Textual Analysis: Gotye - Seven Hours with a Backseat Driver

Mise En Scene

• The city in the video is very mismatched in it's design, quite like the structures young children may build with wooden blocks. This makes it seem like quite an innocent place, which contrasts against the behavior of some of the characters.
• A majority of the animals in the video are not anthropomorphised, making them seem normal. These are the animals who are performing the most mundane, repetitive tasks, which may suggest that to be normal is boring.
• The characters who are acting more raunchy are anthropomorphised, making them different from everything else, therefore showing that straying away from the norm is interesting.
• The elephant is wearing considerably more clothing than the other more anthropomorphised animals, giving him (?) a darnsite more innocence than them - a virgin. He is also wearing a bowtie, making him seem more formal, and therefore mixing with the norm (note the ducks who also wear bowties).
• The other anthro characters are wearing very skimpy clothing - the leopard especially so - making them sexualised - this is supported by their suggestive behaviours.
• The leopard is staged as the elephant's greatest desire, and due to the fact that he is the most 'idealistic' in his design, it's shown that the elephant would rather act promiscuously than perform to mundaneity by being the black bird's vehicle.
• The city is coloured with a subtle pink tone, suggesting that the day is at sunset, and the pink of the sky is reflected off the buildings.
• The anthro animals are all coloured very brightly, and also very different to how they are in real life, highlighting their difference and diversity against the crowd animals (the ducks).
• All the colouring is softened lightly by a hazey overlay, which suggests a warm environment.

Camera Techniques

• When observing the mundane activity, the camera is positioned above the action, laying it in an isometric view. This could suggest how lowly it all is - we're literally looking down on it.
• However, when more raunchy behavior is in session, the angle of the camera is down and level with the characters, which is the norm with most cinematography - this could suggest that it is normal to be different.

Editing

• The scenes where the elephant is travelling are shown in long, continuous tracking shots, quickly zipping away to view scenarios around the elephant for brief moments - this emulates the monotonous action of the elephant, and his tendancy to maybe slip out of concentration once in a while to observe his surroundings.
• A lot of the editing matches the tempo of the music, which is appealing visually, and helps blend the two products together.
• The editing pace increases dramatically when the elephant steers out of control, emphasizing the frantic, panicky nature of his accident, and it's drastic effects on the city. 

Performance

• The footsteps of the elephant match the drumbeat of the track, adding emphasis to his size and weight.
• The thrusting of the hippo and the leopard and zebra in the club scene match the cowbell (?) playing in the music, adding a sense of interest to this action, and also making it seem exotic.
• When the elephant cries at 2:22, his crying matches the strange string instrument's tune, as if it's his voice. His tears also hit the floor in time with this tune.
• The more anthorpomorphised animals are performing suggestive behaviours, supporting their 'animalism' and also their deviance away from the norm, mundane existence of the rest of the cast.

Where shown

• This song was around before Gotye's entry into the mainstream with 'Somebody I used to know', so the video is most likely to have been more seen online than offline. However, indie television channels may have also aired it.

Target audience

• Although the design of the characters may suggest otherwise, the video is essentially aimed at adults, due to the raunchy nature of the character's actions.
• Gotye's audience at the time of this song's release mainly consisted of those interested in indie music, so the video's arty design matches such an audiences interests.