Despite years of designing credits and posters for films, As Mãos Dela was the first production for which I was actually paid for my services. I suppose I can chalk this up to the fact that most of the productions on which I have worked have been student films without much budget to go around. Either way, happy to be here.

As Mãos Dela is a Portuguese drama film written by Esteban HoYos García and directed by Fuad Halwani. The story follows a young woman caught in the confines of her father’s illness and trying desperately to forge her own identity.

The narrative is centralised around the use of a theremin, an electric instrument that is played without physical contact. Additionally, the film features archival footage from a famous Portuguese theremin player whose name I have since forgotten.

While designing the credits and poster for the film, the key element was for me to ensure that it matched strongly with the vintage elements predicated by the archival footage. As such, I incorporated a serif font into the credits of the film and also designed them much in the same way that older film credits were designed — by using extended ellipses between the roles of crew members and their names.

To add to the vintage essence, I overlayed a grain on the credits and made them jitter around slightly to reflect old-school film.