When Kmart creative shop TBWA/Chiat/Day, New York was charged with taking the clothing chain's image in a new direction, the agency called on consummate performance director Spike Lee.

Spike Lee and Kmart, you say?

"He has a special way of making universal situations feel real," says TBWA producer Nathy Aviram of Lee's involvement the performance-driven spots. "When we got the Kmart boards that needed real feeling situations, we thought he'd be the perfect person for it."

Editor Rob Watzke of Red Car describes the campaign as a "presentation of the way people live."

The four spots in the campaign, "Intro," "Family," "Shopper" and "Disney," each feature segments of people standing in sparse living rooms recounting everyday dilemmas such as, "Why aren't socks sold by the pound?" Each section of monologue is cut to a different person followed by scenes of daily life.

"I find that Spike shoots in a direct way but always finds a whimsical edge to what he's shooting," says Watzke. "He shot all the actors saying different lines, then we went and found natural lines from each."

He says the biggest editing challenge was matching up the cutaways so that they made sense, without being too literal. "It wasn't like cutting a conventional story, yet they all had to add up to something in the end."

The shoot took place over five days and the editing was completed in 10 days, a quick turnaround according to Watzke.

Lee, who directed the spots through 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, had worked with both Aviram and Watzke on previous projects, which allowed for a smooth shoot and edit. "It seemed like one of those projects where everything went great. Everything we tried worked out perfectly," says Aviram.

CREDITS:

Agency: TBWA/Chiat-Day New York
Director of Broadcast: Ozzie Spenningsby
Agency Producer: Nathy Aviram
Assistant Producer: Jen Harper
Executive Creative Director: Dallas Itzen, Patrick O'Neill
Creative Director: David Lowe
Art Director: Andrew Golomb, Bill Montgomery
Copywriter: John Patroulis, Gail Barlow, Lynn Braneckey
Production Company: 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks
Director: Spike Lee
DP: Ellen Kuras

Editorial: Red Car New York
Editor: Rob Watzke

Producer: Rasha Clark
Assistant Producer: Jean Lane

Mix: Sound Lounge
Mixer: Peter Holcomb

Film to Tape Transfer: Moving Images
Colorist: Tim Masick

Online: Red Car New York
Online Editor: Tommy Tortoriello

http://www.chiatday.com

http://www.redcar.com