Before delving into Emmy-nominated editor Peter Wiedensmith’s recent accomplishments, let’s first discuss the origins of his last name. You’ve got to be curious about it. After all, Wiedensmith edits for Joint, the in-house editorial arm of Wieden +Kennedy (W+K), Portland, Ore. That’s Wieden+Kennedy. See the connection?
So, what’s the deal with his surname? Was Wiedensmith born with it? Did he change his last name to Wiedensmith to reflect his undying devotion to the company? Or is there perhaps a more plausible explanation?
There is: "I’m actually married to [W+K president/creative director] Dan Wieden’s oldest daughter, [Tami]," he explains. "We began dating in college. Her last name was Wieden. I was Smith, and then we got married and became Wiedensmith."
Turns out neither of them wanted to give up their respective last names, and they didn’t want to have separate last names. "It was weird because it actually worked. There aren’t many last names you can stick together and make what looks like a real last name," says Wiedensmith. "I do still get teased for it."
Hey, you’ve got to give the guy credit. It figures that an editor who works on spots that get nominated for Emmy Awards would find a creative way to cut two last names together.
Wiedensmith has been in the spotlight recently for working on the Emmy-nominated Nike spot "Driving Range," directed by Lasse Hallstrom, out of Propaganda Independent, for W+K. (Hallstrom is now with bicoastal/international @radical.media.) "Driving Range" was a replacement for a replacement at the Emmy Awards, having assumed the place of Ameritrade’s "Let’s Light This Candle," out of OgilvyOne, New York, which was disqualified because it broke before the Emmy’s eligibility date. (SHOOT, 9/1, p. 1.) "Let’s Light This Candle" had replaced Monster.com’s "When I Grow Up," out of Mullen, Wenham, Mass., because it had also premiered prior to the eligibility date. "Driving Range" lost out to another W+K Nike ad, "The Morning After," directed by Spike Jonze of bicoastal Satellite, for the Emmy.
The nominee
"Driving Range" finds a group of golfers at—where else?—the driving range, all hitting terribly, until golf phenomenon Tiger Woods comes along, and hits a few balls. One by one, his fellow golfers mimic his stance and swing, and golf balls soar onto the green in unison. The action, which is set to Johann Strauss’ "Blue Danube Waltz," plays like a well-choreographed dance. Everyone’s swing, however, falls apart once Woods walks away, and balls again veer out of control, hitting trees and a golf cart.
The second Wiedensmith saw the footage that Hallstrom had shot, he knew he wanted to play up "the dance" with music, although it should be noted that the original concept for the spot did not call for any musical accompaniment. After mulling over different ideas, he settled on "Blue Danube Waltz."
Wiedensmith cut the spot over a weekend, then presented a version to W+K creative directors Chuck McBride, who is now the executive creative director at TBWA/Chiat/ Day, San Francisco, and Hal Curtis, who thought the music was great. As a team, the trio discussed how to tweak the ending, and within a week, the spot was completed.
The editor generally works with W+K creatives, not directors, during the editing process. "The creatives are definitely our primary clients, so they’re the ones who I give the most respect and credence to," he says. "The directors don’t come up that often—I think mostly because we’re in Portland. In fact, I haven’t even met Lasse. We sent him a couple of cuts, but he wasn’t really involved in the edit."
Hallstrom did his job, Wiedensmith says, noting that the director "sent us fantastic footage. That makes it easier to bring everything together."
Aside from several Nike spots (including 1999’s "Body," featuring cyclist Lance Armstrong, and directed by Ralf Schmerberg of @radical.media), another noteworthy ad on Wiedensmith’s reel is a ’99 Power Bar commercial called "Grave Mistake." He recently completed work on a Coca-Cola Olympic spot called "Kinetic," directed by Andrew Douglas of bicoastal Anonymous, as well as on a new Power Bar ad.
Power Bar’s "Grave Mistake," directed by Breck Eisner of Palomar Pictures, Los Angeles, is set in a cemetery, and opens with a group of pallbearers solemnly carrying a coffin to a gravesite. One man is clearly struggling to manage the coffin. Eventually his grip gives and, to everyone’s horror, the casket falls, and the body tumbles back down a hill. The message: A Power Bar might have given him the energy he needed to perform his task.
Wiedensmith says that while this spot was well plotted, it was up to him to decide how it should be paced and how big to make the joke. "How do you play the guy’s tiredness? There was a lot of film of him walking up the hill. Sometimes he was struggling really hard, and sometimes he was struggling not quite enough. So it was a matter of making him seem real and not telegraph the joke too much, not give it away before it happened," he explains.
"Grave Mistake" is certainly one of Wiedensmith’s favorite spots, and, of course, "Driving Range" is still fresh in his mind. While that commercial didn’t win the Emmy this year, Wiedensmith, who also worked on another Emmy-nominated Nike spot featuring Tiger Woods—’98’s "Hello World"—says, "Oh my God. It was a thrill to be nominated." "Hello World" featured historical footage of the golfer, and caused a bit of stir with its focus on whites-only golf courses.
Being nominated for—and winning—awards is great, but Wiedensmith says he really doesn’t need accolades from the outside world. Working for W+K is enough for him. "I feel honored to work on the level of work that they create here," he states.
A graduate of the filmmaking program at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Ore., Wiedensmith began his career as a production assistant, working on commercials and movies being shot in Portland.
At one point, W+K producer Bill Davenport hired Wiedensmith to shoot internal videos, including one detailing the opening of the agency’s now shuttered Philadelphia office. The project didn’t immediately lead to a job, but it did inspire him to start his own production company, Peter Wiedensmith Productions. "It was a real run-and-gun operation," he recalls. "I was twenty-four at the time. I was a kid." Wiedensmith shot mostly corporate work for local clients.
Ultimately, a position did open at W+K, and Wiedensmith joined the agency in ’94. Initially, he was a jack-of-all-trades, shooting lower-end jobs and re-editing spots that needed work.
W+K didn’t have its own editorial facility at that point, so Wiedensmith found himself working on an Avid tucked into in a printing closet measuring approximately eight feet by eight feet. The cramped quarters didn’t bother him. "I had so much love and respect for the work that the agency was doing—so for me at that time, just to get my hands on that kind of work was a thrill," he says.
It wasn’t long before W+K saw the value in having an in-house editor, and in ’96 Joint was officially formed. Now Joint has its own spacious set-up within W+K’s walls and employs three editors (including Wiedensmith), who work on Avids. And while Wiedensmith aspires to edit a feature film one day, he doesn’t see himself leaving W+K’s Joint in the foreseeable future. "I’ve got a fantastic deal going here," he declares. "I can’t imagine having a better client." a
