To the sound of a train engine that’s first slow moving, then builds momentum, chugging along until it’s at full speed peak operation, we see pro basketball star Carmelo Anthony, a.k.a. Melo, in training as well as playing in an NBA game.
Images of him exercising off court and doing his thing on court are juxtaposed, the former including his running in the streets and up a steep flight of outdoor stairs, jumping rope, hoisting a medicine ball and pulling chains attached to a large concrete block and moving it steadily along the ground. On the hardwood, Melo is building to a bullet train speed crescendo as he patrols the court, eventually leaping to grab an alley-oop pass above the rim for what will undoubtedly be a monster dunk. A shot of a locomotive on a speeding track is intercut into that final play.
Inspired by the classic children’s story in which the choo-choo train utters “I think I can” repeatedly, the tagline to this spot is more definitive and appears but once: “I know I can,” followed by a glimpse of a speeding train and the logo for the Melo M4 line of Jordan Brand apparel.
Daniel Kleinman of Rattling Stick, London, directed “Engine” for Wieden + Kennedy, New York.
Johnnie Frankel produced for Rattling Stick. The DP was Stephen Blackman.
The W+K team included executive creative directors Todd Waterbury and Kevin Proudfoot, creative director/art director Keith Cartwright, copywriters Eric Steele and Scott Hayes, head of production Gary Krieg and producer Dan Blaney.
Steve Gandolfi of Cut+Run, London, edited the spot. Visual effects house was Framestore, New York.
Sound designer was Bill Chesley of Amber Music, New York. Audio mixer was Philip Loeb of Sound Lounge, New York.
Review: Rachel Morrison Makes Feature Directorial Debut With “The Fire Inside”
"The Fire Inside," about boxer Claressa "T-Rex" Shields, is not your standard inspirational sports drama, even if it feels like it for the first half of the movie.
There's the hopeless dream, the difficult home life, the blighted community, the devoted coach, the training montages, the setbacks and, against all odds, the win. We've seen this kind of story before, you might think, and you'd be right. But then the movie pulls the rug out from under you: The victory is not the end. "The Fire Inside," directed by Rachel Morrison and written by Barry Jenkins, is as much about what happens after the win. It's not always pretty or inspirational, but it is truthful, and important.
Sports dramas can be just as cliche as fairy tales, with the gold medal and beautiful wedding presented as a happy ending. We buy into it time and time again for obvious reasons, but the idea of a happy ending at all, or even an ending, is almost exclusively for the audience. We walk away content that someone has found true love or achieved that impossible goal after all that work. For the subject, however, it's a different proposition; Life, and all its mundanities, disappointments and hardships, continues after all. And in the world of sports, that high moment often comes so young that it might be easy to look at the rest of the journey as a disappointing comedown.
Claressa Shields, played by Ryan Destiny in the film, was only 17 when she went to the 2012 London Olympics. Everything was stacked against her, including the statistics: No American woman had ever won an Olympic gold medal in the sport before. Her opponents had years on her. She was still navigating high school in Flint, Michigan, and things on the home front were volatile and lacking. Food was sometimes scarce... Read More