ujima:  Call of the

motherland

An afrofuturistic protopian story with AI generated visuals.

  • Use Midjourney to create images for a protopian narrative in a fantastic sub-genre for the New Sensorialist audience. Use the storyboard to pitch an interactive experience to this audience.

  • Photo Editor | Art Director | Copywriter | AI Image Prompter

  • Art Directors
    Karina Cruz
    Anna-Sophie Kosna
    Beatrice Rossi

    Tutors
    Pablo Alfieri | Playful
    Andres Hispano
    Bernard Arce
    Lucia Colombo

The Narrative

Ujima: Call of the Motherland is a story about a Black enslaved woman who grew in an oppressive regime and fulfills a prophecy when she travels to her Motherland. Once she gets to the Motherland, she finds joy in creativity, giving back to the environment, and in sharing her gifts with others. Throughout her journey she learns to adapt to a women-led communal afrofuturistic world and finds herself fully embracing her newfound freedom.

The Storyboard

  • Establishing | Aerial Shot
    An endless 2D sketched city landscape is suffocated by smog. There are no plants. It is a sad, dark industrial town.

  • Medium Shot | Over the Shoulder
    A man, on his death bed, is telling a young Njoki the story of The Prophecy; we only see his back. A djembe is spotted in the background. Young Njoki is amazed at the story but is also sad to see her dad dying in front of her eyes. She is processing it all.

  • Extreme Wide Shot | High Angle
    Years later, Njoki has a dream of herself walking down her dreary city, a colorful bird appears flying overhead. She remembers The Prophecy and recognizes it as an omen.

  • Extreme Wide Shot | Overhead Angle
    The next day, we cut to giant area of the city full of giant TV screens and ads. Njoki realizes that this world will never feel like a home to her as she feels further alienated.

  • Medium Shot | Knee Level
    In her sparse, cold concrete room we focus on the djembe Njoki’s father left behind for her. She begins playing the drum as she meditates on either leaving the Old World she knows or taking a leap of faith and go to Ujima. She finds herself making beats she’s never been formally taught.

  • Close Up Shot | Eye Level
    Njoki closes her eyes as she drums, she falls into a trance and the black and white world begins to be filled in color. We notice the tagged choker that slaves are forced to wear in this close-up.Description goes here

  • Close Up Shot | Eye Level
    The drumming reaches a crescendo. When the drumming stops, Njoki opens her eyes and in the same instant, the scene turns full color and changes to 3D. Njoki realizes that she has been transported through music to the Motherland she heard about.

  • Wide Shot | Eye Level
    The camera pans to show Njoki’s view. She is standing in front of an entrance gate to Ujima and prepares to enter to see for the first time her real Motherland.

  • Wide Shot | Eye Level
    After having gone through the gate, Njoki finally finds herself in front of a solarpunk village in the middle of a luscious rainforest, she sees many organic houses that integrate perfectly with the natural surroundings.

  • Medium Shot | Low Angle
    Njoki’s new life in Ujima is not always easy, indeed she is living a conflict with the new reality: she was born in an oppressive world that was asking her to obey and not to think, so she is not used to take decisions that shape her life. She finds consolation and reassurance from one of the women of Ujima’s community.

  • Wide Shot | Ground Level
    After having spent some months in Ujima, Njoki, as a member of the community, takes part to the summer solstice celebration, which involves some ritual dances in the forest.

  • Close-up Shot | Shoulder Level
    During the summer solstice celebration, Njoki proudly realises that she is finally free and that she is back home, where she belongs.

The Playlist

The Concept

Ujima is Swahili for collective work and responsibility and is one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa. It is a principle that highlights community and collective work which is why we named the world in our narrative after it. The focus on celebrating and embracing culture, as well as the importance of social cohesion falls in line with Afrofuturistic thoughts and are values of our target audience: New Sensorialists.

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