Andrew Hardaway received a 5-year professional degree in architecture from the prestigious Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles. While in school, he worked as a live-action art director and began teaching himself computer animation. After four-years as a digital artist at Industrial Light and Magic working on everything from Star Wars to Men in Black, Andrew returned to Los Angeles as a feature effects supervisor and 2nd unit feature director. While working with David Fincher, John Frankenheimer, Ang Lee, and Mike Nichols, Andrew wrote and directed a series of effects-oriented spots that go well beyond the typical hurdles of photorealism and integration; the spots tell stories that simply would not exist without the use of digital effects.

It didn’t take him long to pick up a shortlist at Cannes in Boards Magazine’s Best New Director Review and inclusion into Shoot Magazine’s New Director Showcase at the Clios. His “Moving Cities” for VW took home a Gold Medal in Execution from the Art Director’s Club, and his spots have been highlighted in Luerzers Archive, Shoot Magazine, ‘Boards, Adweek, and many other international creative reviews.

Andrew is known internationally for crafting stories with unusually strong and memorable images, where performance, visual texture, precision-framed action, and art direction merge to create a spectacularly dimensional commercial experience. His careful and prudent use of light, tone, and composition speak of a true appreciation of cinema and the importance of creative concept and intention.

In a world where anything is possible in post, Andrews live-action and world-class effects experience allow him to supervise every aspect of the job and effectively communicate with every member of the shooting, post, and agency production team in a simple and clear manner. His experience in the subtleties of conceptual storytelling and highly technical post effects make him a real asset to many types of production challenges.