If you have lived under a rock the past few months, you may not be aware of Logorama, the short film who won the 2010 Oscar of the best animated short film.
Logorama was created by the French animation collective H5, François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy & Ludovic Houplain, and its main characteristic is that all characters & objects used in the film are made of logos and brands names. The bad guy is a gangster Ronald MacDonald, and a giant, well, Green Giant looks over a zoo inhabited by Linux penguins, Lacoste crocodiles and WWF pandas among many others…
The scenario is a bizarre mix of classic cops movies and disasters films, full of stereotypes and references, with a nihilist 2012 flavour.
The film has been online on and off since the Oscar, and I only saw today the full French version, dubbed by a well known duo of French comics, Omar & Fred. The translation is far from literal (especially the discussion between the two Michelin Bibendums cops: instead of talking about the zoo they discuss yoga, chakras and the sex life of one of them), but at the end as nonsensical as the English version.
The incredible accomplishment of this irreverent movie is without a doubt the use of so many brands as characters, making them public domain, giving them new personalities and finally destructing them all.
As I doubt McDonald authorized the use of Ronnie as a crazy gun-dealer shooting Bic kids in the street, it is fair to guess that none of the brands were asked their advice before the making of the movie.
The goal of many brands today is to become part of the conversation, part of the daily life of consumers. And so, can they really complain when their personality of their symbols is so well established that they can be hijacked to create this sort of work?
Well, sure they can (and they probably will), but such is the price of fame, and in this case, the creative transformation is so evident that I can’t think any brand would won against Logorama, (nor walk away from trying way more damaged than it ever was by the movie.)
Thoughts ?
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