Synopsis

In a strange post-apocalyptic world, ape-like inhabitants discover the dismembered body parts of Cut Copy. Treating the pieces as mysterious instruments, they assemble the band into a bizarre living performance machine. Heads, hands, and other body parts are reanimated and manipulated as the creatures decipher an apparent musical code, eventually staging a ritualistic concert inside their cave-like settlement. The video turns a conventional band-performance clip into surreal science fiction, blending primitive ceremony, dark comedy, and elaborate visual effects.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was released in September 2011 as the third single from Cut Copy's album "Zonoscope."

• The concept had been developed through visual tests made by Emile Sornin at home and at the production company Division before the right song and band were found.

• The production was filmed in a Parisian mushroom warehouse, creating the cavernous setting for the ape society and its performance ritual.

• The band members had to perform while kneeling and endure deliberately awkward physical direction, including being pulled by the hair, so their detached body parts could be integrated into the effects work.

• The simian masks were created by Les Spada and were designed to evoke the practical creature makeup associated with classic "Planet of the Apes" films.

• The visual effects-heavy concept was ambitious for Sornin's early music-video work. He also handled much of the post-production and editing himself.

• The video's mock-archaeological presentation was extended by its promotional framing: the clip was jokingly described as having been discovered in a rusty chest in an ancient grotto in Saint-Maximin, France.