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Emery C. Martin (Film/Video 06)

Emery C. Martin and Kerstin L. Hovland (Experimental Animation 12) as Electronic Countermeasures came back together with their friends, Foo Fighters, to bring rock back to the world in light of the global pandemic with a show designed to be about the experience of being there together. Reprising their roles as video designers for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, they created all the visual looks for the current 26th Anniversary Tour that opened up Madison Square Garden, The Forum, and many other venues across the U.S. to their first full-capacity crowds. Martin and Hovland’s unique aesthetic fusion of traditional animation techniques, cutting-edge real-time computer graphics, and live action was able to bring this show and its dynamic multi-camera rig to life for devoted fans across North America. Throughout the show, many of these visual looks took multiple cameras and fused them into a single electrifying image that required the duo to expand their role into live camera direction for the first time. Never shying away from difficult processes and bespoke creations, they brought in longtime collaborator Melody Yenn (Experimental Animation 14) for her hand-drawn prowess to create looping animations that were merged with the live camera feeds to slice and layer up the band into undulating watery and globular compositions. Pushing the envelope further, they also created a quartet of physical optical effect boxes that bounced, broke, sliced, and vibrated the camera feeds with miniature mirror rigs and tiny cameras to insert purely analog moments into the show; all of which were designed and fabricated in house with additional assembly help by the dexterous Yenn. The resulting show is a powerful, raw, and emotional visual display that seamlessly melds with the sonic tour de force that is Foo Fighters. There will be rock!

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