Three students, seated, watching a curved screen displaying a collage of ephemera from DC's Home Rule movement
 

DC & King: An Interwoven History

For the newly renovated Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C., Bluecadet produced a series of immersive short films exploring Dr. King’s connections with DC’s local civil rights movements and figures. The DC & King film series would be installed on a 10-foot-tall curved screen, creating an immersive experience for the Library’s wide audience of students, educators, historians, and citizens of the district. The series comprises three films, which explore King’s connections to Nannie Helen Burroughs, Howard University, and DC’s Home Rule Movement, respectively. These films, along with a thematic interstitial sequence, draw viewers in to immerse them in a history that is closer to home – both physically and chronologically – than is often recognized.

Role – Lead Motion Designer; Audio & Music Editor
Narrative & Creative Direction – Lillian Preston
Content Development – Liz Russell
Art Direction & Design – Alyssa Hamilton
Additional Motion Design & Edit – Siji Chen, Adam Rosenbloom

A gif showing a cut-out photo of Nannie Helen Burroughs, amidst a collage of ephemera from her life.

King & Nannie Helen Burroughs

This vignette explores the life of Dr. King’s friend and mentor, Nannie Helen Burroughs, an early 20th century educator and organizer, who spoke out for women’s rights, racial justice, and the role of women in the baptist church.

A montage of images from the Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom, resolving to video of King speaking at the pilgrimage, framed by the headline "Give Us The Ballot"
A gif showing the words "self-sufficiency", "responsibility", and "citizenship", set against a collage of photos and ephemera from the civil rights movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

King & Home Rule

This vignette tells the story of DC’s Home Rule movement, an ongoing struggle for self-governance in the district, for which Dr. King helped ignite passion and national attention at a critical moment.

An illustration from "Captive Capital", showing a row of houses, being detained behind a row of institutional columns, as the words "Life Inside a Monument" appear
A collage of images sequences onto screen from King's visit to DC
A transition between two thematic collages, "Justice" and "Freedom"

Attract Sequence

An ambient sequence that plays between each vignette, exploring common themes between Dr. King’s movements and DC’s local struggles.

The curved screen, seen from across the gallery, showing the words "DC & King"