A few weeks ago, Bastille released their latest single, the candid “survivin.” Today, the band have released an accompanying evocative animated music video, which was directed by London-based British/Iranian director, Reza Dolatabadi.
This collaboration follows their previous work with Dolatabadi on the video for their song, “What You Gonna Do???,” which marked a seismic visual shift for the band.
The animation for “survivin'” draws on both Dolatabadi’s love of American realist artist Edward Hopper and Bastille frontman Dan Smith’s admiration for surrealist film maker Federico Fellini. Dolatabadi’s passion for street photography also provides inspiration, creating an imaginative, atmospheric short that gently brings the falling away sentiment of the song to life.
Working remotely during a lockdown alongside a team of animators from all over the world wasn’t easy, but their ambition to create a compelling, cinematic dreamscape simply couldn’t be stopped.
“Overall, I wanted to give the video a grand feel, almost like it belongs on the big screen, and for that we had to build a city in 3D, lock all the camera angles and movements and then animate our characters over the 3D layouts,” Dolatabadi explains. “Animation is a teamwork. I have to say I’ve been so lucky to work with an incredible team of artists from all over the world on this project. Without their dedication and attention to details, there was no way I could have finished this ambitious piece.”
Watch the music video from Bastille below.
