Logorama

Logorama is a 2009 French adult animated crime disaster black comedy short film produced by the French graphic design and animation studio H5 as their first and only cinematic project made so far. Co-written and directed by François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy and Ludovic Houplain,^[1] 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.^[2] 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 release 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^[3] and the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 82nd Academy Awards the following year.^[4]

In Los Angeles, California, the structures and inhabitants are decorated with commercial branding: Bird-shaped logos resembling Bentley and Aston Martin soar through the sky, while MSN's butterflies flit about; pedestrians look like the AIM icon; and overhead highway signs display Atlantic Records logos, among others. The original Pringles mascot drives through Malibu, eventually parking in a Pizza Hut lot and approaching a break-time Esso waitress smoking an "Air France" cigarette, which he attempts to proposition her with, leading her to decline, tossing her cigarette on the ground as she departs. Meanwhile, miles from the Santa Monica Pier, two police officers, depicted as Michelin Men named Mitch and Mike, debate the ethics of keeping animals in zoos from inside their police cruiser. Their discussion ends when Mike is sent to pick up lunch from KFC for both of them. As he leaves with a Dunkin' Donuts-shaped soft drink and a bucket of fried chicken wings resembling the Honda Motorcycles logo, a criminal known as Ronald McDonald is smuggling weapons in a red delivery van at a nearby gas station selling diesel. Mitch listens to a call over the radio, revealing that the criminal is at large. Spotting Ronald from afar in shock, Mike rushes out the door leaking to the KFC, accidentally slamming it into the face of a senior citizen and knocking him over. The police pursue Ronald; during the start of the chase, innocent bystanders and some motorists are endangered or injured.

Across town, BiC Boy students, along with Big Boy and Haribo Boy, are on a guided tour at the Los Angeles Zoo led by a campy Mr. Clean; tired of the tour, Big Boy and Haribo Boy disembark from the tour train and run to the lion exhibit. There, they begin to harass the MGM lion while he is sleeping: Haribo moons him and Big Boy throws an empty Coca-Cola bottle at him while calling him names, prompting the zoo's owner, the Jolly Green Giant, to reprimand them.

Meanwhile, the chase escalates quickly, endangering more motorists on the highway, more innocent bystanders, and additional drivers in town as Ronald and the police speed along an off-ramp into the city, including Red and Yellow, who are hit and fatally injured while crossing at the crosswalk. The students on the tour soon return to their school bus, heading toward the Pizza Hut where Esso Girl is serving coffee to the Original Pringles mascot and the Pringles Hot & Spicy mascot, with assistance from the Pillsbury Doughboy. The police chase is broadcast live. Ronald brakes and swerves to avoid the school bus but crashes his van into a car and a semi-truck, causing the van to slide onto the sidewalk and grass, stopping in front of the Pizza Hut, hitting its sign and shifting its dome, shocking everyone inside. Several guns and biological weapons spill from the back of the van onto the sidewalk and curb, tempting Big Boy and Haribo Boy to sneak away from the teacher to steal and sell them on the black market. Ronald exits his truck, kicks Haribo Boy unconscious, and then uses a Heckler & Koch MP5 to take Big Boy hostage. He runs into the Pizza Hut with Big Boy, but Big Boy bites his arm free and hides behind the counter with Esso Girl, as Ronald tries to shoot him. Police are authorized to fire, but Ronald retaliates, shooting at them after Mitch disobeys orders to hold fire—accidentally hitting Mr. Peanut in the head with a sniper bullet, causing his peanut shell to shatter and the nut inside to fall.

As gunfire erupts, a distant tremor shakes Los Angeles, causing a Michelin Man to miss Ronald’s head—his intended sniper target—resulting in the bullet ricocheting and striking a helicopter’s tail rotor, which causes it to lose altitude and crash into a Pizza Hut. Fortunately, no one is injured except the helicopter pilot Michelin Man, who loses consciousness, leading to an earthquake. The animals escape, with an elephant running into the Jolly Green Giant and carrying him off after he tries to stop them. Big Boy and Esso Girl escape the collapsing Pizza Hut, while the Original Pringles mascot and the Hot & Spicy mascot are crushed inside after hiding under a booth. The two eventually hijack Mitch and Mike's police cruiser to escape as the earthquake creates a fissure in the street resembling Microsoft's Xbox logo. Ronald, after shooting Mitch in the head, rides away through the city on a stolen Grease 2 motorcycle, leaving a skid mark shaped like the Pirelli logo. He crashes into a fallen Weight Watchers sign, slides into a crevasse resembling the Zenith Electronics logo after dodging signs for Enron, Freddie Mac, and Kmart, using a Nabisco sign as a ramp. When he gets up, he’s run over by Esso Girl and Big Boy, who barely escape the city and head to the hills via Route 66, riding along a curved highway shaped like the Vaio logo. The earthquake spreads through the desert and into Marlboro Country, where oil wells are located. Approaching the Hollywood Chewing Gum Sign, it 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 down a hill, ending in a collision with an apple tree shaped like the American Century Investments logo, causing a bushel of apples to spill out. Petroleum erupts, flooding Los Angeles and sweeping everything away, prompting some individuals to climb to the highest points of the remaining infrastructure, which stay afloat amid the remnants of the destroyed city.

The hill supporting the cruiser, with Esso Girl and Big Boy inside, splits open, revealing a giant North Face logo, while the surrounding land disintegrates. The remaining land separates and sinks into the sea, forming a tiny island where the duo is stranded. Esso Girl picks up a colored apple from the ground and bites into it while lying on the newly formed island, which is part of Southern California and the Baja California peninsula, now separated from the mainland and shaped like the Nike swoosh logo. It’s also shown that the universe is composed of countless logos. Additionally, it’s revealed that Ronald survived being run over, with only hair loss, a black eye, cross-eyes, and some missing teeth.

• Bob Stephenson – Portrays various characters including Ronald McDonald, a criminal; Michelin Man (Cops), with Mitch as the relaxed officer, along with the Michelin Sheriff; , both as part of the law enforcement team.
• David Fincher and Andrew Kevin Walker – voices two lecherous, rude customers known as the Pringles Men.
  • Fincher voices Original Pringles Mascot, the initial face of the snack brand.
  • Walker portrays Pringles Hot & Spicy, known for being argumentative and fiery.
• Aja Evans – Represents the Esso Drop Girl, a waitress who is also taken hostage.
• Sherman Augustus – Plays Michelin Man Police Officer Mike, a serious law enforcement officer,also a part of the law enforcement team.
• Joel Michaely – Embodies Big Boy, a juvenile delinquent and hostage; Jolly Green Giant, a zoo manager; and Mr. Clean, a campy tour guide.
• Matt Winston – Acts as Haribo Boy, a juvenile delinquent's second banana and victim.
• Gregory J. Pruss – Plays the Pillsbury Doughboy, a chef at the diner, and also a Chopper Pilot.
• Josh Eichenbaum – Characterized as Yellow, an innocent bystander caught in the chaos.
• Jaime Ray Newman – Serves as the Dispatch Girl on the radio, coordinating communications during the events.

Logorama explores the extent that logos are embedded in Earth's daily existence. H5 members explained: "Logorama presents us with an over-marketed world built only from logos and real trademarks that are destroyed by a series of natural disasters (including an earthquake and a tidal wave of oil). Logotypes are used to describe an alarming universe (similar to the one that we are living in) with all the graphic signs that accompany us everyday [sic] in our lives. This over-organized universe is violently transformed by the cataclysm becoming fantastic and absurd. It shows the victory of the creative against the rational, where nature and human fantasy triumph".^[5]

The entirety of Logorama features numerous brand images, mascots and logos as the characters, props, locations, vehicles and other content. Notable uses include McDonald's mascot Ronald McDonald being depicted as a criminal reminiscent of the Joker, Michelin Men being depicted as the police, and the Esso Oil Drop Girl being depicted as a waitress in a diner. However, some of the logos are also derived from fictional brands, such as Slurm from Futurama, the Ghostbusters logo, and the Buy-N-Large (BnL) logo from WALL-E.

Logos for well-known media such as The Wall, South Park, Sesame Street, COPS, Batman, James Bond, Grease 2, Street Fighter II, The Empire Strikes Back, and Left 4 Dead are included, along with several logos representing musical artists like Gorillaz, Green Day, The Clash, Daft Punk, Public Enemy, Sex Pistols, AC/DC, Run–D.M.C., Fatboy Slim, and Iron Maiden.

Logorama has received the following awards and nominations:

• Kodak Discovery Award for Best Short Film (the Kodak Prix) – Critics' Week, 62nd Cannes Film Festival (2009) – Won
• Audience Award – Festival International de Curtas Metragans (2009) – Won
• Audience Award – Lille International Short Film Festival (2009) – Won
• Jury's Special Prize, Audience Prize, Fuji Prize for Best Directors – Cinanima International Animated Film Festival (2009) – Won
• Best Short Film – Stockholm International Film Festival (2009) – Won
• Best Direction, Audience Award – Vendôme Film Festival (2009) – Won
• Gold Medal for Animation – Zinebi, Bilbao International Film Festival (2009) – Won
• Oscar for Best Animated Short – 82nd Academy Awards (2010) – Won
• Best Short Film – Césars 2011 – Won
• Best Animated Film – Césars 2011 – Nominated

The Simpsons episode "A Tree Grows in Springfield" (season 24, episode 6) ends with a vignette inspired by Logorama, called Logomania.^[6]

A catalog inspired by the short, titled Logobook and written by the film's co-director Ludovic Houplain, was published by Taschen in 2013.^[7]

• Foodfight! - A 2012 animated film that also features product mascots as characters; seen as one of the worst animated films of all time.
• Criticism of capitalism
• Product placement

• Logorama on Vimeo
• Logorama on YouTube
• Logorama at IMDb