Hasta La Motion!

About a week ago, we posted the trailer for “Logorama” by H5. As it spread across the globe, it’s been gaining steam and hitting the festival circuit in a major way.

On that note, we’re delighted to bring you a in-depth review of this piece by Mark Webster (journalist, writer and occasional sound designer). He’s a very knowledgeable and all-around stand-up fellow and we’red please to have this guest contribution from him. Thanks Mark!

There’s been a lot of talk recently about the new animated film, Logorama created and directed by the French design collective, H5. Its particularity, as we all know by now, is that not only does it star the evil killer Ronald McDonald, who is pursued by a bunch of fat Michelin Men cops, it is indeed a film created entirely from logos.

Backgrounds, characters and props are all an incarnation of the pervasive commercial sign, the untouchable symbols of the industrial and financial powers. The film has already been well received by the select few, picking up an award this year at Cannes, screened at onedotzero in London recently and set for a number of international tours in the cultural sector. The particularity of Logorama is of course its road to possible success. It’s fresh, provocative and for some, utterly daring. But the burning question remains. Why the hell did they make a 15 minute animated film using only logos?

H5 are three creatives; Hervé de Crecy, François Alaux and Ludovic Houplain. Set up in 1996 as a graphic design studio, they started out making album cover designs for a number of electronica artists, helping to fuel the ‘french touch’ scene which from 1997 was gaining international attention. Their reputation as designers in the music scene soon attracted attention and when their first music video for Alex Gopher, The Child hit the scene, it was the beginning of a love affair with animation and the narrative possibilities of bringing together what they were good at; creating graphic infused visuals with a strong sensibility to music.

Logorama took gestation as an idea, as early as 2003. There is a telling and funny anecdote in the early stages when H5 first approached a producer with the idea. He said, “So you wanna make a film out of false logos? That’s gonna take some time.” “Oh no, not false ones, real ones,” they replied. To which the producer responded along the lines of, “You gotta be fucking crazy!” They went along with the project nevertheless and indeed found an eventual producer via the French company, Autour de Minuit.. More than four years in the making, on and off that is, and despite its non-commercial value, it had received a lot of positive backing. One of which came from the French post-production giant Mikros Image who worked with H5 for two and half years on the animation and compositing.

The film is not just a haphazard amalgamation of commercial symbols though. It is a carefully instigated scenario that took on challenging artistic as well as technical decisions. A number of interesting factors determined their choice of logos. Some were self evident, in their eyes: Ronald McDonald was going to be the bad ass gangster because clowns are frightening and there was a particular inspiration from the Joker in Batman. The Michelin Men were to be the cops because, well, as H5 say, American cops are fat. Others were chosen purely for their graphic form and generic nature. For example, passer-byes were to be represented by AOL, children by the Bic pen logo and van drivers all have moustaches so Mr. Pringle took on that role.

Beyond these initial choices however, there were considerable possibilities for play and of course subversion of these strongly emblematic symbols. The beauty of any personal project like this is that one is free to express oneself. The delight of play however in Logorama is magnified by the fact that logos and symbolism are heavily policed when it comes to working in the commercial world. So, outside of that restraining context, H5 found themselves with a virgin graphic playground that few, if not no one to date has touched upon.

And it is this dimension, the graphic and symbolic, which gives the film a completely new and in this case dominant narrative which has you searching for the subtleties: The Quicktime wall clock; the Energizer street lamps; the 007 guns and homage to Maurice Binder’s barrel shot; KFC getting flattened by the beef jerky store, Slim Jim; and Ronald McDonald being taken out by Weight Watchers. Suffice to say that everyone’s reading of the film is quite different.

So, is Logorama an iconoclastic film or was it simply an artistic challenge? There is an underlying trend throughout H5’s portfolio that has proven successful in their ability to create thought provoking work – The principle of remixing established graphic codes. H5 enjoy the challenge of taking graphic symbols and signs and placing them in new situations. It is exactly what they did for one of their earlier album covers – Super Discount – a simple yet striking image which uses the typographic language of supermarkets as the cover design for an album. The music video, The Child has of course a strong resemblance with ‘ Logorama in that it too was created from purely graphic elements – everything being made up of typographic fonts.

They continued with Remind Me for Royksopp, subverting the graphic language of user manuals and info graphics to tell the story of a worker’s day and cleverly ‘reminding us’ of the multitude of graphics in our everyday lives. H5 like to play with that material, displacing common codes and consequently making us question their meanings or communicative value.

If you took every graphic sign away from a main city street, you’d be faced with a pretty glum scene. Imagine for a moment; road signs, street and shop names, posters, advertisements, logos, signage, – all gone. It’s a difficult thought to process, especially if you are not coming from the visual arts. The exercise proves a point though: Graphic symbols and signs are everywhere. They are such an integral part of our everyday visual landscape yet for the majority of people, the general public that is, graphics are somewhat a bit like the weather – its just there. We can talk about it on a primary level, make it a subject of conversation. Yet how many of us actually stop and try to understand the design that goes on around us instead of simply just consuming it?

In this sense, Logorama is a cleverly instigated critique of our times. We live in a world fueled with the signatures of commerce and consumption, where everyday symbols are imprinted in our collective memories, nagging away on the subconscious, hand in pocket and ready to draw the wallet. It is within this context that H5 go far beyond a simple exercise in artistic defiance. This is the beauty of their work; they transgress the graphic codes of our everyday experience, placing them within a completely different context and one that sufficiently sparks food for thought.

Mark Webster

Posted on Motionographer

Paris keeps rocking the front page with this new spot from El Nino’s directing-collective, NoBrain, for Grenelle via TBWA, Paris. NoBrain, with the support of Circus VFX, transforms industrial landscapes of France into greener counterparts to promote environmentally-centric development throughout the country.

Client: Grenelle
Agency : TBWA Paris
Production Company: El Nino
Producer : Delphine Guerin
Director : NoBrain
Line Producer : Francois Lamotte
DOP : Franck Leclerc
Post Producer : Guillaume Larose
Post House : Circus

Posted on Motionographer

The directing-collective that brought us these raving rabbits for Groove Armada in ‘07, give birth to about a million more of the CG-varietal for Duracell. This spot also kick’s off the launch of the production outfit, Chuck & Lulu as they partnered with Pleix to drop this one for Oglivy, Paris.

Additionally, after finding a new home in the US with MJZ, Pleix rolls this very different type spot for Lexus Hybrid, “Hello Someday” in collaboration with the Mill, LA. You may have also caught a peak at some of this campaign with the strong series of web-films we recently posted from Elastic.

With the release of these two spots, Pleix continues to remind us of their broad range in both tone and technique.

BUNNY FUSION
Client: Duracell

Agency: Ogilvy, Paris
Executive Creative Director: Chris Garbutt
Creative Director: Nick Hine
Art Director: Antoaneta Metchanova
Account Team: Kim Ball, Anne Karcher
Agency Producer: Caroline Petruccelli

Production Company: Chuck & Lulu, Paris
http://www.chuckandlulu.com
Director: Pleix
Executive Producer: Edward Grann
Line Producer: Katharina Nicol
Post Producer: Sebastien Gros

Post Production: Digital District, Paris
Music: Apollo Studios, Montreal

————————————–

HELLO SOMEDAY
Client: Lexus – HS Hybrid

Agency: Team One Advertising
Creatives: Chris Graves-CCO/AD, Jon Pearce-GCD/CW
Agency Producer: Beth Hagen
Assistant Producer: Jenny Valladares
Production Company: MJZ
Director: Pleix
Director of Photography: Chris Soos
Exec Producer: Eric Stern
Line Producer: Caroline Pham
Editing Company: Rock Paper Scissors
Editor: Angus Wall
Assistant Editor: Anton Capaldo-Smith
Producer: Kimberly Colen
Music: Elias Arts
Mixer: Bob Gremore @ Juice
Post Production: The Mill / Los Angeles
Producer: Lee Pavey
Shoot Attend: Giles Cheetham, John Leonti
Lead Flame Artist: Tara Demarco
Assistant Artists: Mike Plescia, Becky Porter
CG Artists: Robert Sethi, John Leonti, Oscar Gonzalez, Yann Mabille, Meng-Yang Lu, Matt Longwell, Alex Hammond, Chris Bayol, Ross Urien, Juan Brockhaus

Posted on Motionographer

If you love typography, look no further. Handmade by students and faculty at Brigham Young University (BYU), the opening-title for the 5′th annual Typophile Film Festival, is a bona fide type de force. Uniquely inspired by the 5 Senses, the designers stir up a theme that describes how sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch inform human creativity. Like a game of dress-up, each of the senses is visually fitted in it’s own swathe of tactility – thumbing their nose at squeaky-clean CG, and relying entirely on raw materials. Its means are thrifty, but in scope, ambitious. The result is authentic.

Naturally, the common denominator is typography, and like a buffet of sorts, there is something here for everybody. From sans serifs to scripts, the contrast of typefaces are strung together so cannily that the graphical mishmash makes you feel like you’re staring into a bowl of alphabet soup. Devoid of superficial extravagance, the whole piece has a sense of frugality about it; an economy of form, that with such wide eyed (student) endeavors , makes you feel warm and fuzzy, or genuinely, proud to be a designer. Easily, that’s as good as it gets.

True, that for all its inherent qualities, a piece of such prudent and exceptional means is sure to inspire. False, that for all its inherent, accessible qualities, a work like this is a piece of cake. Frankly, in the nature of great work, the many designers who created this opening title made it look easy. In honesty, this piece is a labor of love, and born from the passion, grunt work, and elbow grease of Brent Barson (Creative Director, Faculty member), and over a dozen young designers. The team made a conscious decision to avoid CG, and in turn, conceive a work on the flip side of high-end. When the dust settles, the effect, with all the Astroturf, Play-Doh, and Jell-O bouncing typography, is unabashedly innocent, and playfully inviting; coming home to what Motion Graphics used to be all about; pure, unadulterated fun.

Creative Director & Faculty Mentor:
Brent Barson

Writers:
Brent Barson
Jessica Blackham
Analisa Estrada
Meg Gallagher
John Jensen
Regan Fred Johnson
Colin “The Pin” Pinegar

“Our dreams drench us in senses, and senses steep us again in dreams.” — Amos Bronson Alcott
“If eyes were made for seeing, then beauty is its own excuse for being.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Sound conducts the symphony of life.” — Anonymous
“Everyone eats and drinks, but few appreciate taste.” — Confucius
“Nothing conjures a more vivid memory than a familiar scent.” — Anonymous
“The sense of touch adds dimension to our existence.” — Anonymous

Storyboards:
Brent Barson
Jessica Blackham
Analisa Estrada
John Jensen
Regan Fred Johnson
Colin “The Pin” Pinegar

Construction, Paint & Glue:
Brent Barson
Wynn Burton
Analisa Estrada
Meg Gallagher
Olivia Juarez Knudsen
Casey Lewis
Reeding Roberts
Deven Stephens

Brain Sculpture:
Brian Christensen

Animators:
Brent Barson
Wynn Burton
Analisa Estrada
Meg Gallagher
Olivia Juarez Knudsen
Reeding Roberts
Deven Stephens

Cinematographer:
Wynn Burton

Editing:
Brent Barson
Wynn Burton
Analisa Estrada
Meg Gallagher
Reeding Roberts

Hand Models:
Analisa Estrada
Meg Gallagher
Olivia Juarez Knudsen
Deven Stephens
Michelle Stephens

Original Music:
micah dahl anderson
www.micahdahl.com

Shot with a RED One, a Canon EOS 5D Mark II, a Canon EOS 40D, and a Nikon D80.
Stop motion created with Dragon Stop Motion.

Special thanks to Kevin “Laser” Cole and the BYU waterjet cutting crew.
Effusive thanks go to Eddie King and Rubberball Productions for the RED shoot.
Thanks to Font Bureau for the usage of their handsome typefaces.
Much obliged to Verite, Bethanne Anderson and Paul “P-Dudey” Adams for the lighting & equipment, and Adrian Pulfer for the Mark II.
Thanks to the Amanda Knight Hall for the ghosts, and lingering nagchampa smell.

Posted on Motionographer

You have to really admire the Japanese and their animation. They can take something as mundane as how Google Street View works, and transform it into something so quirky and charming! I really enjoy all the contraptions employed to get the job done, it stokes that little fire in my heart that Wallace and Gromit sparked as a child.

Unfortunately my ability to read Japanese is about on par with my Chinese, so I’ve no idea who created the animation. If you do know, then please let me know.
Made by Pangra!

Posted on Motionographer