At work at Helicon Studio

　　China's largest television broadcaster begins its makeover with an injection of youth

　　By Kevin Holden

　　If you are a fairly regular television watcher and frequent any of the China Central Television (CCTV) channels (not hard to do, considering that there are fifteen of them), you may have seen an unusual promo for the CCTV program Tuesday Record Street. A gray, monochromatic city block is invaded by wildly colorful audio speakers blasting music as they spread across the scene like a self-replicating urban artwork. The brainchild of Zhu Tianyi's Helicon Studio, the promo is merely one example of how CCTV is evolving from its origins as a one-way broadcaster of black and white messages to the masses into a vibrant and interactive media giant.

　　CCTV, long run like a massive state projector to a captive Chinese audience, is focusing on becoming a more cosmopolitan collaborator in the kaleidoscope of images that are being bounced around the globe via satellite and the Internet. To help power its new-century transformation, the titanic but aging CCTV has begun recruiting young designers and directors who have grown up with MTV, satellite television and the Web. Earlier this year, to mark the 85th anniversary of the Chinese youth-led May Fourth Movement, the broadcaster commissioned a young group of artists-turned-animators to create an opening promo for the celebration. Zhu, one of China's best young animation producers, says his small studio worked around the clock to crank out a short promo that would turn heads across the country.

　　The result, rather than imitating the state by blowing up model youths or workers into larger-than-life heroes, takes a creative twist. Zhu and the co-creators of the May Fourth promo filmed fellow art school graduates - such as MTV artist Zhang Yan and website designer Yan Long - miniaturized them, and transformed them into animated actors to celebrate the spirit of "Everlasting Youth."

　　"Like Chinese society and culture, CCTV is becoming more diverse and multi-hued, and we're really happy to contribute to that trend," Zhu says. Zhu adds that his Beijing-based animation outfit got its start by producing cartoon-like film shorts and promos for provincial stations that were casting about for a new look in southwestern Guangxi and eastern Anhui.

　　Zhu, who studied sculpture, painting and design in Beijing before setting up Helicon with two former classmates, says his studio got its break when an animation for a Guangxi program called Folk Songs Show caught the attention of CCTV producers. The promo features two kids who jump from a zooming red airplane and sing as they parachute through the clouds.