special effects — also done for the first time in NDP — to make the performance more realistic. In one scene, the police will be shooting at a truck, which will “explode”. There will also be fake gas explosions lasting throughout most of the segment.
Speaking to reporters on Friday (Jul 28), Military Expert 4 Chea Wei Tien, 26, the parade’s fireworks land conducting officer, said that given the recent spate of global terror attacks, putting up this presentation is relevant.
“We need to create these realistic effects to simulate what our military platforms are capable of,” she added. “This will act as a deterrent for would-be aggressors, and also give our people confidence in our defence capabilities.”
For the special effects, the parade organisers collaborated with Hong Kong experts from Glorious Group, which specialises in pyrotechnics and fireworks.
Towards the end of the entire parade show, there will be the much-anticipated fireworks display and audiences can expect to see the outline of a flower in bloom in the air. It will last more than four minutes, and is achieved through the release of fireworks that will go up to 220m high.
The planning for this year’s fireworks display began in June last year, and preparations for the ground work began in early June this year.
A team of 62 people takes about four days every week to prepare and mount the pyrotechnics for the show. The packages are delivered to the fireworks preparation area nearby, inspected, packed and transported to the respective areas at the Marina Bay Floating Platform.
There are a total of 69 pyrotechnic mounting points on the stage area, barges and floating pontoons on the water. To protect performers and audiences, there will be a safety zone radius of 200m around the mounting points.
In order to limit environmental damage from the fireworks, acceptance tests were conducted overseas to ensure that the fireworks will completely burn and not add debris to the waters.
National water agency PUB also collects and tests water samples after every firing round to ensure no extra contaminants get into the waters in Marina Bay.
