Discovery HD Theater thrills Baraka, Sunrise Earth fans with Lightscapes, Episode 1 June 21
Just when you thought we were all out of experiential TV, Discovery HD Theater has added Lightscapes, Episode One to its schedule. Claiming inspiration from Baraka and Sunrise Earth (seriously Discovery, where's that new season? Are we going to have to wake up early and go outside to see the sun come up? Don't make us do it.) it is apparently the first network TV show consisting mostly of timelapse photography shot on a Canon 5D Mark II. The gallery also shows a RED camera busy capturing 4K footage of Japanese media artist Akira Hasegawa's work, projecting large abstract images onto the 2000-year old Grand Ise Shrine. Ok, so it's not exactly 24, but it is the kind of thing we'll watch because it's in HD, so check the trailer after the break and set your DVR for June 21, 7:30 a.m.
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Discovery's HD Theater Premieres LIGHTSCAPES, Episode One Opens the Doors of Sacred Japan to American Audiences in a Whole New Light
- "Lightscapes Episode 1: Grand Ise Shrine" Premieres Monday, June 21st at 7:30am ET/PT -
(Silver Spring, Md.) - Discovery's HD Theater announced today the debut of its new experiential TV program, LIGHTSCAPES. The premiere episode reveals in an entirely new light the 2000 year-old Grand Ise Shrine, Japan's most sacred of all Shinto sites.
LIGHTSCAPES features the work of renowned Japanese media artist, Akira Hasegawa, and his unique "D- K" (Digitial-Kakejiku) art form that projects large-scale, abstract-painting-like images onto famous architectural structures and natural landscapes to create familiar yet entirely new visual experiences. Director and co-creator Peter H. Chang says, "Lightscapes is a unique television experience that seeks to capture not only the spirit of a place, but also the elemental intersection of humans and nature, art and technology, architecture and cinematography. In this first episode, Akira Hasegawa shines his transformative light on a mystical shrine to create a sublimely kaleidoscopic and meditative 'lightscape.'"
The episode captures the re-opening and re-dedication ceremonies of Grand Ise Shrine's Uji Bridge on "Bunka no hi" - the Japanese national holiday that celebrates culture and the arts - and culminates with thousands of individuals crossing the bridge with candlelit red lanterns. Ise Shrine honored Hasegawa for dedicating Uji Bridge with the "Spirit of Light." "The premiere of Lightscapes, showing American audiences the sacred beauty of Ise Shrine, feels to me like opening the doors of a closed country to the world, once again," says Hasegawa.
"This Lightscapes episode not only brings a sacred Japanese landmark and renowned Japanese artist to American audiences," says Executive Producer and co-creator Christopher Frey. "It also crosses media and technology to create an entirely new television experience." Filmed in 4K HD with both real- time and time-lapse cinematography, LIGHTSCAPES draws inspiration from the highly acclaimed feature film, BARAKA, and the critically acclaimed HD Theater series, SUNRISE EARTH. "Lightscapes is a program that exemplifies the mission of HD Theater to provide visually compelling images to our viewers in the highest quality 1080i high definition technology available," said Robert S. Scanlon, VP Production and Development, HD Theater & Turbo Media, Discovery Communications, Inc.
