Riptide- Vance Joy

https://youtu.be/uJ_1HMAGb4k
Product Context
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
Riptide was Vance Joy's first single to be
released in the USA, following his debut EP
'God loves you when your dancing'. It
became a platinum selling single.
The video was directed by Dimitri Basil and
Laura Gorun and has had nearly 100 million
views on YouTube.
 Vance Joy- Georgia
Another of Vance's songs ,'Georgia' has a more
conventional music video that follows a plot. The plot
of this shows a group of soldiers in combat, bullets
shoot at them as they run into a forest. As many
soldiers get shot down, you see the main character
pause and panic. After we see him running over to
another soldier who seems shot, he picks up this
soldier and runs with him as mines go off behind
them. Once they get out of the forest they stop as
the main character realises this soldier isn't going to
make it. They pause then kiss, sparks then fly
across the scene as its revealed that a camera crew
is set up behind them. All the men on the crew are
crying intensly, while the two women seen are calm
,not crying. While this follows the typical music video
conventions by having a plot unrelated to the lyrics,
it also shares the absurdity of the 'riptide' music
video by breaking the fourth wall at the end and
showing the crew crying in an almost comedic way.
Does the style of the video relate to
the genre, if so why?
• I don’t think the style of this movie relates to any
genre or creates any associations as it doesn’t
show any specific styles besides from vintage. I
think this was done intentionally to separate
riptide and Vance Joy from all in the genre of indie
pop or indie folk.
Economic context
 Budget
The budget for 'riptide' is seemingly low, however I
don't think that this has limited there creative ideas
too much or the artistic vision. Their budget may
have had some part in their choice to make the video
vintage or 70's inspired, but it was original at the time
and making a video that focuses on lyrical
representation means that less of the budget could
go on effects or settings
Are music videos an advert for a band artist
or a demonstration of their value to the
producer/ record label?
I think music videos can be both but I
think this music video's aim is to
demonstrate Joy's value and
originality to the record label as this is
one of his first songs and it doesn't
feature him. However, this music
video could be an advert for the two
directors Dimitri Basil
and Laura Gorun as they feature in
the video a lot.
Does the use of overt references to film imply
a greater level of value/ production that lifts it
above the music video genre?
The use of different movie
references creates an
association with the movie and
film suggests a higher
production quality. An example
of this is the hints to westerns
and horror movie and the
movie Velocite featuring greatly
in it
Media Language
Montage Editing
This music video is edited in different montages
representing the lyrics in the song. Some of the
montages reappear throughout such as the
birds-eye view of waves. Most of these scenes
are shot in more unconventional ways as well,
for example, bird's eye or tilted shots, there is
also a lot of shots taken from behind or a quick
move of camera between charcters. This
creates the effect that in somecases the person
is there themselves.
Narrative established
One of the few narratives kept throughout
the video is the question of what happens
to the singer throughout the video ad we
see her become increasingly more injured.
It makes the audience more concerned for
her safety as it seems she has been crying
to (Her eye shadow is smudged)
Inspirations
The video frequently references the Western and thriller genres
and the iconography of Wes Anderson. The Birdseye view of
some items in the video is similar to Andersons style in the
opening scene of Napoleon Dynamite or scenes in the Grand
Budapest hotel. This creates an association between Wes
Andersons quirky style and this video. Another inspiration for
this could be Bunuel and Dali's Un Chien Andalou, this is
because the infamous eye cutting scene in it is similar to the
scene in which the woman's hand gets inpaled
 Subverting /genre conventions
• indie folk-pop genre
Riptide is relatively unusual both as a music video and specifically as a text
within the indie genre in terms of its style, rejection of narrative and lack of
spectacle or special effects. I think all of these choices were made to
emphasis a sense of uniqueness. This is also Vance's debut job meaning it
could also be to set him apart from others in the genre.
Lyrical interpretation, does the video
follow or subvert this convention?
The overt and deliberate way the lyrics are interpreted in this music video
subverts this convention of lyric interpretation. For example the opening line 'I
was scared of dentists and the dark' is interpreted explicitly with a shot of a
female looking 'scared' with a metallic contraption in her mouth that suggests
she's in a dentist's chair and followed by a shot of a light swinging in a
darkened room. This graphical representation is also repeated throughout the
video, for example :
• 'She's been living on the highest shelf' shows a woman walking out on a
high balcony, the camera views her from the floor
• 'Taken away to the dark side' shows a women in bed, in the dark, she is
dragged away into the dark with her hand stretched out for help
• 'Lady running down to the riptide' shows a woman running down a path
Semiotics-> Roland Barthes
• There is a lot of distinctive signs relating to the
lyrics that the audience can understand
throughout the video. There is a combination of
iconic, indexical and symbolic signs throughout.
Genre Theory-> Steve Neale
The riptide music video does not repeat many of the
conventions found in indie- folk music videos such as
establishing shots or bands playing instruments. But the
video is tinted creating a low-fi effect which is a convention
of indie- folk music. Riptide offers a major variation to this
so that its not associated with the genre as much. There is
also no shots of Vance Joy, or a distinct main character,
this also subverts most of the conventions from this genre.
Representation
 Gender representation
The majority of female representation is done in a very voyeuristic way
often filming the women from behind or showing her as a victim being
dragged away or hurt. This could be a homage to the 70's style in which
the video is inspired. For example, in one shot a woman with her back to
the camera undresses slowly out of her swimming costume, this is filmed in
a very sexualising way that offers the audience pleasure. This also shows
another example of women being sexualised in music videos.

Another repeated representation of women in rhe video is the singer that

gets the words wrong. At the start she has immaculate make-up and is
framed and lit in a flattering way, as we return to her we see her make up
smudged and her expression more vacant. It could be interpreted that she
originally was conforming to social norms but eventually became
disillutioned by this. However near the end of the song we see her hand
clutching her neck as blood drips down, this added to the womans hand
being stabs seems to trivialise violence as it shows no consequence.
Theories of identity-> David Gauntlett
This follows Gauntletts theory as it encourages the
audience to constuct their identity off of the originality of
this video.
Feminist theory-> Van Zoonen
• This supports Van Zoonens idea that the display
of women's bodies to be looked at is a core
element of western patriarchal culture. This can
be seen in the scene depicting 'The closest thing
to Michelle Pfieffer that you've ever seen' which
shows a women facing away for the camera and
slowly turning around, she seems suave. This
scene is constructed soley for us to look at her as
the lyrics suggests she is a love interest and is
she is associated with Michelle Pfieffer, which
suggests she is attractive
Riptide- Vance Joy