Concept Music Video Analysis

I will be analysing the music video for the song Somebody I Used To Know by the Australian songwriter and artist Gotye and the New Zealand singer Kimbra. The video was produced by the Australian artists and cinematographers Natasha Pincus and Warwick Field.

Concept music videos are characterised by them being based on an idea or a concept. They combine all the characteristic of the song. They can sometimes be very confusing, rand and usually don't have a story. They are quite unpredictable and could fall under the large umbrella of the movement post-modernism. This specific video could also be labelled as a performance one as well, because of the amount of singing there is. The video features the two artists Gotye and Kimbra naked in the video, and as they sing their bodies are gradually painted into the backdrop through stop motion animation, a technique used in animation to bring static objects to life on screen. This is done by moving the object in increments while filming a frame per increment, therefore ,when all the frames are played in sequence it shows movement. Very common for artist who do concept music videos is for them to take their art to another level,however in this case the director's cut, which was never posted ,featured concealed nudity. The painting used in the background is actually based on a 1980s artwork created by Gotye's father, who also designed the cover art for the related album. According to the artist painting the singer's bodies it took them more than 23 hours to paint both Gotye and Kimbra in order to fit the background. The song lyrically relates to the experiences Gotye has had with past relationships, where he hasn't come to terms with the break up with his former lover. His former partner seems to have moved on and has changed into 'somebody he used to know'. That may be the reason why the artists have chosen Gotye to blend in the background as if he is invisible. However when the woman (singer Kimbra) ends the romance at the end of the video, the paint disappears from her body suggesting that the paint could've represented their bond and relationship they used to have.
A form of post-modernism in this music video could be intertextuality. As I mentioned earlier the background of the music video is a painting done by the artist ,Gotye's father , who also did the design cover for the album as well. That could be another element of post-modernism such as self-referentiality. 

In conclusion, despite this music video having performance elements, it also incorporates elements of post modernism such as intertextuality and self-referentiality, both of which are very common in concept music videos.

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