Logorama (2009)

“Spectacular car chases, an intense hostage crisis, wild animals rampaging through the city, and even more will have you at the edge of your seat in Logorama”. And on the edge of my seat i was! No, not because of the story or the premise, but the visual of 2500 logos that was molded to create this 16 minute animation short.

The quote above said it all. Only this is not your usual crime chase turn into cataclysmic ending. The most interesting part of the movie is it’s visual design. Sure it’s you’re standard 3D animation, but when did you ever been taken to a city, quite literally, built out of more than 2000 contemporary and historical logos, mascots, and branding? Let’s be honest, when will you ever seen a movie with casts as well known as Ronald Mc Donald, Michelinman, Pringles, et al? :D

Logorama is a 16-minute long French animated film (an animated short film if you will). It was written and directed (and I wanna say, designed) by H5/François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy and Ludovic Houplain, and produced by Autour de Minuit. The film won the Prix Kodak at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 82nd Academy Awards in 2010.

I don’t think the movie plot itself was very special though it may criticize the commercialism in the American life, but it was light enough to be entertaining. This movie can relate to anyone in my opinion? Aren’t you feeling familiar how we are bombarded by commercialism of products every day in our lives, and how we have become so accustomed to a certain brand image every time we think of an adjectives?

The use of Ronald McDonald as a villain was inspired by Jack Nicholson’s rendition of Joker in Batman. The way they execute the use logos is just sublime, without being an artsy, elitist, just graphic design movie, they shape each logo into another element in the movie, creating and shaping objects out of them. It’s just a very well thought out, well designed movie.

A little info about H5, it is a french graphic design studio that deals with a variety of projects, which made it into a multi-disciplinary industry, from advertising and commercials, music video, exhibitions, to film shorts. I don’t think I’d be able to forget their work for Röyksopp’s Remind Me music video in 2002 which was a day in a life potrayed through the form of animated infographic.