To properly give the vast Canadian television audience an impression of what it might be like to have your destiny in the hands of someone wielding a joystick, a tbwa/Chiat Day creative team, headed up by cocreative directors Jamie Way and Aubrey Singer, sought out the experience of British-born director Rupert Wainwright. Way believed that Wainwright, the acclaimed director of September’s blockbuster film Stigmata, could effectively show a live-action video game for the purposes of a pair of tv commercials.

The client is Playdium Entertainment, which deals very much in video games, but on a larger scale than your average arcade. With several new Playdium locations looming on the horizon, including the $24-million site now up-and-running around the corner from the Playback offices at Richmond and John (so much for eating at lunch), Playdium has popped its television advertising cherry and done so in such a way that demands Way’s respect.

‘The client is very brave in doing these ads and they should reap the benefits,’ says Way. ‘No one could probably approve these spots except for these guys. They’ve been great for doing it.’

There are two Playdium spots to hit the airwaves later this month. They both involve a chase, where the viewer is following a man through a hotel, kitchens, restaurants and across rooftops. The spots will be delivered as one steady shot with only one cut (invisible to the viewer), attempting to capture the excitement and unpredictability of a trip to your local Playdium. There are two different endings to two different spots – and both have been designed to leave the viewer feeling jarred and unsettled.

To achieve the right feeling for the exciting Playdium spots, Way and the creative team – consisting of Nathan Monieth and Joe Musicco – decided they needed to find the right director. While watching a movie trailer for Stigmata, it was decided that Wainwright was the man for the job.

‘We thought that he might be unapproachable because he is such a high-profile director, but he saw the storyboards and what we wanted to do and he wanted to do it,’ Way says.

Wainwright shot three days in Hamilton and Toronto with dop Miroslaw Baszak.

Wainwright says he was excited at once to be a part of this campaign. ‘In advertising, it is very rare to come across a truly great idea and this really is a great idea,’ he says. ‘It’s visceral, it’s clever and it is interesting to execute it. I just like to get great film on my reel whenever I possibly can – and this is one of those opportunities.’

According to the director, who is just getting back into the commercial world as his film Stigmata continues to pay off at the box office, making the jump back to spot directing was a welcome change of pace.

‘It was delightful,’ says Wainwright. ‘It’s like going from running a marathon to jogging through a park. Even though it is very intense [shooting commercials], it is relaxing because you are just focusing on a few things that you really can do excellently rather than having to do 250 things excellently for 18 months.’

Playdium ceo Jon Hussman, who points out that Playdium is also responsible for the Tech Town arcades found within many Famous Players theatre locations, is confident that the spots will spark interest in the huge entertainment complexes.

‘There is a significant investment that we are making, but we are going to get a lot of value out of it,’ says Hussman. ‘We are going to use these spots for the launch of all of our locations across the country and into the u.s.’

Steve Manz will handle the edit at Partners’ Post.

Dustin Dinoff