Logorama

Spectacular car chases, an intense hostage crisis, wild animals rampaging through the city... and even more in LOGORAMA !

H5 directed many videos (Alex Gopher, Massive Attack, Goldfrapp, Röyksopp...), and has regularly been invited to exhibitions (2007 Nuit Blanche, Beaubourg, MoMA...). Logorama is its first short film.

LOGORAMA brings to life a world built out of familiar logos. Hundreds of logos and mascots are used, and they include examples from software companies, shopping centers, restaurants, sports teams, movies, and any number of other products, agencies, and corporations. It's a lot of fun watching all of these familiar logos used so creatively. They fill the screen and zip by without calling attention to themselves. Watching LOGORAMA is like a game of "How Many Logos Can You Name?" To fully appreciate this animated short, one needs to freeze-frame each part and check out all the details.

I cannot imagine how much work it must have been filling this virtual city with all of those brands. Each logo fits in in some logical way. Boxy logos, for example, are often used as buildings, while pedestrians are made from the yellow AOL Instant Messenger guy or the Bic pen guy. Cops are Michelin men. The zoo includes the MGM lion and the Linux penguin. Hundreds and hundreds of everyday logos are used and they are used so cleverly that it nearly boggles the mind. As new logos reveal themselves, the viewer is awestruck. "Aw, man! No way!"

It's that cool.

The plot is secondary, but includes chase scenes, gunfire, and natural disasters. It's action-packed. The dialogue is laced with profanity and the cartoon has a mature (PG-13?) edge.

LOGORAMA doesn't seem to have any deep symbolic meaning. It's just a fun way to kind of comment on how many different corporate logos people are familiar with nowadays. Our everyday lives are flooded with these images on TV, in newspaper ads, on the street, etc. This film takes these well-known images and has fun with them.

I think it's great fun to see all of the familiar logos and images, but the profanity seems a little unnecessary and off-putting and the low-budget voice cast could be better. (Just my opinion.) Still the visual experience is well worth it and the details in this short warrant repeat viewings and freeze-frame inspection.

How many logos can YOU name?

Logorama es un corto animado en 3D de unos 15 minutos elaborado usando únicamente las formas, colores y diseños de conocidas Marcas Registradas e Íconos, todo esto tanto para los personajes como para los escenarios. Se usaron como 2.500 logos, esto fue realizado por el estudio de animación francés: H5 y Minuit Productions.

Canción de los créditos finales: I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire
Directores: Francois Alaux, Herve de Crecy.