Alpha Kappa Lambda and Iowa State Alumnus Johnny Likens recently won an Emmy for his graphic design/art direction work on the documentary “Blood Road.”
Blood Road follows the journey of ultra-endurance mountain bike athlete Rebecca Rusch and her Vietnamese riding partner, Huyen Nguyen, as they pedal 1,200 miles along the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail through the dense jungles of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Their goal: to reach the crash site and final resting place of Rebecca’s father, a U.S. Air Force pilot shot down over Laos some 40 years earlier.
During this poignant voyage of self discovery, the women push their bodies to the limit while learning more about the historic ‘Blood Road’ they’re pedaling and how the Vietnam War shaped their lives in different ways.
Likens describing the video above: A collection of shots from the feature-length documentary film Blood Road. In addition to creating the opening graphic sequence for the film, I was responsible for creating all the information graphics, custom map and terrain visuals, and historical archive footage treatments. Knowing that the design and animation sequences were going to be a crucial storytelling component throughout the film, I worked extensively with the director, Nicholas Schrunk, from the very early stages of the project to ensure the graphics successfully communicated the story points to our audience.
