Crystal clear

For China, the opening and closing Olympic ceremonies were no doubt one of the most highlighted events in the country's recent history.

For Crystal Digital Technology, a Chinese computer graphics company responsible for designing virtual graphics in the ceremonies, the events were even more important.

As the Beijing-based graphic design service supplier for the 2008 Olympic Games, Crystal Digital's job was to produce the videos needed during the ceremonies and make sure they were well presented - whether they were projected on the 145.5-meter-long LED scroll or on the huge screen that was around the top of the Bird's Nest.

"Being able to participate in the Beijing Olympic Games was a milestone for our development," says Lu Zhenggang, president of Crystal Digital. "It gives us a great opportunity to compete and work with the world's top enterprises."

Established in 1995 as a small computer graphics workroom, Crystal Digital didn't follow the same path of the world's most successful computer graphics studios such as Pixar. The company's fate changed in 2000 when it finished a project for the Chinese delegation's bid for the 2008 Olympic Games, which led to the company's contribution to the world's most prestigious sporting event.

"We had no idea about sponsoring the Chinese delegation in 2000," says Lu. "One day, a manager from the team told us that they have some problems with their budgets and asked if we were willing to consider becoming a sponsor for them."

At that time, Crystal Digital was only a small company with about 55 employees and the cost of sponsoring the Chinese delegation bid accounted for about one third of the company's annual income.

But Lu says it did not take long before he decided to sponsor the team. "The decision was a high risk at that time as no one knew what we would get from the sponsorship," says Lu. "But as a small company with a chance to work for the Olympic Games, we had nothing to lose."

After China won the right to stage the 2008 Olympic Games, Crystal Digital became well known for the excellent job it did to aid China's efforts to win the Games. That also helped the company in 2006 to become the graphic design service supplier for the 2008 Olympic Games.

However, its status as graphic design service supplier did not guarantee Crystal Digital would get an assignment for the opening and closing ceremonies. Bent on presenting a perfect show to the world, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) opened bids for the ceremonies and invited many of the world's best graphic designers to join the bidding.

"At first we thought as long as we become the service supplier, we could naturally have the deal in providing the graphic design service in the opening and closing ceremonies," says Lu. "But BOCOG's decision forced us to compete again with the world's top graphic designers."

Compared with graphic design studios in Hollywood, Digital Crystal did not have much prestige.

"The Olympic ceremonies were not a movie, so the competition had us all at the same level" says Lu. "But we were able to win due to our previous work in China's bid for the Games and for our large company scale."

Unlike most computer graphics workrooms that only have a few dozen people, Crystal Digital now has over 2,000 employees. The large scale has guaranteed that the Olympics job would not disrupt the company's daily work.

"Many other workrooms were not able to accept other projects if they won the bidding for the Olympic Games, so they often charged extra," says Lu. "That made us unique and helped us win."

"After the Olympic Games, we plan to be more active in expanding our business in the international market," says Lu. "Maybe we will also participate in the London Olympic Games in 2012."

(China Daily 09/08/2008 page6)