The LED screen is mainly used to display colorful video data and synchronized video images, which is an extension and supplement of the stage performance. It not only enriches the content of the performance and provides the audience with information about the performance itself, but also creates a space for the audience’s imagination with virtual pictures, which is more atmosphere. Digital image content is the soul of LED screens. From static images to dynamic videos, from real scenes, and natural scenery to the vast universe, digital images can be presented to the audience. Therefore, before designing and producing multimedia images, stage designers should take all factors into consideration. Including the overall structure of the stage, the theme of the program, the rhythm of the actor’s performance, the costumes and props, and the color of the lights. In this way, the style, tone, and picture of the digital image are determined. All in all, the design and production of digital image content for LED screens generally go through several stages of sketch design, material production, content synthesis, film output, and on-site debugging. The stage designer can design some dynamic, static, realistic, and freehand content according to the speed of the program. In the middle of the process, the connection between the digital image changes of the LED screen is weakened, and the transition is natural, so as to present to the audience a visual effect that the actors and the dancers are natural and integrated.
For LED screens with more complex combination styles. Stage designers should also pay attention to the coordination of image content between different screens. For example, the party stage may be equipped with LED screens on the front, mesa, sky curtain, side, steps, etc. Designers need to design and produce video materials according to the different sizes and positions of each screen, and the digital video content will finally be presented on the stage. It also has to undergo continuous debugging and repeated modification on-site. Especially in the alignment with performers, to avoid improper coordination between actors’ performances and digital images, dislocation, and dislocation, to ensure the integrity and unity of image content between all LED screens.
For example, the choreography of the 2022 Spring Festival Gala has been innovatively upgraded, and the spherical ceiling is all equipped with LED screens. The 720-degree curved screen is easier to create an immersive visual effect, with a deep three-dimensional sense and strong impact. The stage floor is also divided into squares, which are convenient for takeoff and landing. With the lighting effects, the scene is full of shock. Among them, at the beginning of the dance drama “Only Blue and Green”, all LED screens were made of a large piece of silk-colored rice paper, allowing the audience to immerse themselves in the performance in all directions. It is then embellished with turquoise on the dancer’s clothes, as the dance performance progresses. On the LED screen, there is a layer of mountain and rock sketches, which are first outlined in ink, and then colored in order to apply cyan and green. Finally, the entire LED main screen, including the curved screen dome, has a long scroll landscape painting “A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains”. Through the space interval of the curved screen, the audience can also feel the trend of highlighting the mountains and mountains. At the end of the show, the actors wore turquoise floor-length dresses, which contrasted with the top blue stone green in the screen “A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains” behind them. This kind of stage effect requires the stage designer to fully control the digital images so that they can visually enhance the ritual sense of the show during the performance. Make the audience emotionally resonate and impress the audience with the cultural fusion of ancient and modern.
Problems and Thinking of LED Screen Application
The inherent technical defects of LED screens
Compared with traditional stage sets, LED screens show strong advantages in many aspects. However, there are also many unfavorable factors hidden at the technical level. In recent years, the rental screen market has developed rapidly, but the market performance is chaotic and the product quality is uneven. The first is the heat dissipation problem. LED itself is a component that converts electrical energy into light energy, and this conversion rate is not 100%. A considerable part of the electrical energy will be converted into heat energy, causing the LED screen to heat up. If the heat dissipation cannot be carried out effectively, the aging process of the LED chip will be accelerated, which will seriously affect the brightness of the screen and the uniformity of light emission, resulting in screen chromatic aberration and delay during digital video playback. The second is stability. In most cases, LED screens are composed of many LEDs in series to form light-emitting templates, and then these light-emitting templates are connected together in parallel. A single LED will flicker when it is triggered or turned off, which may cause a part of the LED screen to fail to emit light. Therefore, the stability of the LED screen needs to be improved and strengthened. Finally, there is the issue of upgrading. At present, the iterative update speed of LED screen equipment is very fast, and the upgrade cycle is very short. In order to pursue better updates and better results, it is necessary to continuously increase investment and increase costs.
The combination of LED screen and stage design art
Many grassroots units do not have enough budget to purchase LED screen equipment, and often choose to temporarily rent LED screens as needed during performances. However, most of the technicians sent by the equipment side do not have the professional quality of stage design, and the control of the brightness, color, and color temperature of the LED screen cannot form good cooperation with stage designers and lighting engineers. Most of the stage designers do not have professional LED screen knowledge, and they cannot effectively lead the technical staff, resulting in a greatly reduced stage visual effect presented by the LED screen. The design and production of multimedia video content for LED screens is also a particularly complex task. On the one hand, it brings a broader creative space to stage designers and gradually changes traditional design habits and concepts. On the other hand, it requires designers to have both work experience in stage design and professional skills in video production. In this regard, the author believes that qualified units can form a “big vision” team, bringing together the personnel of stage design, lighting design, video production, program arrangement, etc., to work together. Guaranteed final stage visuals.
Nowadays, with the continuous upgrading of LED screen manufacturing technology, the pictures presented are becoming more and more high-definition. In order to take advantage of the characteristics of the high-definition screen, the designer will use a specially shot live video as the background dance. For example, in the song and dance program, a large number of scenes of the urban landscape and human life are used, in order to realize the perfect combination of program interpretation and city introduction. However, the live-action films introduced by general cities are too rich in color, and the conversion of live-action shots is too diverse. It is easy to fall into the misunderstanding of “dominating the guest”, which will make the actors’ performances drown in the LED screen, making the audience feel “can’t see” and “don’t know where to look”. Thus, it violates the basic principle of “the design of stage art is to serve the program”. The stage designer designs different styles of LED digital images according to the type and content of the performance and starts with the mood and atmosphere according to the speed of the program. Design some different, dynamic, static, realistic, and freehand content. During the performance, the number of LED digital image changes can be appropriately reduced, and the transition is natural. In this way, the audience feels that the actors themselves and the stage beauty are integrated with each other, and the effective communication between the actors and the audience is realized.
Stage art design and creation originate from life. However, it is based on characters, events, and prescribed situations, and is required to be coordinated with the director’s creative intention. The performance, it plays a role in enriching, supplementing, and strengthening the shaping of characters and deepening the theme. With the continuous progress of social science and technology and the improvement of the audience’s viewing requirements, the traditional stage effect with a single form of expression can no longer meet the needs of the audience. The colorful and various forms of LED screens have gradually met people’s requirements for the design of today’s performances due to their many advantages, and have become a new force in stage design.
Undoubtedly, the emergence of LED screens has brought profound changes to stage art design, leading to and promoting the development of the performance industry. To the stage art design with the wings to achieve unlimited creativity. But it is only a technical means for stage design, not the ultimate goal. Therefore, the use of LED screens must be viewed dialectically, starting from the actual needs of the scale of the performance and the content of the program, and always insisting that the LED screen is for the actor’s performance, not the actor’s performance for the LED screen. The stage art of the LED screen should coexist harmoniously on the stage with various elements such as actors, lights, props, etc., so as to give full play to its own huge technical advantages and form resonance among the audience, actors, and theaters. Create extraordinary stage visuals. Today’s society pays more attention to the stage design industry. Stage designers should strengthen their confidence, keep pace with the times, continue to study theories, and strengthen practice, in order to obtain greater development space and actively promote the prosperity and development of cultural undertakings.