SET TEXT: RIPTIDE- VANCE JOY (2013)

SET TEXT: RIPTIDE - VANCE JOY (2013)

context:

• 'Riptide' is an Indie pop song written and performed by Australian artist Vance Joy.
• It was released in 2013 and was a hit in Australia and abroad especially after being featured in Gopro advert.
• The song is a straight forward typical example of pop music.

The video features random and surreal imagery throughout that has no clear structure or narrative shown by the many disjointed cuts in the video meaning there is no continuity. The artist is never shown in the video showing its unconventional style as it would be used to promote the artist as well as the song. Also, the video is fairly low budget as he was a new artist at the time. The video is all about wrong relationships which is shown by the strange links between the lyrics and visuals shown such as; wrong lyrics on the screen which is irony to the theme of the video. It's main theme was horror shown by the typical 'horror' scenes, smeared makeup on model and eventually blood showing a huge imagery of fear which links to Italian cinema by an intertextual reference to Suspiria in the colour palette of the video.

KEY WORDS:

• Celebrity - "The attribution of glamorous or notorious status to somebody in the public sphere" 
• Generic fluidity - the way in which a form or genre changes over time
• Bricolage - where a media product is constructed from a range of elements, often from completely different contexts and time periods
• Convergence - Two media forms which were completely separate industries which are now regularly combines
• Synergy - Where the interconnectedness of media products leads to a result of more of the sum of its parts
• Digital convergence - the coming together of two separate media industries thanks to digital technology
• Intertextuality - Where a media product or text makes reference to another media product or text

 

How are women represented in this video?

• there is a variety of different ways in which women are represented, there are sexualised imagery such as the back of a woman as she undresses her swim suit also images relating to vulnerability as they can be seen to be shown as vladimir propps character of the damsel in distress. some scenes also hint at some sort of escape from something bigger which is truing to keep tem or tie them down (literally), scenes like the tree, running away from the camera and running towards the riptide.
• There are many shots of women's hands and feet which objectifies women and dehumanises them as we don't get to see anything else except their perfect nails and heels. 
• It shows the process of unhealthy relationships.
• The woman in the dark with a microphone is a typical model with prominent cheekbones, slick hair style, a glowing healthy face and a bright shade of lipstick. perfectly gamourous possibly as shes in the spotlight.

What is the symbolism of the mise en scene of the rope and the dental brace?

• The rope shot shows her desperation of escaping and running down to the river which they keep going back to.  
• All the women look distressed or in pain especially in the first shot with the dental brace which is a very random start to the video and sets it up for the whole way through.
• The audience is unsure wether she wants to join the 'dark side' or escape and keep running for herself, like a back and fourth arguing or dispute.

In what ways are we positioned as an audience?

• We are positioned as an audience for pleasure from the sexualisation representations that support the male gaze as some images are used in the video to objectify women. As most of them are shown with minimal clothing and very glamorised with makeup, clothing and accessories.
• The close up shot of the women with the microphone is very close to her and gets closer as the video progresses. This would make her feel uncomfortable with the high angled shot making it seem even more creepy. 
• The target audience may like this as songs about women attract those that love romance (female audiences) but possibly these audiences could want to listen to songs around other themes/subjects.
• Extremely postmodern video - use of distressing horror imagery deliberately positioning the audience in a confusing and distressing situation.

What links all the women in the video?

• The video portrays women to be vulnerable which is a very stereotypical hegemonic style.
• Throughout the video all the women are objectified which shows the idea of patriarchal society.

What message about women is constructed in this video, and what hegemonic expectations does this reinforce?

• All the women conform to social norms of beauty and glamour that is associated with women of media.
• The same women are shown throughout the video and the artist doesn't feature showing the video is about the hegemony of his emotions onto her. 

ECONOMIC CONTEXT
Vance Joy music videos make use of larger, special effects and elaborate, coherent narratives. Funding can be discussed in relation to music videos in terms of the way that bands might start out with small low budget productions which increases in scope and budget as they gain popularity and fans. Vance Joy chose to spend less money on this production, to represent a more independent music video. The mainstream audiences impressed by larger budget music videos and attracted to the apparent implied quality of the brand.
May fit in with the lyrics of the song 'All my friends are turning green' so to portray that the artist is not 'turning green', a low budget video is used. - Roland Bathes Semiotics

INTER TEXTUAL REFERENCES

The video makes intertextual references to different media forms and offers a wide variety of seemingly juxtaposed references to convey a large amount of info. The editing together of the very different images allows for audience interpretations could consider Eisenstein's concept of 'intellectual montage' where new ideas emerge from the collisions of images and generate new meanings that might not already exist. The opening shot makes use of cinematic style credits and info about the music is presented with a title at the bottom of the screen. This title is graphically similar to a 'credit block' which is often seen on film posters or in trailers. The video frequently references the western and thriller genres and also uses Horror genre iconography, eg. females repeatedly dragged off-screen by unseen forces and a character going missing in a dark graveyard -Steve Neal genre.

MEDIA LANGUAGE

• The sequence where a male and female suddenly turn their heads to look at something off-screen and the next shot shows a seemingly unrelated pile of dollar bills. Many of these cuts have a clear link to the lyrics themselves and allows the audience to explore the visual metaphors within them and the possible significance of those edits in relation to the lyrics, e.g couple turns to look at dollars = greed, artist not thinking about money but his friends are.
• She's scared of dentist- he's scared of pretty girls
• It's about being trapped in surroundings
• Green= means envy, jealousy- of wealth, money well known
• Hanging (their ropes)- heading into a dark place
• The music video largely rejects a clear narrative. There are some short narrative sequences ( such as the scene where a girl goes missing in a graveyard) but for the most part, sequences deliberately lack narrative - typically narrative is associated with the indie genre.
• The extremely strong link between lyrical content and on-screen visuals - an explicit description, perhaps a binary opposition between a conventional and subversive music video

CODES AND CONVENTIONS

It is a typical convention of music videos to have song lyrics interpreted on-screen, overt and deliberate ways lyrics are interpreted in this music video might be subverting this convention.
The opening line 'I was scared of dentists and the dark' is interpreted explicitly with a shot of female looking 'scared' with an instrument in her mouth that suggests she is in a dentist chair and followed by a shot of light swinging in the darkened room. These graphical representations of the lyrics are largely repeated throughout the video.

• Riptide is relatively unusual both as a music video and as a text in the indie-folk genre in terms of its style, rejection of narrative and lack of special effects. Subverts the typical genre convention seen within the indie genre.
• Genre - Steve Neal, doesn't follow the typical generic paradigms of an indie genre
• However, this video can be seen as challenging gender representation. The video begins with the women conforming to social norms of beauty and glamour- that is associated with women in the mainstream media and westernized media. However, 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.
• It's a typical convection of music videos to feature the artist in them however riptide does not feature Vance joy at all so it makes this music video highly unconventional
• 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
• David Gauntlet - His concept of the pick and mix seems particularly relevant to the style of the video which constructs a range of different stimuli that the audience is invited to interpret. The video rejects singular, straightforward messages and instead invites a variety of different responses and interpretations.

THEORY APPLICATION

Claud Levi Strauss - Structuralism

• Binary opposite - the females thoughts aren't shown throughout the video there is only one perspective shown which is visualised and described - the mans.
• Binary Opposite - The lack of strong link between visuals and lyrics means there no explicit description on what's going on showing the contradiction between this video a subversive one and a conventional music video.
• Binary Opposite - The ice cream scene is symbolic of a negative breaking of a relationship but its cheery mise en scene contradicts this and presents a creep and troubling mood.
• 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

Roland Barthes - Semiotics

• The video is purposely a low-budget video and reflects the lyrics 'all my friends are turning green' referencing the desire for money. Showing a symbolic code and metaphor of green meaning money but also jealousy could be represented
• The use of green shows envy, jealousy of being wealthy as money is a well-known thing by everyone.

Steve Neale - Genre

• The image of the riptide gets shown repeatedly for a simplistic view but also helps the audience engage, whilst its shown every time the chorus plays the audience see a comfortable image showing the repetition needed for genres.
• As the video's color pallet gets darker it references Western and Thriller genres and uses Horror genre iconography for example; the women getting pulled away into the dark or the graveyard setting.
• The video doesn't follow the typical genre paradigms of indie genres.

bell hooks - Feminism

• This video sends contradictory messages about gender she would argue if the video is objectifying women or being used to reject the social norms that women face.

David Gauntlet - Pick and Mix Theory

• His concept of the pick and mix seems particularly relevant to the style of the video which constructs a range of different stimuli that the audience is invited to interpret. The video rejects singular, straightforward messages and instead invites a variety of different responses and interpretations.