The movie tells the story of two cops (Michelin men) chasing a gun-toting, child-kidnapping, bad-guy (Ronald MacDonald) through — in the words of the filmmakers — “an over-marketed world built only from logos and real trademarks.” As motion graphics writer has noted, the film contains numerous subtleties and: 'The Quicktime wall clock; the Energizer street lamps; the 007 guns and homage to Maurice Binder’s; KFC getting flattened by the beef jerky store, Slim Jim; and Ronald McDonald being taken out by Weight Watchers.' Logorama climaxes in a series of cataclysmic natural disasters engulfing this pixel-built city of a million brands. So while I struggled to find the message in H5’s film, I couldn’t help being seduced by it. I was struck by how many of the logos on show are rather wonderful — fine examples of the art and craft of graphic design.
These are the nominees for best short film, which are divided into three groups: animated, live action and documentary. Its satirical intentions are similar to those of “Logorama,” last. Logorama is an unconventional film. Created at French studio H5 and produced at Autour de Minuit, the short plays with one of the most prominent cultural phenomenons of the past century: the evolution of brands, marketing and the refining of the act of persuasion for commercial purposes.
But this only served to reminded me of the essential conundrum at the heart of being a graphic designer; namely that the job is to create seduction and allure for our clients regardless whether it is a true reflection of reality or not. And — like lawyers defending criminals — we mostly do this with professional detachment. Yet as commentators have been telling us for decades, there are consequences — moral, political and cultural — attached to our desire to create this world of beauty and seduction. One of those consequences might just be a brand-dominated world like the one depicted in Logorama. Scary thought.
It was interesting to find out that a company is actually creating a movie based off brands. I know as a big fan of watching movies that I get quite annoyed by ads that are not subtly placed in movie scenes.
For instance, you may be staring Adam Sandler for some comedic scene and you see him reach for a can that is turned perfectly for the camera to read the logo that it is a Coca-Cola he is drinking. Our society is being saturated with ads on the streets, plastered all over buildings, etc. It will be interesting to find how the company will get their movie message across. Without brands there are no identities and there is no world. Brands are not just an inescapable aspect of commerce, they are an inescapable aspect of existence.
To suggest that brands pervade the world intrusively is to misunderstand how brands relate to people. It is not in the best interests of a brand to assert itself without an objective relevant to the context at hand. A brand represents the sum total of an identity experience, no matter what the type, scale or complexity of the identity. Some brands are commercial; commercial brands deal in more immediate value and so they tend to trade in direct attention in highly articulated media. This also makes them easy targets for naive skeptics. If a brand is relevant it's marks will act in such a way as to allow people to intervene in the chosen environment more effectively.
Brands that are in touch with their audiences understand that superficial self-promotion is counter-productive. Brand awareness without an associated capacity to intervene serves nothing. Not only will the actual brandmarks date as the brands featured in Logorama evolve but armed with a few logo-busting insights and a decent grasp of the significance of the role of brands the appeal of the film is destined to be short-lived. There is a significant difference in meaning between the presentation of an abstract logo and engaging the primary mark of a purposeful brand. Meaningful graphic design is always subject to brand identity.
The measure of graphic design's validity lies in it's capacity to enable intervention. It is a gross and widely held misconception that graphic design is responsible for creating desire. Graphic design can only assist in recognising a brand but it is the brand's capacity for intervention that creates desire.
Assisting in brand recognition is not the same as creating desire. Logorama is more about an entertaining relationship of icons, tags and signifiers in an artificially constructed world than it is about brands. There are many media-savvy witticisms in the film to appreciate but it is not an opportunity to build a credible case against marketing brands. Brands are not an enemy to be guarded against, brands enable people to makes sense of the world through meaningful interventions. What do we read from Logos? We don't come up any hamburgers when we're looking at McDonalds signs.
We don't remind of any shapes of bottle from a logo of Coke. We do see the impression from Logos. Logos are all about impressions.
We believe that we can get various cheap fast foods from M and we buy cool feeling from Coke. Yes, I believe that we are basically buying Logos(impression of brands).
In terms of this point, this movie is not telling you the whole story. We are bringing our impressions of each logo to decorate the story. 'Brands are not an enemy to be guarded against, brands enable people to makes sense of the world through meaningful interventions.' Agreed, over-agressive marketeers, that in the constant fight for viewer space, and the attempt to force themselves onto the potential consumer, while creating artificial desires for consumption, are the real problem. Brands are just an attempt to associate that desire with a product form a specific producer. If there was no attempt at creating these artificial desires, brands themselves would become useless.
This short is just a collection of brands that have successfully been pushed upon the consumer enough times that they are instantly recognisable, without actually conveying any underlying criticism at them. Didn't see coca-cola though.
Whats by some called the nº1 one brand, you'd think it would appear (or at least more prominently!)? I saw the film last night and my impression was that another country is calling us (the US) on our shit. This is not a French location but it is a French film - set in California and holding up a mirror to the American way of life (opening scene reveals buildings branded AMERICA). We are dominated by markting and logos. We are destroying ourlseves with fast food.
We call ourselves the United States yet we only offer Free Shipping to 48 States (did you read the getaway car Ronald was driving?). We corrupt our children with violence (the two young logos who saw the guns didn't think -oh no! But - hey, we could sell these).
The flash images of in-your-face markting ploys gone astray were abundant. And as if that wasn't enough. We plunge the earth for oil until we destroy it.
Leaving only 1 women logo and 1 man logo and an island (what's left of CA). And as the movie closes we see her pickup the Macintosh apple and have a bite. Adam and Eve anyone??? I was disgusted by the film. But not because I found the film disgusting.
It was wonderul created and sends a message if you are willing to hear it. I was disgusted because it was so right on. That someone felt it had to be made. Someone who sees us for what we are and calls us on it. But we all get to have our 2 cents and I'm sure eveyone who sees the film will have a different reaction.
I cannot let another week go by without bringing you the unique experience that is Logorama. Created by the Paris design studio, H5, the film features a vast urban landscape composed entirely of corporate logos. Even the characters are played by famous product mascots like the Michelin man, Ronald McDonald, Bob’s Big Boy, and others who take on a twist of roles as buddy cops, maniacal killer, and more. That is the overarching catch. And if you were to read a paragraph about it online or hear about it from a friend, that is likely all would get.
However, it’s not solely this novel concept that earned the film its true accolades but its persistence to story. Throughout the six years it took to develop the film, story remained the keystone of the project. The great dialogue is thanks to Hollywood screenwriters Andrew Kevin Walker and Gergory Puss who infused an appropriate blockbuster-style language to the archetypical characters.
As any film fanatic is well aware, Logorama took the top prize in filmthe Academy Award for best animated short filma shock for such an unconventional piece. There’s rough language and plenty of logo violence. Some say it’s NSFW, but I think that might depend on your workplace. Thousands of logos cameo in the film. At the Oscar award show, producer Nicolas Schmerkin jokingly thanked their “Three thousand unofficial sponsors.” And graphic puns are in abundance. Sun Microsystems stands in for the sun. When the camera pulls back through space, we see a Pepsi planet with orbiting satellites all of which are satellite companies of Pepsi Co.
No gripes from the brands themselves. Herve admits they’ve only heard from oneCash Converterwho sent this message: Thank you, I just read an article in Dazed and Confused. We saw our logotype in some pictures and we appreciate you used the logotype in the middle of all the big brands. It matches perfectly with our strategy that you put Cash Converter on the main street, in the heart of the city, thank you so much!
Time and time again, we are reminded that a strong concept paired with a strong story makes for an award-destined film. Creator Herve has said, “We think it’s an entertaining piece, but it’s not just a short film. It’s a strange object and we want to keep it as a strange object. It’s not our job to say it’s apiece of art but I think it has to be shown like that.” ( via ).