Synopsis

On a stark, otherworldly landscape, The Presets perform as the video gradually multiplies them into a seemingly endless army. Repeated images of Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes overlap, trail, and crowd the frame, turning a simple performance into a hypnotic visual spectacle. The sci-fi setting, strange costumes, and escalating mass of performers give the clip an uncanny, almost ritualistic energy that matches the song's pounding electronic production and communal refrain.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was produced in Australia in 2007 and runs for approximately four minutes.

• Its central visual technique uses repeated and overlaid live-action images to create the impression that the duo is replicating across the landscape. The effect was noted for turning relatively simple repetition into a dense piece of video art.

• The clip attracted more than 200,000 YouTube views within two days of appearing online, according to the D&AD Awards archive.

• "My People" won the 2008 ARIA Award for Best Video. It was also nominated for Single of the Year at the same ceremony.

• The song itself was written in response to the treatment of asylum seekers in Australian detention centers. That context gives the repeated crowd imagery and the song's calls for solidarity an additional political dimension.

• The video was nominated in the music video category at the 2008 D&AD Awards.

• The clip's science-fiction aesthetic reportedly influenced The Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow." will.i.am encountered The Presets while in Australia during the filming of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and later cited the duo's sound and energy as an influence.