Set in the sprawling suburbs of Valencia, The Children Of Las Brisas is a documentary that captures the struggle and transformation of a group of young musicians striving for a better life through classical music. The documentary follows three Venezuelan children from the impoverished Las Brisas neighborhood, in their quest to become professional musicians within the ranks of "El Sistema" music program.
ORIGINAL KEY ART
While the filmmakers supplied us with original art work, it was decided that their key art would not work from a marketing standpoint. There are many assets that need to be made to help promote the film on various streaming services. A few of these are quite small. The concern was that the elements would be lost to the viewer thus the key art messaging would be lost. I was assigned to design original key art for the film.
SKETCHES and DESIGNS
After reading the creative brief, I set to work on creating new art. I began sketching ideas trying the violin as a shape. Thinking of ways to incorporate images of the children and ways to use the Venezuelan flag and its colors.
I began the design process using the children's images and using the colors of the Venezuelan flag. For the concept on the left, I wanted it to feel like a music tour poster. I used the bold colors of the Venezuelan flag and placed the high contrast images of the children in the rectangle shapes. The design on the right showcases Wuilly. With his hands raised in victory during a demonstration, I designed this key art using the risograph technique. The paint strokes in the background represent the Venezuelan flag while the stars in the flag frame Wuilly.
My next concepts focused on the violin. For the design on the left, I used heavy shadows with the stars of the Venezuelan flag representing the children in the film. The bow and scroll of the violin help draw the focus to the film title. The design on the right showcases the violin in the Venezuelan colors while a ribbon of music notes floating up represents the children's hope of being lifted out of poverty. In the background sits faint lines of blank music paper.
FINAL KEY ART
The filmmakers were happy with the new art work, however they had one revision. They asked for the violin to appear broken to represent the conflict and tension in the film. The above design is the final key art used to help market the film.