The CalArts Pool Fisheye Snapshot

Emery Martin (Film/Video 06)

Martin and Kerstin L. Hovland (Experimental Animation 12) aka Electronic Countermeasures were out in the desert with Danny Elfman to screen produce, animate, direct, and program the visuals for his once-in-a-lifetime performance at Coachella 2022. The show was initially slated for 2020 with Martin and Hovland animating, directing, and designing two songs: “Spiderman” as a live-action suite highlighting the orchestral performers with a Fischinger/Caligari sensibility and the Oingo Boingo classic “Just Another Day,” as a chaotic paper stop-motion descent into suburban hellscapes and climate change with long time collaborator Melody Yenn (Experimental Animation 14). However, a global pandemic struck right as principal photography was finishing off and the show was postponed. Despite everyone’s hopes that we’d be back in the fall, the show was shelved for two years. Danny continued work on his new album Big Mess and to produce music videos for the new songs. When Danny and his team made the decision to join the Coachella lineup in 2022, the concept for the show had evolved into a concert that showcased the three faces of Elfman – Film Scoring, Oingo Boingo, and Big Mess. However, to transform the mix of video assets that the production found themselves with (that included film clips, screen content made in 2020, brand new music videos, and music videos from the ‘90s, into a cohesive show), they needed additional help. Danny turned to Emery and Kerstin to figure out how to make sense of this big mess and elevate it into a coherent and visually arresting show that merged conventional content with live camera effects. The show emerged as the sleeper not to be missed hit for Coachella 2022 and marked a triumphant return for Hovland and Martin to Coachella.