With multimedia, he's created an immersive concert-like experience for NDP 2024

In his free time, if he’s not attending to his wife and their newborn baby, Davier Yoon designs and 3D-prints little trinkets to solve issues around his home. For example, he printed a bespoke strainer to stop food getting stuck in his kitchen sink.

That's the level of creativity and problem-solving Davier brings to his role as the Multimedia Director of National Day Parade (NDP) 2024. As his title suggests, he is in charge of all the cool graphics displayed on screens and banners throughout the Show, working closely with Creative Director Brian Gothong Tan, Music Director Bang Wenfu, and the rest of the NDP 2024 Creative Team.

This year at the Padang, there will be three ultra-wide screens. The central one is flanked by 12 LED banners in portrait orientation. There will also be four mobile LED cubes with 4m by 3m screens on two sides of each cube showcasing graphics specially designed for the Show. With their LED wrist bands, spectators at the Padang will also be part of the visual spectacle.

The challenge was to integrate the various screens into a cohesive 360-degree experience – much like at the recent Taylor Swift and Coldplay concerts in Singapore. What ensued for Davier was substantial experimentation, and trial and error with the different formats of these screens over the past few months in preparation for the big day on 9 Aug.

We speak to the 38-year-old about the multimedia magic he's created for NDP 2024, his day in a life as Multimedia Director, and what really makes him Singaporean.

First of all, congratulations on your new baby!

Oh, thank you so much. The baby was just born last week, 17 July. It was quite hectic, but thankfully everyone in the multimedia team and the NDP 2024 team were very, very, very understanding.

How did you get roped into the Show as Multimedia Director?

I worked with Brian (Gothong Tan, NDP 2024 Creative Director) for a few years. I started working with him in NDP 2016 - he was the Multimedia Director back then. We’ve worked together since.

How many people are working behind the scenes in the multimedia team?

It is a very big team, about 40 people just for the Padang itself. There's a lot of management going on, but a lot of the time, I have to talk to vendors and students as well. The students, from Nanyang Polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic, and Ngee Ann Polytechnic, worked on the some of the graphics that you will see at NDP 2024.

What does a typical week as Multimedia Director for NDP 2024 look like?

A lot of meetings! Especially on Mondays with the Show Committee, two days after the latest NDP rehearsal on Saturday. After that, I'll have a multimedia meeting where I lay out the tasks with my producer Zhi Qi and my multimedia chairman, Kenneth.

After that, we talk to the vendors and the students to tell them what needs to be done for that week. By "week", I mean only the next two or three days because we need to upload everything by the end of Wednesday, because we have a tech run on Thursday, then a system run on Friday.

In what way has multimedia and tech changed NDP over the years?

I think people realised that multimedia is essential in any performance. You go to any concert nowadays, there's always these big multimedia screens, LED wristbands, and all sorts of different effects. To keep up with the times, we need to have these kinds of things in NDP as well. And I think we've fulfilled it.

When you go for the NDP rehearsals, you feel like you're in one of those concerts that have been coming to Singapore in the past few months. It feels no different. And I think we can be very proud of it.

The mobile LED cubes are cool – how were they conceptualised?

The idea actually came from Brian. The idea was to have LED screens on the ground that are not far away. When we first heard about them, we were a bit sceptical. In the end, Deric (Shen Maozheng, NDP 2024 Large Props Designer) came up with this design where there are two LED screens, one on each side of a cube, so that whether you are seated in the red sector or the green sector, you can see what everyone else is seeing as well.

And these LED screens also move around – they are "performers" as well, in a sense, because they are “dancing” and showing beautiful visuals, while serving as a backdrop for our performers, and for our cameras to capture.

There are also 12 portrait screens flanking the central ultra-wide screen, six on each side. Was that also Brian’s idea?

No, that was my idea. I discussed it with my technical managers. We are of the TikTok and Instagram generation, right? We're used to viewing content on a vertical screen. We decided to take advantage of that. We can also combine all the screens together to form one long, continuous screen.

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At night, because the lights are so dim, you can't really make out the rectangular shape of the screens. We take advantage of that. Sometimes we don't fill the entire rectangle – maybe it's just a pill or an organic kind of shape. People will feel that the LED screens are just floating there in space, like a hologram.

What is the most Singaporean thing about you?

I got married on 9 Aug 2015, and I marched down the aisle with my wife to "Home"! My wife was also wearing a Peranakan kebaya.

We love that there's a food-themed chapter in the Show segment of NDP 2024. What's your favourite food?

Basic lah, chicken rice. I got to have it every day, without fail.

This article was first published in Wonderwall.sg.