Cia Surto started in a theater school when a few friends gathered to put up some plays for the course tasks, which led to after graduation plays such as Minha Morte. They wanted to build something that would bring all kinds of emotions on spectators and brings up the most energic reactions.
To put some of that into their logo, the weirdness of inverted contrast type was put into action, combined with some elements for further applications.
To put some of that into their logo, the weirdness of inverted contrast type was put into action, combined with some elements for further applications.
Right after the company`s logo, my first task was to make a logotype and art direction for the communication of their first play out of school, Minha Morte (My Death).
Minha Morte is about human desires, and relationships. It provokes a great deal of self examination on the viewers using as a central character, Jonas, a young man facing great changes that come with adult life. His issues involving family, work and sexuality are very relatable, when it talks about things as prejudice, authority, selfishness and many other human fragilities.
The idea behind the logotype was to give subtle visual clues about the estate of great pressure, confusion, and disorientation that the main character faces and the audience experiences throughout the whole play.
The mirrored type plays with elements of the script which don`t make it very clear if the main character achieved his suicide, or if he is delusional after its atempt, and also, and maybe more important, it is about the many situations when the viewers can see themselves in the places of any of the characters.
Before we had the photoshoots done, we started making visual pieces all based on the element of a light bulb. It is a very strong presence on the work, as during the play the light is obscure, never revealing much of the whole ambience, contributing a lot to the tension that the script brings up. This first step led to the use of the element of light as it happens during the play also in the photos.
The photoshoot was based on a main picture with all characters together, which was meant to compose the poster and most communication materials. Single photos of the characters were made to present them and their respective actors, and many others, all of them using an all around penumbra, which came from the first concept.
photos and photo manipulation: Luis Filipe Fontes
