Riptide

Question 1

Who is the singer and who is he signed to?

Answer 1

• Vance Joy is an Australian singer-songwriter signed to Atlantic records (a subsidiary of major label, Warner). His music can be categorised as fitting into indie folk-pop genre.

Question 2

Who was the music video directed by?

Answer 2

• The video was directed by Dimitri Basil and Laura Gorun and has had nearly 100 million views on YouTube.

Question 3

Information about the song

Answer 3

• Riptide was Vance Joy’s first single to be released in the USA, following his debut EP, “God Loves You When You’re Dancing”. It became a platinum selling single.

Question 4

What could be the meaning of the low-budget style?

Answer 4

• low budget could be due to the unique style of the music video was an artistic decision or an economic one as he was just starting off and his recent videos were high budget e.g. “Georgia” made use of larger budgets, special effects and elaborate, coherent narratives

Question 5

Representation

Answer 5

• Perhaps Vance Joy’s record label chose to include such shocking representations of women being tortured in order to gain publicity and market the song e.g. generate audiences interest in the band and make profit

Question 6

How was the music video filmed?

Answer 6

• An overt way; a wide range of contrasting shots juxtaposed (often through hard jump shots) to convey a large amount of information.

Question 7

Media language- ice lollies scene

Answer 7

• polysemic readings - metaphorical readings, the splitting ice cream could be symbolic of a broken relationship. Therefore the cheery mise en scene presents a creepy and troubling binary opposition.

Question 8

Intertextuality of…

Answer 8

• horror film - stereotypically attractive ‘horror film victim’ breaks free from being tied to a tree. Connotative of kidnapping and a violent threat. Contrapuntal imagery compared to the chirpy pop song. The representation often make audiences feel uncomfortable, which encourages us to see the victimisation of women as undesirable. Some women act as their own ‘hero’ in the music video, creating more powerful, independent representations of women.

Question 9

Media language- money scene

Answer 9

• the music video further includes visual metaphors. This can be when the line involving ‘friends turning green’ there is an image of money on the screen. This representation links in with Roland Barthes theory of Semiotics.

Question 10

How is the audience hooked?

Answer 10

• Concept based music video- more abstract- hook the audience through unusual style and make a statement by creating mood

Question 11

Links between the lyrics and visuals

Answer 11

• Extremely strong link between lyrical content and on screen visuals - an explicit description, perhaps a binary opposition between a conventional and subversive music video.

Question 12

What does riptide do?

Answer 12

-rejects normal narrative devices expected in a music video and instead constructs a montage of disparate images that lack narrative cohesion; leaves the audience to draw their own conclusions

Question 13

What does the repetition of image sequences create?

Answer 13

more disjuncture- lacking unity, creating a separation or disconnection for example between the lyrics and visuals- literally matches the lyrics but creates an enigma, not narrative clarification

Question 14

How does it lack verisimiltude?

Answer 14

Through knife going in hands & gun- to make the video surreal and lack realism -> means it’s a post modern product

Question 15

Intertextuality

Answer 15

• reference to horror/thriller genre e.g. Ouija, The Conjuring as repeated images of women being dragged, graveyard scene, stabbing hand and abused state of women performer, Wes Anderson cinematic style; audiences to engage more actively to decode meanings from the product

Question 16

Why Riptide uses a montage?

Answer 16

montage of everyday items establishes to the audience themes of travel and solidify the theme of escapism e.g. ‘cowboy running’ is matched with long shot, canted angle, symbolic of dual personalities, afraid of what he has become

Question 17

Media language- waves scene

Answer 17

• On the word ‘riptide’ a low shot high angle establishing shot of the sea, connoting danger and death.

Question 18

Media language- women being dragged

Answer 18

• reoccurring shots of female characters being dragged under beds etc. Gender emphasised through the connotations of costume, for example high heels, red lipstick and so on.

Question 19

Media language- woman lip syncing

Answer 19

• unconventional master shot of middle aged women lip syncing to the track. Lip syncing gradually deteriorates and gets less professional. MES of blood and smeared makeup could connote abuse, violence.
• the use of incorrect lyrics, signposted with the on-screen subtitles, might suggest a code word, further emphasising the themes of abuse and escape. Fully polysemic, with absolutely meaning explicitly anchored by the producer. Is she drunk? Is she in danger?
• as the video progresses and you return to the character, her appearance alters as her make-up has smudged and her expressions become more and more vacant. bell hooks would argue that this video is sending contradictory messages about gender. She would question whether the video is objectifying women or is it rejecting the social norms that women face.

Question 20

Representation- objectification

Answer 20

• Women in Riptide seem to be mostly objectified and victimised in some way.
• Voyeuristic M/S high-angled POV shot of young blonde woman removing a one-piece yellow swimsuit, slow zoom on to naked back, intertextual reference to early Bond films, even Baywatch.
• Throughout the music video women are considered to be objectified; which reinforces the ideal of a patriarchal society.
• Shallow depth of field. She is the only thing in focus. Everything else is blurred.
• High angle mid-shot suggests voyeurism- implies she doesn’t know she is being watched.
• Positions audience in a scopophilia position.
• These representations might appeal to a male heterosexual target audience.
• women conforming to social norms of beauty and glamour- that is associated with women in the mainstream media.
• reinforces a sense of patriarchal domination through the objectification of women

Question 21

Parody

Answer 21

Presents a mocking of sexism in music videos - C/U ‘how to photograph girls’ - connotes that women are purely present to be looked at by heterosexual male audience.

Question 22

Representation- women are presented as weak

Answer 22

The colour palette then darkens to match with the lyrics that run alongside the image. However, with the pink undertones, creates a strong sense of horror which is disallowed. The video uses high camera angles, terrified facial expressions, low key lighting and etc all add to the representation women as fearful.

Question 23

Intertextuality

Answer 23

-The beginning of every chorus with a bright colour pallete and on a beach will cause nostalgia as audiences can relate to their happier memories of themselves and creates the ‘feel food feeling’

Question 24

David Guantlett

Answer 24

The concept of pick and mix can be applied as there are a range of different stimuli that the audience are invited to interpret

Question 25

powerful representation

Answer 25

• a woman running down to the sea, subverts the stereotype; now has freedom to do what she likes.
• the woman is stood on a balcony looking down upon the man, suggesting that she has more power than he does and opposes the patriarchal oppression typically portrayed in music videos.

Question 26

representation- weak

Answer 26

• M/S of blonde woman bound in Mis-En-Scene of tight ropes connotes that the restrictions that women face in society, and is critical of the notion of women as a ‘weaker sex’. connotative of ‘being tied down’ with maternal responsibilities etc.
• woman on dentist chair looking scared; vulnerable; typical stereotype for women