Riptide

• What record label is Vance Joy signed to?

  Atlantic records
• Atlantic records is a subsidiary to what major record label?

  Warner
• Riptide was Vance Joys first single released in...

  USA
• After being released in the USA Riptide became

  A platinum selling single
• Who directed the Riptide music video?

  Dimitri Basil and Laura Gorun
• What style is the Riptide music video edited in?

  Montage
• What does montage editing do for the audience?

  It invites them to interpret the video in their own way
• How does the music video reference surrealist or avant-grade cinema (Luis Buñuel)

  No clear narrative
• How does the music video subvert music video stereotypes?

  The lyrics are overtly represented in the music video "I was scared of dentists and the dark" shot of female looking "scared" with a metal contraption in her mouth that suggests she is at the dentist's chair followed by a shot of a light swinging in a darkened room.
• How does the music videos genre suggest the producers are suggesting this is more than a music video?


  Use of horror genre iconography (females being repeatedly dragged off screen by unseen forces and a character going missing in the woods) along with the style of Wes Aderson films. Themes of female domestic abuse present as well
• What does the unusual editing of the video create for the new American audience?

  A sense of uniqueness for the band represents them as "different" to appeal to a reformers audience who embrace difference and change
• How does the colour green connote money and envy?

  According to Roland Barthes "constructed meanings can come to seem self-evident" the colour green could be said to have achieved Barthes' status of a myth through naturalisation which might allow for complicated readings of the image.
• What is Polysemy?


  Multiple meanings
• What could "all my friends are turning green mean?"

  That the "friends" are envious or that friends in other bands have "sold out" by giving into money
• Steve Neale's genre theory explanation

  Genres are dominated by repetition, but are also marked by difference, variation, and change
• What repetition is within indie-folk music genre?

  Lo-fi videos with bands playing instruments etc
• How does Riptide subvert the Indie-folk music genre?

  It's montage style music video rather than a performance music video
• What film from 1929 could have inspired Riptide?

  Un Chien Andalou by Bruñel and Salvador Dali
• What scene in Un Chien Andalou is like the hand stabbing shot in Riptide

  The eye cutting scene
• Is the representation of women in a patriarchal society subverted or reinforced?

  It could be said that it does both. For a reformed audience who would have the oppositional viewpoint and want to challenge the representation it would subvert it. However a mainstream audience may not try to analyse the semiotics and it could reinforce the representation of women
• Example of women's bodies being represented as an object to be watched

  One shot where a woman with her back to the camera undresses out of her swimming costume. And throughout the video there are many shots of disembodied isolated sections of women's bodies such as bare feet running away - Van Zoonen theory
• How could David Gauntlett's theory of identity construction be applied?

  His concept of pick and mix is relevant to the style of video which constructs a range of stimuli that the audience is invited to interpret. The video rejects singular, straightforward messages instead invites a range of different responses
• How could you apply bell hooks?

  Feminism is a struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression, the images of gender are contradicting are they objectifying women in a ironic way to point out the inequality or are they feeding into the oppression?
• When will it appear in an exam

  Representation- compare with other media product
• Themes of question


  Focus on gender
• How are camera angles used to represent women?

  High angles to make them seem smaller and low key lighting to make them seem fearful
• What do the long takes do to the audince

  Make them uncomfortable suggesting that the victimisation of women is not desirable and should make them be able to question it.
• How are the victimised representations subverted


  Some women manage to escape therefore acting as their own hero's creating a more powerful, independent representation
• Intended responses


  Objectified shots are there to create meaning
• Define voyeurism

  sexually arousing fantasies involving watching unsuspecting people undressing, naked, or having sex
• Gilroy-post colonisation


  No ethnic diversity in video and all the women fit the stereotypical representation of women (blonde, slim)
• Three different modes of music video

  Performance; Artist performing the song ----- Conceptual; Based around a concept or idea (can include focus on theme or symbol for meaning) ----------- Narrative; Tells a story with a beginning, middle and end that is featured or suggested in the lyrics.
• Production Context


  Vance Joy is an Australian singer - songwriter who signed to Atlantic records. His music is categorized as fitting into indie folk genre. Vance Joy released Riptide and this was his first single released in the USA, and it became a platinum selling single. The music video was directed by Dmitri Basil and Laura Gorun and has nearly 100 Million views on YouTube.
• Characteristics of music videos

  Music videos demonstrate genre conventions, there is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals, relationships are built between the artist and audience and the close ups of artists give them the publicity and representation required by record labels, voyeurism is usually used to increase the video's attractiveness, intertextual references to other music videos, texts or films provide further gratification for the audience/fans.
• Andrew Goodwin - Music video theory


  Goodwin argues that there are 5 identifiable characteristics of music videos which are conventionality, relationship between visuals and lyrics, relationship between the artist and audience, voyeurism and intertextual references. 'It is possible to identify kinds of relations between songs and videos: illustration, amplification and disjuncture.
• Illustration refers to (Goodwin)


  The clips in which the visual narrative tells the story of the song lyrics. Represents the literal meaning of the lyric.
• Amplification refers to (Goodwin)

  When the clip introduces new meanings that do not conflict with the lyrics but adds layers of meaning
• Disjuncture refers to (Goodwin)

  When either the imagery doesn't match up with the lyrics, adding new meaning or when the visual narrative contradicts the lyrics or perhaps unintentionally undermines them.
• How Wes Anderson's style connects with Riptide music video


  Exaggerated, bold, colorful outfits being worn, Story is crafted to tell a chronologically ordered story with lyrics, colour is reminiscent to styles in the '40s, elements in frame carefully considered and chosen using different rules such as direct approach and rule of thirds as well as close ups, panning etc.., editing with different cut styles and similar frames in places, music style is folk and indie pop which is similar to Wes Anderson.