Blinkink’s Nicos Livesey directs animated Iron Maiden music video ‘The Writing on the Wall’
Last night saw the online premiere of Iron Maiden’s latest music video The Writing on the Wall, an animated epic brought to life by Nicos Livesey of Blinkink.
The project initially came about when Pixar veterans Mark Andrews (Brave) and Andrew Gordon (Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo) teamed up with Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden to develop a concept for an animated music video. Working from a one-page synopsis supplied by Dickinson and storyboards created by Andrews, Josef Byrne of Blinkink was approached to bring directorial talent Nicos Livesy on board.
The video, which combines extensive hand-painted backgrounds with 2D and CG character animation designed to evoke the iconic look of the band’s legendary album covers, was completed over eight months during lockdown, bringing on roughly sixty artists to collaborate internationally across the UK, France, Spain, Norway, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Germany, Greece, USA, and Canada.
When Warner’s video commissioner Sam Seager asked if Nicos was available for the project, Blinkink’s Head of Music Videos, Josef Byrne, simply sent a photo of Nicos wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt. There wasn’t a chance he was missing this one. (Image via BlinkInk)
With inspiration taken from the biblical book, the story of Daniel and Sons of Anarchy, we are taken on a journey through a dystopian world ravaged by pollution and drought, ruled by the elite class as they gear up for an exclusive party.
Along the way, we meet a mysterious cloaked figure who summons the Four Bikers of the Apocalypse to a deadly desert get together, where we find a king vampire feasting off the souls of the young. The figure reveals himself to be the latest iteration of Iron Maiden’s irrepressible Eddie, quickly putting an end to the party by turning the vampire into a goat. He then frees a man and a woman from two giant test tubes, who crawl into the back of his Cadillac. As Eddie pulls off into the distance in the nick of time, he tosses the pair an apple that they devour, explosions litter the land behind them.
It’s a huge, epic masterpiece, created with some of the best names in animation. From Pixar to Blinkink, Iron Maiden to Nicos. It is a true collaboration of passion made during lockdown for the millions of rock & animation fans around the world.
See more of Nicos Livesey’s work at nicoslivesey.com and blinkink.co.uk