The Swedes are so good at portraying the bleakness of isolated souls in beautiful filmic ways. Just take a look at this fabulous fashion film cum music video by YDA winning directing collective Philippe Templeman and Kian Zubicky. These guys are about to graduate. Unsigned but bet you not for long.
In 2008 you scooped up the YDA European Film School award for Stop the Street Violence. The creative and directing credit went to Gustav Johansson, Philippe Tempelman & Christian Zubicky. Is the Johansson in this the same as the artist featured in your music video?
Haha, no relation, Johansson is actually by far the most common surname in Sweden and that’s why the artist Johansson chose this alias, to remain a bit anonymous.
Tell us a bit about the evolvement of your collective relationship – did you and Christian Kian Zubicky meet as students?
We met at Beckmans College of Design where we’ve studied for the last three years. We were actually placed in the same group in the introductory “get to learn each other” course and… come to think of it… have worked together since. We seem to compliment each other really well and we’ve done a series of projects together ranging from graphic design, to art direction and direction. We have a big passion for film making, however.
Did you both study film? Or come from other design disciplines?
We are actually studying visual communication, advertising and graphic design at Beckmans College of Design which is Sweden’s finest education for such studies. We have a love for everything visual – motion or notion.
Was there any impact from winning the Young Director Award?
Yes, absolutely, YDA has given us a lot of great contacts and made it easier for us to prove to sponsors and future collaborators what we’re made of.
We loved the street party for oldies ad. Any parental influence here?
This ad was created for an non profit organisation that works against street violence and was formed shortly after the death of a young man who was beaten to death by his peers. Most violent crimes committed (here in Sweden) are alcohol related. But sometimes it seems like the adult generation seems to believe you solve the problem by treating the disease rather than preventing it. We’re more on a preventive line here. Connecting street violence to alcohol consumption and the gap between the youth and the adults.
It’s just striking how fast people forget what it was like to be a kid. We haven’t. Yet.
Tell us about the Johansson music / Heidi Nilaussen fashion video? Was this a college brief – how did the partnership with Heidi and Johansson come about?
The brief was to communicate Heidi’s fashion concept in a fashion video. It consisted briefly of a fictional subculture and we sat down together and created the world they live in, their ideas and beliefs. It was a really symbiotic process that allowed us to dip into each other’s world and to develop the film and the clothes collection together.
We knew that we wanted to use our friend Johansson’s music from the beginning, making a film that could work both as a music video and as a fashion film. It’s a really powerful and expressive song and it really gives the film the emotion we were striving for.
How did the sense and tone of the piece come about? What did you set out to achieve?
All the frames are directed and carefully planned by us, however we’ve worked closely with the amazing Axel Lindahl (DOP) from the start and went to the different locations numerous times, wandering around, sometimes in silence.
We think that the key is to have a good relationship with your photographer and to really take the time and plan the shoot together.
Actually, the video turned out very close to what we planned and wanted it too. It’s always a great feeling to go back and review the planning afterwards and see the shots on paper, and then watching the final result and being able to say: “…and there it is”. 
Now that you’ve graduated from the Beckmans Design College what are your ambitions for this year – commercials, films, signing?
We graduate in May and in a way this project sums up all the things we love to keep working with, allowing us to combine music, fashion and film. And of course, we wouldn’t mind getting signed by a great company!
And what’s the five-year goal?
Not sure if we have one. We just want to keep working together and with people and projects that excite us and pushes us further. Does that qualify as a goal?
