Logorama

Logorama

Written and Directed by: H5, France, 16 minutes

Released at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival

Source: Vimeo

Logorama is an animated short set in a new Los Angeles. From the street lamps to the main characters, the city is entirely comprised of corporate logos and advertisements. While the film follows the stories of a couple characters, the main focus is that of the police chase between the Michelin Men and the armed fugitive, Ronald McDonald, through the streets of the city.

The first time I came across this film I had no indication that it was anything more than a funny Youtube video. The satiric tone the film takes from the opening scene until the credits roll is what sets this film apart from the rest. The audience almost cannot decide what the film is poking fun at the most. Seeing timeless corporate logos as gun-slinging fugitives, lonely truck drivers, foul-mouthed waitresses, rebel children, and stereotypical police officers is what instantly captures the audience's attention. Then to see these characters engage in the over-the-top action and unimaginative story-line that Hollywood blockbusters are built upon keeps the audience laughing from start to finish. Throughout the entire film the audience is continually asking, "What next?" while watching the car chase ultimately turn into an unbelievable catastrophe.

The other side of this film is trying to locate all the logos creatively making up the entire city. The AOL instant messenger men act as civilians, coffee cups spill into the orange Nickelodeon splat, the E! logo stands as structural support and even holds a place in the LA skyline, Mr. Clean turns into a gay tour guide, and the list continues. Even when the entire city is flooded and the shot zooms out of the world and into outer space, we see that Earth is actually the Universal Studios logo, all the planets are famous logos, and that even the Milky Way is appropriately the Milky Way logo.

What made me ultimately enjoy this film the most was that every single aspect was done completely over-the-top: The language, the action, the story, the logos, and everything in between. The film would not have been the same experience had the characters only been logos or had the car chase been the only action. Obviously the Academy agreed that H5 had created something that stood apart from their competition because they awarded them the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 2010.