Music Video Analysis (Tame Impala - The Less I Know The Better)

"The Less I know The Better" is a disco-inspired song by Australian psychedelic rock act Tame Impala. The act has garnered significant popularity in recent years leading up to the hit-success of their most recent album, Currents. The accompanying clip to the song (above) was directed by Spanish production company CANADA. It builds upon the teenage love-struck lyricism and combines it with reflexivity to deliver a surrealist view of high school heartbreak. Largely shot from the male protagonists perspective; it is a as though we're watching a psychotic breakdown unfold in retro style and flare.

According to the founder and lead singer/producer, Kevin Parker, the song was heavily inspired by disco music. Many intersexual references to this genre and time-period are hence present throughout. The first noticeable throwback to this era is the 4:3 "television" aspect ratio. This ratio has since been phased out by the TV broadcasting industry in order to achieve a more cinematic quality to television. The vintage pastele colour palette is also very evocative of the 70's/80's. Born in '86, this stylisation of film is perhaps somewhat nostalgic to Parker's early youth.

Thematically, a blond woman being taken by a gorilla of some sorts holds obvious parallels to King Kong; especially considering the initial literal larger-than-life size of the gorillas' hand in one scene. Not-so-subtle references to The Empire State Building solidify this acknowledgment later on in the psychedelic paint animation sequence. This sequence adds to the psychedelic nature of Tame Impalas recent music, artwork and overall aesthetic. The is also very reminiscent of The Beetles' "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" and 1960's pop culture in general.

Codes/conventions
No performance by the band.
There is a narrative
Visual concept suites the psychedelic nature of the bands music
Does not include iconography of the bands image - apart from the psychedelic nature
Includes dancing and sychronised choreography - a staple of the pop genre of music videos.
catered towards a young teenage audience as per the ages of those in the video?
Styling of the actors is very early 80's

Intertextual references
Opens up with people walking as the camera tracks them from behind - evocative of the Bee Gees opening to Stayin' Alive. The characters in this film are also predominately situated in the centre of the frame as per the conventions of the genre.
Empire state building is shown towards the end- reference to the YMCA video?
Reminds me of the dream sequence in The Big Lebowski - bright colours on a black background - slow motion + surrealism.
The black sculpture-like figure that gets the paint poured on it is doing the same position of that of the sculptures in A Clockwork Orange.
The sequence is possibly inspired by "Heathers" 1988.  The girl in the clip is also called Heather.

Costume
The girl wears an all pale yellow suite at one point - evocative of a banana - showing that she belongs to to Trevor (the gorilla). She also has a gorilla hand around her.

Cinematography
Very stylised
the characters movements are dramatic - almost cartoonish - echoed by the water-colour animation at the end of the video.
The colours are bold and bright on a low key setting. Neon lighting. Tinted.
Trevor and the guy are never in the same shot together.

There's a "T" on her t-shirt - signifying she belongs with Trevor

Primary colours in the ending sequence

Illustrative
Shows the mascot of the team (Trevor) of whom he mentions Heather falls for
We see a man dressed in a red cape - reference to the "superman" lyrics at the end of the song
We see the conversation between the pair thats mentioned in the second verse. Miming of the lyrics as per the pop/disco video conventions.

Theres a target in the middle of the basket ball court - where Heather dances.

Trevor does a Victory celebration in front of our protagonist in the hallway. The "Jock" takes his frustration out on the "nerd" mascot who has his girl.
Its possible the Trevor thing is vaguely racist - Trevor has become urban slang for a black male who is under the influence of/ has taken on a white culture.


Voyeurism
Many shots that would be considered as "the male gaze" - showing
A lot of looking directly towards the camera

Editing
Numerous jump cuts are made
Match on action cuts
Shot-reverse-shot
Temporal overlapse as Trevor is hit by the basket ball.

Slow motion

Amplification:
The visual change to the pouring of the paint matches the change in the audio during the first chorus.
The gradual pouring and dripping suites the legato notes of the keyboard/bass.
Slow-moption is utilised to match the long notes of the music
The last beat of the song is accompanied by a cut to black
The drop of the instruments before the first verse is amplified by the gorilla landing on the floor.