Gotye's music video for "Somebody That I Used To Know" tells the story of a breakup through unique visuals. It begins with Gotye singing quietly with a sad expression while the background behind him is slowly colored in. This represents how he has become detached since the relationship ended. When his ex-girlfriend Kimbra sings her verse, the two are also colored onto the wall to show they are both to blame. They ignore each other's accusations by the end of the song, having fully turned into "walls" without emotion. The dull coloring and lack of complex editing maintain the somber tone about dealing with the end of a former relationship.

1. Gotye – Somebody That I Used
To Know ft. Kimbra
By Shazida
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8
UVNT4wvIGY

2. Lyrics• [Gotye]
Now and then I think of when we were together
Like when you said you felt so happy you could die
Told myself that you were right for me
But felt so lonely in your company
But that was love and it's an ache I still remember
• You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end, always the end
So when we found that we could not make sense
Well you said that we would still be friends
But I'll admit that I was glad it was over
• But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough
No you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
• Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
• [Kimbra]
Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over
But had me believing it was always something that I'd done
But I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know
• [Gotye]
But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough
And you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
• Somebody
(I used to know)
Somebody
(Now you're just somebody that I used to know)
• (I used to know)
(That I used to know)
(I used to know)
Irregular rhymes
half rhyme

3. When the song starts,
the music and the beat
are fast paced but its
very quiet, kind of like
someone trying to tip
toe quietly.
The establishing shot
from his foot to his face
shows who the main
focus of the song is.
Once the camera reaches to Gotye’s face, it is zoomed to show his facial expression. I expected
the lyrics to be a little more faced paced to match up to the beat of the music but instead, his
voice is slow and quiet. This still goes with the song very well because the song title is called
“Somebody That I Used To Know”, the quietness of his voice indicates that he is upset about
how they have now separated.

4. Now and then I think of when we were together
Like when you said you felt so happy you could
die
Told myself that you were right for me
But felt so lonely in your company
But that was love and it's an ache I still
remember
Not looking at the camera, but looking straight
down which indicates he is reflecting on what
happened during his relationship.
When he says “you” he
starts to look straight at
the camera which involves
the audience watching the
video, trying the make
them feel like they are the
person that hurt him.
The instrumental bit after this first verse goes away from
the main focus (Gotye) and starts to “draw lines” on the
wall behind him. It then slowly draws the lines on him and
colours in the wall and him, which shows he is now part of
the wall because he has been “cut off” and “he was
nothing” and “walls” don't really get noticed by people a
lot.
[Gotye]

5. The dull colour of the wall behind
Gotye and the ugly, dull, dark
colours being used to then colour
in the wall shows that nothing in
his life is colourful anymore now
that she's left him and treated her
in a way he never thought he
would be treated.
You can get addicted to a certain kind of
sadness
Like resignation to the end, always the
end
So when we found that we could not
make sense
Well you said that we would still be
friends
But I'll admit that I was glad it was over
While the walls were being
coloured in, Gotye started to sing
again in a low and sad voice while
not a lot of facial expression, he
was looking straight in the
beginning of the verse and
towards the end too which
showed his confident side because
he is admitting and stating and
then in the middle he was looking
down at the camera which also
indicated that he is reflecting on
his relationship and past.

6. But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we
were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels
so rough
No you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and
then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to
know
Now you're just somebody that I used to
know
Now you're just somebody that I used to
know
The music starts to get
louder and the beat
gets faster which sort of
is trying to show that he
is now done with
explaining and
reflecting and
stating, but that he is
now going to fight and
tell what she as done to
make him feel a lot of
hate towards her
Instead of the camera being zoomed
into his face at this point, it does a mid
long shot of his face to show his body
expression as well his face and how
slowly his body is getting coloured in to
show that he is now part of the wall
behind him.
Also may indicate
how he is turning into
a wall?
Still no expression even
though now he is becoming
something else slowly and
even though she has hurt
him pretty badly

7. [Kimbra]
Now and then I think of all the times you
screwed me over
But had me believing it was always something
that I'd done
But I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on
somebody that you used to know
Now its Kimbra’s turn to fight her
case. The camera zooms out of
Gotye’s mid long shot and slowly
changes into a two shot to show both
Gotye and Kimbra
This shot also shows how they are both just as
bad as each other because they are now both
part of the wall which indicates that they have
both cheated on each other so really none of
them should be blaming each other for their
separation.
This shot then changes into a close
up of the two of them and she is
looking up at him with an expression
that she is trying to defend her self
because he has pretty much done
the same as she has done.

8. LAYERING – because he is singing the
chorus while she is harmonising which is
showing that he is ignoring whatever she
has said about him and is going start
pointing out al of her flaws again. The
fact that he is closing his eyes as well
shows that how hard he is trying to
ignore her.
Her harmonising could indicate that she is
trying very hard to explain her self but him
looking away and closing his eyes sows that he
doesn't want to hear any of it.
This last shot shows Kimbra turning back into
her normal self instead of being the “wall”.
She has had enough of him and enough of
trying to explain her side of the story so she's
decided to just move on – what the colours
disappearing from her might indicate. He is
still a wall because he is not forgetting what
has happened
But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we
were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels
so rough
And you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and
then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to
know
Walls are never noticed?

9. Thoughts on the video
• Performance video (but has a sort of narrative because
it is about a breakup but the music video with it
doesn’t really match up to it.
• Target audience – people who have been through a
break up? Because they may understand he colours
and the concept used for the video.
• Nothing to fancy – no transitions or clever edits, just
different camera shots to show the dullness and the
sadness of the concept.
• Make up artists needed to colour in walls and the faces
of the music artists.
• No costumes needed.

10. More on Gotye
• His video “eyes Wide Open” did not really feature him
in it properly, he came up on some sort of projector
and the colours in that video were vaguely similar to
the Somebody That I Used To Know video. They were
dull and quite boring but made the video effective. This
music video is also animated.
• His video Easy Way Out also is animated and uses dark
colours. My opinion, Gotyes videos probably show the
different aspects of his life which have been quite hard
on him which is probably why his videos are dull and
depressing.