Logorama

Short Film Presentation

 Introduction
• Logorama is an animated short film that gained a lot of popularity at the
2010 Sundance film festival.
• The production was written and directed by the French team of François
Alaux and Herve de Crecy, and was created over the course of a few years.
• Despite the film’2 popularity, many people were sceptical about the
success it would have due to obvious legalities.
• It however did have major success, being nominated for an Oscar in the
best animated short film category.
• The short film features a world full of brand logos and corporate mascots.
Mise En Scene
•The animated film is set Los Angeles, but with a twist,
covered in logos.

•Los Angeles is a great location for the film as it links into the representation of society
being bombarded with advertisement and brand logos because it is a heavily impacted
area for this. For instance it wouldn't be as effective if the location was a rural countryside
village.

•Nearly everything you see in the film is made up of a brand logo or mascot. This helps to
give a very clear idea of what the film is about and the meaning behind it.

•The film itself is very bright which I think is intended to link with the location being set in
Los Angeles which is a bright city, but also links to the way brands design their logos;
wanting to have a positive and uplifting effect on consumers.
 Represetation

•Throughout the film, brand mascots such as Ronald McDonald and Michelin men are key
characters, being portrayed as humans. Ronald McDonald is portrayed (because McDonalds
in real life is represented as “evil”) as a villain and the Michelin men are cops (muscly men
saving the day). I think this is clever and works extremely well.

•Police are stereotyped to eat a lot of junk food which is shown as well as the classic “good
cop bad cop” partnership.

•I think that all of the destruction caused by the

shoot out and the earthquake is supposed to
represent how advertisement and brands are
destroying society and taking away peace, and
the green toxic waste that was in the truck shows
how culture is being polluted.

•The oil tidal-wave shows how important oil is to

us but also the problems it brings up.
 Narrative
•The narrative is being told and played out by a range of characters in first person with use
of dialogue, without a narrator.
 
•Time appears to be moving fast due to the high paced action involved though most of the
story.
 
•I think Levi-Strauss’ narrative theory is used, because dramatic tension is created due to
the conflict between Ronald McDonald and the Michelin police men.

•The narrative and plot of the story is very straight forward and the language used by the
characters is basic, so it is easy for the audience to understand. This is important as the
story needs to be easy to understand because the main importance of the film is the idea
of brand advertisement and logo’s being overwhelming.

•Sarcastic dark humour is used a lot. For instance: The M&M asks “wheres a cop when you
need one?” when Ronald McDonald is speeding through a street, but then gets ran over
and smashed to pieces by the cops.
 Shots
•The establishing shot is of the first logo that we see, which is the Malibu logo. The shot then pans up
and to the left, showing an animated street near the sea. This shot sets the scene and is the first
indication that the audience gets showing that the film is going to be animated.

•On the horizon of the sea you can see the Malibu logo again.

•The following shots then show more logos and advertisements, including the Pringles man driving a
truck.

•Next is a birds eye view shot following the truck showing rooftops covered in logos and the viewer gets a
sense of what the film is going to be about.

•The next few shots are a variety of long shots and high angled shots to overload the audience with
images of brand logos.

•The closing shots are again birds eye views but contrast to
the bright built up landscape of the opening shots and
instead show the ruined setting. Then there is a pan up and
out into space, still showing logos, even as planets.
 Sound

•During the opening sequence there is non-diagetic sound being played. This
music is old fashioned and laid back. The same style of music is used at the
end of the film which works as a contrast to the destruction which has just
happened.

•Because the film is set in a city, regular city sounds like cars, trucks and people
are heard.

•During the earthquake the diagetic sound is over emphasized and very loud
to create a destructive atmosphere.
 Titles and End Credits

•There are few titles used and no opening credits.

•The end credits show the name of the film at the top which is in the style of a
logo, centered in the page.

•The credits then follow, moving up the page at a slow rate.

•The font is quite plain, with the person’s name in bold.

•White font is used to show up against the black, out in space background.