You’ll Be Bowled Over By His Supersized Props At NDP 2024

When it comes to making an impact at a large-scale event like National Day Parade (NDP), size does matter – whether with scores of marching contingents, sizeable mass performances or, to call a spade a spade, big-ass props. How else would you fill the Padang, an area that could fit more than 27 Olympic pools?

Enter Deric Shen, NDP 2024’s Large Props Designer, with the solution. His job, as his title suggests, is to be in charge of four mobile LED cubes, 99 arches, 16 food carts, 18 faux ficus trees, six inflatable mascots, four giant bowls of local food, and a massive orchid, among a long list of light-up objects, which more than 3,000 participants will interact with during the Show segment.

The 35-year-old has a background in fine arts, dabbling in acrylic and oil painting at one point, and is currently a faculty member of Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, and University of the Arts Singapore.

We speak to Deric about his supersized creations, the challenges he’s faced in this multimedia extravaganza, and… cendol.

Some of the massive inflatable mascots that will appear at NDP 2024. | IMAGES: NICK CHEE

Large props play such an important role in a large-scale production like NDP, and you oversee a huge number of them. What goes into your role as Large Props Designer?

Generally, it's about empathising with people – with users, audience members – and how they associate with and relate to things around them.

In terms of large product design, the practice of thematics kicks in. Identifying relevant elements from the period is important so that they can help the audience draw a clearer picture of what, say, a food street in Singapore in the ’60s looked like, in the case of the food-themed scenes in Chapter Four.

The fact that I’m not from the ’60s meant that it was up to me to do my homework and pick out elements that would help people form their visual imagination of what the lifestyle in the past was like.

How did you conceptualise the large props for this year's NDP?

It really kicked off with understanding our Creative Director’s (Brian Gothong Tan’s) vision, and establishing the big picture. I could then break it down from there, and work out my research direction as well, learning about stories from the past and imagining myself in their shoes, based on what I’d been looking at.

And then I recreated or replicated those elements into props for dancers to dance around, with dynamics articulated by other elements such as lighting and music.

NDP 2024 Large Props Designer Deric Shen explaining the functionality of the mobile LED cube. | IMAGE: NICK CHEE

Four remotely controlled mobile LED cubes and 18 light-up trees enhance Chapter Six of NDP 2024. | IMAGE: NICK CHEE

Your background is in fine arts. In what ways did this role push you creatively?

One particular challenge for me was the mobile LED cubes. First, I had to find a way to make the cubes mobile. Second, I had to equip them with LED screens to project images and content. This called for collaborations very early on.

This was new to me, in that sense. Structurally, I did not know what to do, and integration with multimedia called for another set of discussions. So, working closely with the Multimedia Director (Davier Yoon) was essential.

Throughout the whole process, one thing is certain – this experience has trained me to be open to collaboration and co-creation.

Deric (left) with one of 99 arches that will be part of Soka Gakkai Singapore's performance in Chapter Five. | IMAGE: NICK CHEE (LEFT) AND NDP 2024 OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS

What’s the most fun you've had on this NDP 2024 journey?

When we do the prototyping! Once we got the prototypes of the props, we would involve all the various stakeholders and parties, and we would re-enact the scenes ourselves, pretending to be the performers, and making sure that the props has structural integrity, and that the performers could handle the props effectively and safely.

Once the large props were designed and produced, did your job end there? Or is your role still active?

We're still working because we facilitate the maintenance and refreshments of the props, giving them fresh coats of paint or doing touch-ups.

In some instances, we enhanced some of the props. For example, we didn’t have the sort of space to test them out when we started, and once we did, we realised that, yeah, some things could be enhanced. It became a learning process.

Four giant bowls and plates of nasi lemak, thosai, fish ball noodles and Devil's curry will showcase Singapore's diversity. | IMAGE: NDP 2024 OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS

Adding to food-themed Chapter Four will be 16 food carts. | IMAGE: NDP 2024 OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHERS

In this collection of large props, there are food carts, giant food bowls, large faux ficus trees etc. Do you have a favourite prop?

Wow. I like them all! Uh, I like the giant food. I mean, food, in essence, is a topic that is very interesting. So I personally like the food props; the genre itself is already my favourite.

So what is your favourite food, then?

Uh... I like cendol. 😁

And what is most Singaporean about you?

Uh... I love cendol! 🤣

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