Sep 18, 2020

Exclusive Short Premiere: "Corp." by Pablo Polledri

The company tells a tale of rampant capitalism, political corruption, environmental destruction, and sexual misconduct. And in less than nine minutes, he doesn't say a single word (except for gibberish).

Welcome to the rational satire of Pablo Poredri, an animator and illustrator based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After making fun of everything from religion to smoking in his previous works, Poredori takes aim at capitalism in "Corp." (2016). The film will premiere exclusively on Cartoon Brew:

Poredri has directed several independent short films as well as commissioned work for clients such as Coca-Cola and Disney. His background in motion graphics is evident in the film's schematic design. His strength lies in his use of basic shapes and iconic characters to convey complex ideas.

Below, Polledri discusses how he came up with the concept for the film, how he created its apparently simple look, and why the story reminds him of the Bible.

Cartoon Brew: Was "Corp." inspired by a specific incident or company? I began to imagine that person sawing the rectangles of his colleagues in the organization chart.

Companies end up being concepts in our minds through brand positioning. I found the idea of an organizational chart appealing precisely because it could strip away all the abstract structure and show that people work, make products, make decisions, and are part of this with more or less influence.

This short film is based on the idea of greed. I began to collect certain aspects that I wanted to highlight: labor exploitation, corruption, ecological impacts, and people working off the books. I combined my own work experience and personal feelings about the companies with situations I had compiled through different media.

The image of a man trying to "fall" on a colleague, which was the inspiration for this short film, ended up being a small detail in the film. It can be observed very briefly in the camera movement.

You wrote the script, animation, and music for the film.19]

Generally, once I have an idea, I develop it by using drawings and character sketches, writing concepts, and describing the action. In the case of the Corporation, I tried to identify the actions of the company that might affect the environment and the relationships that these actions promote. For example, it was interesting to me to include the role of government, which should regulate the company's environmental impact when highlighting its impact on the environment.

Once I had a collection of topics I wanted to expand on, I linked them to the growth of the company. Since I had already defined the company as continually growing, I positioned the different issues according to the size of the company. For example, it is common for small firms to have unenrolled employees. Therefore, this item needed to be included at the beginning of the story.

I defined the visual style and began animating without storyboards before the entire script (including the ending) was completed. The animation process takes time, so I was confident that I could finish defining everything within the first few scenes. Working alone obviously has its limitations, but it also offers freedom. Animation requires planning, but this method allows for improvisation.

I animated the story from beginning to end. In this project, it was necessary to link the animation of the characters' actions with the organizational chart. This is because the film functions, in a sense, as a sequence shot in which the action becomes more complex, and thus the animation becomes more complex as well. Working in this way turned out to be completely organic, even though it was not completely planned.

Generally, while I am working on an animation, I think about what sounds I want to include and at the same time define what sensations I want to convey. So once the animation was complete, I tried to reinforce that feeling through sound design and music.

The film tackles complex themes through very simple shapes and symbols. Did you have this visual architecture in mind from the beginning or did you come up with it gradually? An organizational chart seems unappealing, so I aimed to give the film strength in its narrative, themes, and narrative growth. As for the character design, we tried several variations at first, but soon decided to go with something iconic. We thought it would blend better with the overall scheme.

The theme we chose was particularly difficult to express in a short film with no dialogue. It is a very intangible theme, and one of the most complex things was finding a way to capture it through such a simple form. However, I felt that all of the solutions I found helped to make the story more engaging and didactic.

Additionally, they created a conceptual contrast. As the plot progressed from these simple forms to more complex ones, this reflected the growing impact produced as this enterprise expanded.

You work commercially...

My career experiences have convinced me of certain notions I had about the corporate world, but they have also certainly broadened that perspective. Both my experience and the research I have conducted have confirmed for me that corporations have a strong influence on many aspects of our lives. Corporations are where we work (or who we work for) and with whom we do business. We consume their products and services.

Companies are many and varied, but all agree that their purpose is profit. How they accomplish this will be different for each company. There are many facets to this subject, but I think what worries me is when a company acts in such a way that business relationships take precedence over human relationships in one situation, which is illogical in another context. [For example, if a company plans to make a product obsolete, the focus is solely on earning more revenue without considering the effectiveness of responsible production that contributes to more sustainable consumption. Over time, these business strategies become more widespread and entrenched. I believe that commercial interests should be tied to the promotion of public welfare.

The names of the companies in the film are Adan and Eva, or Adam and Eve. 20]

The idea of this organizational chart is like an organism that is brought to life step by step by every employee who works there. At the end of the short film, this becomes more apparent. Through this concept, I came to an analogy with the biblical book of Genesis. Just as Genesis is the story of the creation of man, my story is like the creation of a company.

In this case, paradise is the possibility of living peacefully on earth, where nature provides everything we need to live well and peacefully. But just as Adam and Eve lost paradise, so we will lose it. Paradise is the place where we already live. We have what we need to enjoy paradise, but we can lose it all through greed. It is we, the "Creator," who decides if that will be the case.