They Fight With Cameras — Film Art Direction

Client

Daedalus Productions

Role

Campaign Art Director

Year

2025

Scope

Campaign Identity & Rollout

The Challenge

A documentary that needed a visual language as unflinching as its subjects.

They Fight With Cameras tells the story of Walter Rosenblum — a decorated U.S. Army Signal Corps combat cameraman who documented WWII from D-Day at Omaha Beach to the liberation of Dachau. Narrated by Liev Schreiber, the film combines his photographs, never-before-seen motion picture footage, and letters written to his wife during wartime. It gives credit to those who risked their lives to register what was happening — the uncredited heroes behind the lens of history.

Directed by Nina Rosenblum and Daniel Allentuck, edited by Russell Greene, and with an original score by Marcus Loeber, the film had its own distinct art direction. It is a privilege to be involved in a project of this gravity — and to be part of a team carrying a story that matters so urgently now. My role as Campaign Art Director was to build a campaign identity that served the film without competing with it — giving it a public presence, a visual architecture, and a bridge between the audience and the screen experience.

The Approach

Making the archive feel present.

The visual system began with the archival material itself: Rosenblum's photographs, newly surfaced motion-picture footage, and wartime letters. Rather than treating the archive as something distant or nostalgic, we built an identity that makes it feel immediate — stark black-and-white photography, precise editorial framing, and a restrained colour palette.

Futura, Paul Renner's 1927 modernist typeface, gave the campaign a bridge between eras: contemporary to the world the film revisits, yet still active in the visual language of today. That tension helped the campaign speak to new generations without softening the gravity of the material. Every decision followed the same principle: the photographers are the heroes, not the design.

"Joniel understood from the beginning what this film needed — a presence that honours the subject without overpowering it. The result speaks for itself."

— Nina Rosenblum, Producer and Director, Daedalus Productions Inc.

Daedalus Identity

An identity long waiting to match its legacy.

Daedalus Productions already carried a long filmography and an award-winning body of work. The new mark gives that history a sharper public face: a winged form drawn from the myth of Daedalus, shaped with the rhythm of a film reel and the logic of a labyrinth.

Social Rollout

Carrying the campaign into release channels.

Posts, reels, and campaign fragments translated the film's visual language into a public-facing rhythm for festival updates, audience building, and ongoing release activity.

View Instagram

The Outcome

Reaping recognition.

The film's festival recognition belongs first to the story, the filmmakers, and the people behind the archive. The campaign identity contributed by giving that work a coherent public presence across poster, film deck, study guide, website, Instagram, and the Daedalus Productions mark.

The film is now moving beyond the festival circuit toward a wider international audience, with the campaign identity holding across every format it meets.

Festival award laurels for They Fight With Cameras

Impact

The numbers behind the narrative.

Festival awards so far

Campaign deliverables spanning poster, film deck, study guide, website, Instagram, and Daedalus logo