when we did the workshop with Julia, we had a go at doing our own stitching, we did this in order to create a GIF as the final outcome. I did this by taking a photo of my piece every time I added a new stich. This is because taking multiple photos will make it look like the image is moving when the images are played quickly one after the other.

using photoshop to create my GIF;

I uploaded all my 17 images and copied them over each layer.

when I finished uploading them all I selected ‘window’ and then dropped down to ‘timeline’ in order to start creating my GIF.

I then created frames from all the images and the selected them all and made them play 0.2 seconds after another.

final gif;

using many photos is very useful for making animations as the more images the more the image is ‘moving’ and makes it look more lively.

Billie Zangewa

Billie Zangewa, born in Malawi 1973, now based in South Africa, is an artist who is known for her intricate needlework and using silk to create collages of domestic environments and urban landscapes, aiming to capture moments of every day life that most of us pay little attention to. The artist has claimed that she is drawn to this medium of textiles as the sensory experience of touch creates a bridge between the viewer and the external world. In addition, Zangewa states that she creates artwork through the medium of textiles as “Fabric, this thing we all have a daily relationship with, is often dismissed by the world as mundane and unimportant, much like the daily, mundane work that women do to keep a home”. With this, the artist’s aim is to foreground the lives of black women in a patriarchal society that predominantly marginalises them. Calling this ‘daily feminism’, Zangewa attempts to present this message through her personal experience in this oppressed position and places herself as the protagonist in most of her pieces.

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Analysis

This collage created by Billie Zangewa, displays what appears to be a scene of a mother walking her child to school. This is in fact a recreation of Zangewa herself and her son, as she walks him to school through a what seems like a rural setting. Here leading lines are created through the tree trunks, leaves and stems of plants, which all appear to be curving around and towards the focal point of the image, Zangewa and her son, leading the viewer’s eyes to move from the edges of the piece inwards. The busiest area of this piece is the right hand side of the embroidery, as it contains Zangewa and her son amongst a densely packed area of plants and nature, with the upper left side of the piece showing empty space. This could be a way of showing the movement of the mother and son, with the weighted right side of the embroidery urging the viewers eye to keep moving along and ahead, much like a mother might have to do with a child. Due to Zangewa”s use of the material silk in her work, the texture of a piece like this appears to be be smooth and almost close to two dimensional, despite the intricate layering of colours and tones needed to create this image.

Zangewa’s choice to name this piece ‘Soldier of love’ may be a way for the artist to express how in society taking care of children is seen as an essential duty, in which a woman can fulfil, to her husband and family. This could cause the same effect of a soldier heading into war, as she is protecting and serving something she loves but is bound by societal restraints that do not allow her to stray from these duties occasionally. Zangewa uses her embroidery talents to escape oppression that she faces as a black women, by the presentation of self love, stating that ‘the ultimate act of resistance is self-love’. The method of hand stitching, sewing and embroidering on the material of dupion silk, acts as another representation for the female experience in her work as Zangewa states. This could be due to the soft, gentile and elegant properties the fabric possesses, which are often linked with the idea of femininity.

A story board is a series of images that display a storyline in a linear sequence of events. These are used for various purposes such as planning for films and animations, making sure people are aware of what shots to create when filming. Although they are useful in giving you an idea of what scenes to film, this doesn’t mean that it must be followed strictly, as it is there as a guide more than a rule book, allowing for creative freedom in producing the film.

For the first scene of our film we are planning to film a same-sex couple sitting on the pews in church apart from each other, sharing glances. This will hopefully display how some are cautious of revealing part of their identity in fear of losing another part of it, such as their religious identity. We will capture a few different angles and shots, such as close ups of the two reading the Bible and them looking at each other, as well as long shots of them sitting apart in the pews, that establish the religious setting.

For the following scene we are going to combine two settings, flashing between the two after editing. One of these two settings will contain one scene of protest against people of the LGBTQ+ community, showing signs that have religious quotes that condemn this. This will be found footage of such protests, giving the film a more authentic feel to it, bringing the fear members of the LGBTQ+ community endure to light. In contrast with this, we will also include a dream sequence scene, in which the couple are seen running through a field, representing what they wish could happen if they didn’t feel bound by religious constraints. These two scenes will mostly be composed of long shots, showing a clear juxtaposition in setting and mood, with possibly a few close ups of aspects such as signs in the protest scene.

The next scene will showcase the couple praying together after moving closer to each other in the church. This will start to demonstrate our message we are aiming to communicate through our film, that these two communities can exist peacefully if we are open and accepting. The way in which this is portrayed is through the two helping each other with their faith. We will film this by taking close ups and medium shots of them reading the bible together and long to mid shots of them looking at the cross.

This will be followed by a scene of the two standing up and looking at each other, with the aim of conveying a sense of acceptance of themselves and their identity, with also a sense of pride in their faith. This will also be filmed through medium shots and close ups.

Finally, we will conclude our film with the end scene of the passage in the Bible that states “Love thy neighbour”, linking to the title of the film. This is as this passage acts as an umbrella term for the Christian faith that encourages acceptance, love and a sense of community that should be prioritised over any personal prejudice. This will be filmed with one simple close up.