Courageous Conversations, "America Erased"
This article originally appeared in SHOOT, February 27, 2024.
In the last few years, many states have passed legislation banning specific books, and critical parts of American history-erasing the stories and contributions of marginalized people in our country. Just recently, Florida banned the use of state and federal funds on DEI programs at state universities. And it doesn’t appear like it will stop there.
So Courageous Conversations and agency Wieden+Kennedy New York teamed on a campaign based on the belief that all students deserve to have an education that represents our true history. The “America Erased” campaign was designed to show the dangerous repercussions of erasing stories that represent American values. A cornerstone of the campaign is this powerful film directed by Omar Jones via Riff Raff Films.
The film shows key pieces of history wiped away from photos and archival footage-with luminary figures like Dr. Martin Luther King banished from the classroom and Ruby Bridges eliminated from textbooks.
Preymaker created the VFX which focused on erasure of iconic moments, while ensuring everything had the same artifacts, aging and patina via very sensitive compositing and integrating. The work was launched when the headlines every week were about a new form of censorship being proposed or passed.