ANDRAS on Shooting in Area 51, Bending Reality, and Being Polar Opposites

When Justin Lee and Philip Kim met, it wasn’t long before they started dreaming up their creative future together. Now, together as ANDRAS, the multi-hyphenate director duo are taking the UK, US, and The Netherlands by storm with the backing of production company, Hype Empire.

Representing a new generation of innovative talent, ANDRAS bring a fresh perspective that blends Korean and North American influences as well as a mastery of VFX, design, and animation to elevate their filmmaking in spots for brands like Moncler, Footlocker x Crocs, Diadora, and HI-CHEW.

LBB’s Zara Naseer spoke to the pair following their signing at Hype Empire to learn more about their partnership, creative process, major milestones, and goals.

Above: Footlocker x Crocs 'Area 54'

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LBB> You knew pretty early on that you’d have a creative future together. Tell us about that first meeting/collaborative experience – how did you know each other was ‘the one’?

Justin> Phil and I met working together at a different production company. We were both still trying to figure out where we wanted to go in the film industry but luckily we were gaining the experience of working together. We started to realise that even though we were polar opposites, his strengths were my weaknesses, and the very things that made us different were the things that made us stronger as a unit. Our time had come to leave our former company, and we understood that we were in a position of privilege to be able to choose who we get to work with on a day-to-day. More than being coworkers, we became friends, and we didn't know what could happen, but we knew we wanted to work together and ANDRAS was born.

LBB> You’ve crafted some truly colourful and experimental commercials. What’s your ideation process like, and how do you make the most of your backgrounds in VFX, design, and animation to create innovative work that’s uniquely ‘ANDRAS’?

ANDRAS> You never know where the idea will come from, and we want everyone on our team to feel heard. We created this process where everyone on our team will approach the brief in their own way, with their own concepts. After the individual ideation phase, we come together and pitch our concepts to each other. We take the strongest elements from each idea and combine them to create one Voltron idea. Our team is small but we all have different perspectives that broaden our creative approach. We try to stay in front of new industry practice and continue to bend reality with the ever-evolving tools at our disposal.

Above: HI-CHEW 'Choose to Chew'

LBB> Who are your creative heroes?

Justin> David Fincher, Daniel Arsham, Bong Joon Ho, pgLang.

Philip> Guy Ritchie, Virgil Abloh, the Daniels, pgLang.

LBB> What is the collaboration that you’re each most proud of and why?

ANDRAS> Our proudest collaboration to date has been our Footlocker x Crocs campaigns. We built a foundation of trust with our client so when it came time to execute on a new campaign they gave us the creative freedom to build something from scratch. This campaign took us to Area 51, Long Beach CA, Toronto, and we created two great spots, but it didn't end there. They wanted to keep our creative rolling so they asked us to design the Crocs activation at ComplexCon and premiere one of our spots inside our space at one of the biggest cultural/creative festivals in the world. It was amazing to build this project from scratch, and see what it evolved into.

LBB> What’s the biggest creative challenge you’ve had to overcome together, and how did you help one another through it?

ANDRAS> The biggest creative challenge we've had to face was shooting a project in South Korea. We were dealing with a slew of production issues when we touched down, while at the same time learning about the infrastructure of a Korean system. There were positions we didn't know existed, the departments operated differently, and there were cultural nuances we had to respect. Our approach was to play to our strengths, take ownership of tasks, and constantly check in with each other to see how we were doing. Nothing is more important to us than our team, so as long as we are ok and feel supported by each other, we can get through any messy situation.

Above: Nike Air Jordan 'Dreams'

LBB> You’ve spoken openly about how your Korean heritage has influenced your interactions in the world. How has it impacted your experience of the filmmaking industry? Does that blended cultural identity bleed into your films in any way?

ANDRAS> We're very proud of our Korean heritage and we're also very proud to be from Los Angeles and Toronto! Representation is important to us and we're always trying to set a good example for our Asian-American community. Our visual language will always be a genuine representation of where we're from and our lens of life, so it definitely inspires/shapes how we create films.

LBB> What excites you most about your creative future together?

ANDRAS> It's exciting to see the projects coming across our desk. That's why we're so happy to have met Mitchel [Elsen] (founder/EP) and Hype Empire. They understand our ambition to scale as directors and work on more creatively challenging projects. They give us the space and support us to push creative boundaries and together we're going to create amazing work.

LBB> Finally, describe your dream brief.

ANDRAS> Super Bowl commercial.

Above: Moncler 'Moncler x Steve Harrington'