Elena Bytyqi

BA (Hons) Media Production

Get in touch with Elena
The lead image presents a still from the documentary. I have chosen to use this as the lead image as it perfectly captures the visual theme of the documentary. Additionally, it is the final section between the subject telling her story of abuse and contrasting with the next section of the documentary, which gives a 'happy ending' to the story as the subject it finally content.

My name is Elena Bytyqi, a media production graduate. I have always enjoyed creating documentaries in a traditional sense. By this, I mean interviewing your subject face to face, aswell as working with a large crew. I also enjoy creating mix media collages for my online portfolio and social media pages which involve the use of embroidery, Photoshop, old book pages and more.

However creating a documentary within lockdown restrictions has proven to be an obstacle, though it also gave me the opportunity to merge these two art forms together and use it to my advantage, creating a documentary purely with handmade collages and animation to support the interview, which took place over Zoom.

My final media project, 'Hope' is a short, experimental documentary which explores the personal story of domestic abuse. This documentary was a solo project and it gave me the opportunity to showcase my skills and essentially pushed me to become much more creative and I feel that 'Hope' really displays the subjects story in an intimate way.

This particular graphic shows a still from the opening of the documentary in which the subject explains how she met her abuser. The graphic includes many manipulated photographs for confidential reasons, though it indicates the history and the relationship the subject had.
This collage presents a still from a section of the documentary in which the subject talks about intimacy with their abuser. As it is a sensitive section of the documentary there were many ways to present the topic of 'intimacy' or 'sex' visually. With the embroidered division of the image of a bed, it refers to the topic of intimacy and the additional images surrounding it. The visuals are also supported with pull quotes from the documentary, which are also seen through out the film.
This still is from the marriage section of the documentary. Personally this was my favourite to create it was the first graphic I worked on and it also supports the narrative well. Additionally, as the subject is a Kosovar female, I was able to empathise and understand this part fo the story fully, as I too have a Kosovan/Albanian heritage. This is also referenced in the small watercolour painting I included on the bottom right hand side which shows three women in 'dimije'; traditional Albanian wedding attire.
This still is taken from the 'pregnancy' section. This was slightly different to the other graphics created as it focused much more on the narrative, and hollowed photograph with the watercolour loop served as a 'background'. Furthermore, this creative decision was made as the subject clearly showed emotion verbally in how her pregnancy and her relationship with her abuser took a toll on her self worth.
This still is a closeup from the section in which the subject tells the audience that she moved to America. I have included this particular part of the still as the polaroid shows the city and the use of the metro card, which implies to the audience that the subject is now in New York. Also the postal stamp is from Kosovo. These details can give the audience a visual idea of the distance between her and her abuser without mentioning locations explicitly.
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Elena Bytyqi

BA (Hons) Media Production

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https://filmedbyelena.wixsite.com/website
https://vimeo.com/user90561433

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Elena Bytyqi Lead Image

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