Hermosa Beach native Jordan Cooper Andrykowski starting writing at 12 years old, performing stand-up at 16, and then making films at 19 while a student at University of New Haven. While finishing up his senior year, Andrykowski directed the first video for the emerging indie band Mandala, which was recently released on YouTube.
“I listened to the entire album on repeat for about two weeks straight so I could understand everything,” Andrykowski said. “I read everything that was associated with the album … I asked questions about the cover art, where it came from. I wanted to understand as much as possible before I even started the initial meeting with them."
The video, “Motel Lobby,” is a comedic horror tale. Andrykowski said he wanted to avoid the type of “melodramatic, angsty” video that has been seen many times before.
"Motel Lobby" pays homage to the B horror movies of the 1950s and 60s. Andrykowski hired a lead actress which allowed band members to “run wild” in the video, so they didn't have to take themselves too seriously.
“Although there was a lot of emotion in the song, I sensed there was a lot of fun involved with the making of the song and performing the song… the way they talked about it,” Andrykowski said.
Andrykowski graduated from Mira Costa High School in 2014, and went to college to study psychology. As a writer at a young age, he knew he wanted to be a stand-up comic. While he still hopes to hit the comedy stage, he’s busy working on a number of projects through his independent production company, Pathological Films, including three more live videos and a lyric video for Mandala.
The video was shot in a theater room at his college in Connecticut where he and others built an entire set in a week on a small budget. Adrenaline fueled the shoot since he had little sleep. He didn’t walk for his graduation because he was shooting, but he said he’s fine with that because he was doing something he loved.
Andrykowski wanted the video to stick in the viewer’s mind like many classic videos of the past.
“The best music videos I've seen, even if you've seen them once, you can't listen to the song without thinking about it,” he said.
Andrykowski has finished four short films and has one more to complete in preparation for his first feature film. His animated miniseries is expected to debut in October of 2019.
For more information, visit facebook.com/pathologicalfilmsllc/