2023 - 24

ART DIRECTION

COLLABORATORS: TALLER 57
PRE-PRODUCTION PHOTOS COURTESY OF
GONZALO LÓPEZ-GALLEGO.

2023 - 24

ART DIRECTION

COLLABORATORS: TALLER 57
PRE-PRODUCTION PHOTOS COURTESY OF
GONZALO LÓPEZ-GALLEGO.

After several years away from the film industry, where I contributed to the design, opening credits, and promotional efforts for Juan Antonio Bayona's debut, El Orfanato, I’m thrilled to share my art direction for the film "The Shadow of the Shark" (La Sombra del Tiburón). Directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego, a recent Best Director winner at FANTASPORTO.


The film, featuring a hauntingly evocative soundtrack by Remate — , enhancing its narrative depth, much like his previous work on "American Star" with López-Gallego and Ian McShane. It continues to draw audiences at film festivals globally. The soundtrack masterfully enhances the film's atmosphere, adding a layer of depth that complements its rich narrative.

This project also led me to collaborate with "Taller 57" in Barcelona, where we crafted a special edition silkscreen poster. This process was a deliberate nod to the tactile, hands-on traditions of art—a counterbalance to the prevailing digital methods and a personal reconnection to the roots of artistic craftsmanship.


2023 - 24

ART DIRECTION

COLLABORATORS: TALLER 57
PRE-PRODUCTION PHOTOS COURTESY OF
GONZALO LÓPEZ-GALLEGO.

2023 - 24

ART DIRECTION

COLLABORATORS: TALLER 57
PRE-PRODUCTION PHOTOS COURTESY OF
GONZALO LÓPEZ-GALLEGO.

After several years away from the film industry, where I contributed to the design, opening credits, and promotional efforts for Juan Antonio Bayona's debut, El Orfanato, I’m thrilled to share my art direction for the film "The Shadow of the Shark" (La Sombra del Tiburón). Directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego, a recent Best Director winner at FANTASPORTO.


The film, featuring a hauntingly evocative soundtrack by Remate — , enhancing its narrative depth, much like his previous work on "American Star" with López-Gallego and Ian McShane. It continues to draw audiences at film festivals globally. The soundtrack masterfully enhances the film's atmosphere, adding a layer of depth that complements its rich narrative.

This project also led me to collaborate with "Taller 57" in Barcelona, where we crafted a special edition silkscreen poster. This process was a deliberate nod to the tactile, hands-on traditions of art—a counterbalance to the prevailing digital methods and a personal reconnection to the roots of artistic craftsmanship.


— For the central image, I crafted a new portrait of Alma, portrayed by Alba Galocha, by merging multiple director-taken photographs into a single, dreamy composition.

— The design intricately blends multiple portraits of Alma, the protagonist portrayed by Alba Galocha, into a single, dreamy image. These photographs, taken by the director, merge to form a mesmerizing image that captures the complexity of the character’s journey.

By using photography in this way and weaving together different portraits into one, I created a single, dreamy composition that echoes the protagonist’s journey in this captivating, psychologically challenging movie.

This approach sounded to us like a powerful visual vehicle for the complexity of the character — giving away clues about her experience in a very subtle way. Growth, fragmentation, or transformation were concepts I had in mind when producing the image.

© ORLANDO F. RUIZ iS a CREATIVE DIRECTOR LIVING IN BEAUTIFUL AND ☀︎ BARCELONA 2024 aLL RIGHTS RESERVED

© ORLANDO F. RUIZ iS a CREATIVE DIRECTOR LIVING IN BEAUTIFUL AND ☀︎ BARCELONA 2024 aLL RIGHTS RESERVED