Logorama (2009)

Logorama is a 2009 French adult-animated satirical short film produced by the French graphic design and animation studio H5 as their first and only cinematic project. Co-written and directed by François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy and Ludovic Houplain, the film is set in a stylized version of Los Angeles and portrays various events as being told entirely through the extensive use of more than 2,000 contemporary and historical company logos and mascots. The short's voice cast consists of Bob Stephenson, David Fincher, Aja Evans, Sherman Augustus, Joel Michaely, Matt Winston, Gregory J. Pruss, Josh Eichenbaum, Jaime Ray Newman and Andrew Kevin Walker.

Upon its premiere on 20 May 2009 in Cannes, Logorama has received numerous awards, including winning both the Kodak Discovery Award for Best Short Film (the Kodak Prix) at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 82nd Academy Awards the following year.

Storyline

In Los Angeles, the cityscape and neighborhoods are constructed from corporate emblems: Bentley and Aston Martin logos soar overhead like birds in flight, while MSN's butterflies flutter nearby; the AOL Instant Messenger icon appears as pedestrians strolling along the streets, and highway signs display logos from Atlantic Records, among others. The original Pringles mascot drives through Malibu, eventually parking in a Pizza Hut diner's lot and approaching a break-time Esso Oil Drop Girl waitress smoking a Air France cigarette, trying to flirt, but she declines, tossing her cigarette aside as she walks off.

Meanwhile, miles from the Santa Monica Pier, two police officers depicted as Michelin Men named Mitch and Mike are parked in their police cruiser discussing zoo animal captivity. Their conversation ends when Mike is sent to pick up lunch from KFC for the both. As he leaves with a soft drink bearing a Dunkin' Donuts logo and a bucket of fried chicken shaped like the Honda Motorcycles logo, a criminal called Ronald McDonald is seen smuggling weapons in a red delivery van at a nearby gas station selling diesel. Mitch receives a message on the radio, revealing that the criminal is now on the loose.

Spotting Ronald in shock from afar, Mike rushes outside KFC, accidentally bumping into Fido Dido and knocking him over. Once in the car, the police pursue Ronald; during the chase, innocent bystanders and motorists suffer accidental injuries and crash their vehicles. Across town, BiC Boy students, along with Bob’s Big Boy and Haribo Boy, are on a guided tour of the Los Angeles Zoo led by a flamboyant Mr. Clean; tired of the tour, Big Boy and Haribo Boy leave the tour train and run to the lion exhibit. There, they disturb Leo the MGM Lion while he sleeps: Haribo moons him, and Big Boy throws an empty Coke bottle at him while insulting him, prompting the zoo's owner, the Jolly Green Giant to reprimand them.

Meanwhile, the chase escalates on the highway, endangering more motorists, pedestrians, and drivers as Ronald and the police speed along an off-ramp leading to a road in town. The tour group quickly boards their school bus, leaving the zoo en route to the diner where the chase is broadcast live on a TV, while Esso Girl serves coffee to the original Pringles mascot and the Hot & Spicy mascot, assisted by the Pillsbury Doughboy. When she approaches, she's groped by the Hot & Spicy mascot, causing her to drop her mug which shatters, leaving a coffee spill shaped like the Nickelodeon logo. The pursuit ends when Ronald brakes and swerves to avoid the school bus, but crashes into a car and a semi-truck, causing his van to slide onto the sidewalk and grass, stopping in front of the diner, striking its sign, and tilting the pole, shocking the customers and Esso Girl inside.

Several guns and biological weapons then spill out from the wrecked van onto the sidewalk and curb as police arrive. The officers prepare to arrest Ronald and secure the scene, while Big Boy and Haribo Boy, who have exited the school bus, sneak away from the bus driver to steal some of the van's disturbed contents for black market sale. Ronald exits his wrecked vehicle, frightening the children, then kicks Haribo Boy unconscious and uses a Heckler & Koch MP5 to take Big Boy hostage. He runs into the diner with him, but he bites his arm to escape and crawls to the counter where Esso Girl is hiding, as Ronald attempts to shoot him. Police are authorized to open fire, but Ronald retaliates by kicking the glass wall to shoot at them (even denting police cars and shooting a neon sign at a Hard Rock Café), after Mitch disobeys orders to hold fire and accidentally shooting Mr. Peanut in the head with a sniper bullet, shattering his shell and causing the nut inside to fall onto the floor.

Meanwhile, back at the zoo, the animals, including Leo are show to go into hiding and leaving their exhibits for what’s about to come for them later on.

Meanwhile, back at the hostage scene at the diner, the sheriff then calls in SWAT reinforcements, which are delivered to a nearby rooftop to snipe Ronald's head.

As gunfire erupts, a distant tremor shakes Los Angeles, causing a Michelin Man sniper to miss Ronald's head, which results in the bullet hitting the diner's roof, ricocheting off the sign's dome, and striking a helicopter's tail rotor, which causes it to lose altitude and crash into the diner. Thankfully, no one is injured except the helicopter pilot, who loses consciousness. The tremor escalates to a full-blown earthquake; the animals escape the zoo, with a Republican Party elephant running into the Jolly Green Giant and carrying him off after he tries to stop them.

Big Boy and Esso Girl manage to escape the collapsing diner with the Pillsbury Doughboy, while the Pringles mascots are crushed inside after hiding under a table. The two hijack Mitch and Mike's police cruiser to flee the scene as the earthquake creates a fissure in the street resembling Microsoft’s Xbox logo that engulfs it. Meanwhile, Mitch attempts to shoot Ronald, but he shoots him in the forehead after he approaches him. Ronald then sneaks away, notices a row of Grease 2 motorcycles, and rides off onto one of them, doing a donut maneuver and leaving doughnut-shaped skid marks in the shape of the Pirelli logo first as he departs.

While on the move, as zoo animals rampage through the city, Ronald dodges wrecked vehicles, debris, and falling signs, including those for Enron, Freddie Mac, and Kmart, and uses a fallen Nabisco sign as a ramp. Just as he's about to escape, he crashes into a fallen Weight Watchers sign blocking his way, flying onto the road and sliding into a crevasse resembling the Zenith Electronics logo. When attempting to exit, he's run over by Esso Girl and Big Boy, who narrowly escape the city and head toward the hills via Route 66, travelling along a curved highway shaped like the Vaio logo.

The earthquake continues spreading through the desert and into Marlboro Country, where oil wells form a canyon. Approaching the Hollywood Chewing Gum Sign, it falls apart, disintegrates, and slides down the hill onto the highway. While avoiding one of the fallen letters, the duo veers off the highway, crashes through a guardrail, and tumbles down a hill, ending in a collision with an Apple tree resembling the American Century Investments logo that nearly kills them (they didn't have time to put on seat belts) and causes one of the cruiser's front wheels to come off and roll away and damages it’s front side, scattering its apples violently (some roll away) and stopping the earthquake.

Petroleum oil then erupts from the newly formed desert canyon, flooding Los Angeles and sweeping everything away, prompting some to climb onto the highest points of remaining structures, which serve as islands, even tiny little ones amid the flooded city and floating debris that stay afloat, all while avoiding hungry Lacoste crocodiles and trying to find help.

The hill supporting the cruiser, with Esso Girl and Big Boy inside, splits open, revealing a massive North Face logo, as the surrounding land crumbles apart. The remaining land sinks into the sea, leaving behind a tiny island where the duo is stranded. Esso Girl picks up a nearby colored apple and bites into it while lying next to Big Boy on the newly formed island, now part of Southern California and the Baja California peninsula, separated from the mainland and shaped like the Nike swoosh logo.

Finally, it's revealed that the universe, including the solar system and the planets, is composed of countless logos: the Universal Pictures logo as the Earth, the Sony Ericsson logo as the Moon, the Sun Microsystems logo as the Sun, the Mars supermarket logo representing the Red Planet, Orion Pictures as a constellation, the Milky Way Galaxy represented by the Milky Way candy bar logo with Subaru stars, and the Pioneer electronics logo representing Pioneer 11.

Additionally, Ronald reveals himself after the credits to have survived being run over, suffering only severe baldness, a black eye, unfocused eyes, and some missing teeth.

Logorama (2009)

Contents

Storyline

Sound Effects Used

Image Gallery

Audio Samples

External Links