It is competition of the sweetest kind for editors Randy Kramer and Erik Carlson, who are staffers at The Assembly Line, the in-house editorial arm of Fallon Minneapolis. For Fallon, Kramer cut the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) spot "Photo Booth" that was recently nominated for the Emmy Award for best primetime commercial. (Kramer is set to join Fischer Edit, Minneapolis, on Oct. 1.) Carlson edited "Light," another spot in the PBS campaign that received the Emmy nom. (The other nominees for the award include two ads for Mercedes-Benz USA, out of Merkley Newman Harty & Partners, New York: "Modern Ark," directed by Gerard de Thame of bicoastal HSI Productions and Gerard de Thame Films, London; and "Aaooga," helmed by Victor Garcia of bicoastal Morton Jankel Zander. Nike’s "Freestyle," directed by Paul Hunter of bicoastal HSI Productions, was also nominated.)
Errol Morris of bicoastal/international @radical.media directed the PBS campaign, consisting of "Photo Booth," "Light," "Dishwasher," "Recording," "Pictures" and "Fishbowl." The ads, which broke a year ago, depict people satisfying their curiosity in creative ways. All the spots end with the tag, "Stay Curious. PBS." (Morris also helmed the feature documentaries Fast, Cheap & Out of Control and Mr. Death, as well as an acclaimed series of Miller High Life commercials via Wieden+ Kennedy, Portland, Ore.)
"Photo Booth" begins with a man sitting in a booth as the camera snaps away; photo strips show him mugging and gesturing dramatically. Back at home, he plays a record of Enrico Caruso singing "Di Quella Pira," from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Il Trovatore, while cutting and pasting the photo booth pictures of himself in a flipbook. The final sequence is a stunning revelation of the man’s ingenuity: The completed book shows him lip-synching to the Caruso performance.
In "Light," a young girl sets her alarm clock for two in the morning, then springs out of bed, revealing that she’s slept in her clothes. Accompanied by the song "Our Way To Fall," by Yo La Tengo, the girl runs outside through a field towards a barn, where she focuses a bright light on a sleeping rooster. The bird, fooled into thinking it’s sunrise, begins to crow—to the girl’s delight.
The Fallon creative team for the PBS ads consisted of president/ executive creative director David Lubars, associate creative director Bruce Bildsten, art director Chris Lange, copywriter Michael Hart, director of broadcast production/ executive producer Mark Sitley and producer Damian Stevens, who is now an executive producer at bicoastal Moxie Pictures.
While agreeing that an Emmy win would be the icing on the cake, the Assembly Line colleagues are gratified that their efforts for PBS are being recognized. This year’s Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show honored "Photo Booth," "Light" and "Dishwasher" in the advertising excellence/campaign category. "Dishwasher" was recognized in the advertising excellence/single commercial category, and "Photo Booth" garnered best art direction honors. Additionally, "Photo Booth," "Light" and "Dishwasher" scored in the media category at this year’s ANDY Awards.
"It’s a tribute to the power of a great idea," says Kramer. "I love to sell cars and shoes, but there’s something so precious about that ‘Stay Curious’ idea, and I think these spots really hit it. These ideas deserve to be rewarded. They are great writing and art direction. That’s not to undermine anyone else’s efforts, but I think it was remarkable that we were able to illustrate something as abstract as curiosity."
Carlson adds that he was pleased that work as simply elegant and charming as the PBS spots has earned accolades. "I think the campaign has a lot of heart," he declares. "It’s PBS, and it seems a fair amount of people have a relationship with [PBS]. They remember watching things … those fresh learning experiences.
In "Light," continues Carlson, "When the little girl goes outside, I think people can identify with that feeling of sneaking out at night. There’s a twinge of nostalgia. The girl is really inquisitive and has a sort of angelic quality. She’s going to try something … she’s exploring, experimenting. Who can’t fall in love with that?"
In-House Gigs
Kramer’s credits at Assembly Line include "History" for United Airlines, directed by Fallon creative group head Tom Lichtenheld; "Emphasis" for BMW, directed by Andrew Douglas of bicoastal Anonymous Content; "Dogs" for Nuveen, directed by Joakim Sandstrom of bicoastal/ international The Artists Company; and "Post Cards" for Nikon, directed by Fallon creative group head Dean Hanson. Carlson has cut such commercials as "Double Points" for Holiday Inn Express, directed by Fallon group creative director Scott Vincent, who recently signed with bicoastal/international hungry man; "Afraid" for the Children’s Defense Fund, directed by John O’Hagan of hungry man; and "Cat Food" for Nikon, directed by Wrye Martin of Wilson Griak, Minneapolis.
The PBS project marks a high point for both Kramer and Carlson in their tenures at The Assembly Line. Before coming aboard two and a half years ago, Carlson had spent eight years as a freelance editor in the Minneapolis market for such agencies as Olson & Co. and Miller Meester Advertising; he freelanced at Assembly Line for six months before joining its staff. A self-taught editor, he started out shooting and cutting projects on a part-time basis at age 17.
This is actually Kramer’s second go-round at the firm, having first been hired by Fallon as a broadcast assistant in 1995. He started cutting spots for the shop in late ’96. "When I started, [the Assembly Line editors] were working out of a closet," Kramer recalls. "My initial trial-by-fire was working on all of the development projects, storyboards … just getting to know some of the creative teams."
Within little more than a year, Fallon’s in-house editing unit had grown to a full-fledged offline facility. Kramer left in ’97 to join Fischer Edit, where he worked for two years. Ironically, his last job there—before returning to Assembly Line as senior editor two years ago—was a Porsche spot out of Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis, for PBS creatives Lange and Hart.
"The idea was that [Assembly Line] would be a valuable creative resource," notes Kramer, "and we’ve become that. But there’s the perennial challenge of working in-house: to compete with all the A-list editors that are readily available to the Fallon creative teams."
As Kramer explains, Fallon uses its in-house editing facility for economic concerns and other factors, while, in other instances, creative teams select the in-house editors specifically. "When I came on here," Kramer says, "there was something of an agreement struck between Mark Sitley and me that an effort would be made to do more broadcast work in-house. So for this PBS job, Mark felt we could do it and strongly advocated that we do it in-house. As I’d just come off of cutting work for Chris [Lange] and Michael [Hart], I think they willingly consented."
From Carlson’s point of view, his main task as an editor on "Light" was to let the story unfold naturally. Commenting on the opening sequence—a lingering shot in which the camera pushes in toward the alarm clock—he says he resisted cutting to a close-up of the clock or mixing up shots. "I didn’t need to over-cut or get fancy with it," he recalls. "[The goal was] for it to be simply pretty … to let it happen. It was a nice way to do it."
For "Photo Booth," the talent was shot lip-synching to the Caruso piece. That videotape was cut into still photos that were assembled to create the flipbook. The book was then filmed for the final spot. "It took a little bit of nipping and tucking on my part to get it to play out in synch," recounts Kramer. " ‘Photo Booth’ in particular just kind of left me with goose bumps when it first came together. The assembly of the flipbook—I found that film to be so beautiful. And there was the contrast between that film and the up front photo booth segment, which is so abrasive—the cold, harsh photo booth setting just played so well against the poetry of the second half of the spot. I had the feeling right away that it was going to be a remarkable spot. I think everyone did."
Both admirers of Morris’ work, Kramer and Carlson enjoyed their first-ever collaboration with the director on the PBS project. "He’s a really intensely passionate, creative individual," says Carlson, who subsequently worked on a multi-spot, Morris-directed Citibank campaign via Fallon, which included "Splurge," "Bunny Face" and "Skateboarder."
Although Morris wasn’t able to be present during the edit for PBS, he remained involved. "We had some good discussions up front," Kramer reports. "They were still shooting when we started getting dailies. We passed some tapes back and forth with Errol and, throughout the process, he was very forthcoming with his opinions and suggestions. Some of his edits forced us to look in different directions—and, I think, ultimately, we made him look at some of his own film in slightly different ways."
Ultimately, the success of the spots goes "well beyond anyone’s technique," believes Kramer, who notes that PBS was a serendipitous situation. "What was so exciting for me was having a brand like PBS, a director like Errol Morris and an idea that was so right. It seemed that all the forces came together and created a wonderful moment in advertising."
