Downtown Long Beach communications agency Intertrend is back with another Lunar New Year display, this time taking over the Edison Theatre’s façade with a special animation of “00X,” a charming secret agent take on the Chinese Ox zodiac sign.
To bring the animation to life, Intertrend installed LED screens encompassing the theater’s tall arch windows where visitors can watch “00X” wish locals a Happy Lunar New Year. While we could explain to you what the animation looks like, we thought it better to show you.
“00X” was given dimension by 3D artist Oscar A. Campos and is modeled after secret agent 007, or James Bond, fitted with a smart tuxedo and all the dashing, suave energy the iconic spy-series hero is known for. Oh, and all the hair. We’re betting 00X’s do is modeled as a cross between the blond locks of Daniel Craigs’s Bond and the side swept style of Timothy Dalton.
“When the creative team immediately burst out with laughter [about the 00X concept] we all knew we had a winner,” Intertrend’s creative director Rosanne Kang Jovanovski wrote in a Medium article about the display.
As a nod to the culture of the annual celebration, Intertrend chose to use Chinese instruments in crafting the accompanying music. This was accomplished by composer Nathan Chan, Intertrend’s associate director of creative services, Aaron Yang and director of production, Joyce Lu.
Intertrend has celebrated the Lunar New Year with annual, often interactive displays since 2016, with the Year of the Monkey that featured over 2,200 take-home red envelopes locals could peel off the windows of Intertrend’s headquarters, revealing a portrait of a monkey by world-acclaimed artist James Jean. Since then, Intertrend has celebrated the year of the rooster (2017) the dog (2018), pig (2019) the rat (2020) and now, the ox.
Follow the paw prints to find this Year of the Rat installation in Downtown Long Beach
All of Intertrend’s preceding displays have been featured at the agency’s Downtown headquarters, also known as the historic Psychic Temple of the Holy Kiss building. This year though, Edison Theatre received the Lunar New Year treatment, in part because of the theater’s large marquee, which is now adorned with a gleaming, crackling fireworks graphic celebrating the international festival.
The Lunar New Year marks the beginning of the year on the traditional Chinese calendar, but the Chinese aren’t the only ones who observe the 15-day holiday, among other people celebrating the day include those who live in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.