Simple Minds-Magic

In 2018 Esteban Diacono was asked to direct and animate the music video for the new single “Magic” of iconic rock band Simple Minds.

 

When interviewed, Esteban said of the project:

“The main inspiration came from a phrase that I like, “Smoke and Mirrors”. The source of the phrase is based on magicians’ illusions, where magicians make objects appear or disappear by extending or retracting mirrors amid a distracting burst of smoke. We wanted to show Magic in a more elemental way, playing with primordial elements like air and water.

The video clip is 100% 3D animated. We used motion capture to record several passes of the dancer interpreting the song in various ways. Once we got the performance, we then created the two main scenarios and the model for the character, along with the mask. The mask was an important element for us, since we wanted to have some sort of ageless, mysterious character as our lead”