A.I. gets framed.

And Baron Davis, Thierry Henry, Vince Young and Jelena Jankovic. (Yep on JJ, who?) More branded containment, this time from Yahoo! and Reebok Entertainment. First-time celebrity directors take a look at various athletes in a series of very short films. Hate to call them even that. A.I. comes off the most real, but as with the rest of the athletes, I think he was let down by the material. I liked his dialog, but then they bleeped it out? C’mon Reebok, really. Audience isn’t going to blush and it just undermines things.

Now, director Paz Vega at least attempted an original idea with her piece, as absurd as it is, but Baron Davis is still gonna take some shit in the locker room for that concept. Director Vega also has an interesting concept where fans ask Henry all the questions, but collectively, the results of all of these films walk the line between extended commercial and really short 60 minutes segment.

Is that due to quick cuts in the editing? The profile feel of the storylines maybe? Dunno. Maybe they’re asking the athletes to do too much. A :30 spot is one thing, but asking anything longer is really hard. It’s not what they do, unless, it’s play-by-play work in the booth or guesting on a pre-game show. When they’re off the cuff, spontaneous like A.I. in his scenes, then I think it works.

It’s in those shorter TV spots where we're used to seeing more cinematic moves in slo-mo with a dramatic VO followed by a Swoosh. I’m not seeing that here. Still, I’d probably put this collection in the same league as Wade, Spike, Kobe (misguided as it was), and maybe even the recent Nash work.

I learned a little about each athlete, but not so much that it changed my perceptions of them. If that’s even what the directors were after.

Tags: Reebok Framed