Riptide- Vance Joy

Postmodernism- Cannot have a definition 

Example: Breaking the fourth wall- 

Deadpool 

The music video: Vance Joy- Riptide
2013

• To the beat editing
• Muted colour palette - mise-en-scene
• General theme and narrative- montage of shots suggests themes of drowning,dying and death
• Alternate theme and narrative- an unpredictable and deliberately misleading montage of shots
• Deliberately invites polysemic interpretations 
• Emotional response- cold, confusing 
• Montage consistently matches the themes of the lyrics e.g 'cowboy running' is matched with long shot, canted angle, symbolic of dual personalities, afraid of what he has become 
• Intertextuality-  the mise-en-scene suggests the conventions of a western film therefore functions as a referential code 
• Referential codes create audience appeal, as only certain audiences will understand the reference 
• Horror is also referenced in this video. The mid shot of the seance and the mise-en-scene of the ouija board is referential of horror cinema, in particular 70's horror films 

• The mid shot of the letter dated August 1974 anchors the audience in to a a particular time period, because it's cool 
• Mid/Long shot of feet being dragged under a bed,slightly low angled shot, low key blue/ purple lighting which connotes darkness, misery and threat -Italian horror film 
• Denies the audience a defiant conclusion/response 
• Voyeuristic mid shot high angled POV shot of young blonde woman removing in a one-piece yellow swimsuit, slow zoom on naked back, intertextual references to early bond films
• Image at the dentist looks as if it is from a horror film, being tortured instead of a trip to the dentist
• Desaturation is used to create the 1970's look 
• Uses discontinuity editing 

Context:

• He is Australian and is a singer, song writer 
• Signed to Atlantic records
• His genre of music is folk-pop 
• The video was directed by Dimitri Basil and Laura Gorun and has had nearly over 210 million views on youtube 
• Riptide was Vance Joy's first single to be released in the USA, following his debut EP(extended play)  " god loves you when you're dancing". It became a platinum selling single (needs to sell a million copies to be a platinum selling single)

Definitions:

Objectification- The process in which a human is represented as an object (process)

Male Gaze- The assumption that every media product is for a heterosexual audience 

Sexualisation- The process of only valuing someone for their sexual appeal 

Voyeurism- Taking pleasure of watching someone without them knowing 

Scopophillia- The love of watching

High angle mid-shot suggests voyeurism- implies she doesn't know she is being watched 

Looking out into the ocean is symbolic of adventure 

The costume is exotic and exciting setting 

Framed in the centre of the shot which emphasises the importance to the heterosexual male audience 

The shot is shallow depth of field- she is the only thing in focus 

Shot with a zoom lense 

Positions audience in a scopophillia position 

Stereotypically attractive with her long blonde hair 

mise-en-scene connotes luxury with the beach in front of her

Natural lighting is used in this shot 

Representation of women throughout the music video:

 

• One ideology that is presented is women are vonuerable 
• Very stereotypical representation 
• Intertextuality of films and other music videos
• Women are represented as being a stereotypical damsel of distress  
• Women are consistently shown as in distress
• Women are made to look powerful by doing stereotypical manly things such as smoking 
• An ideology is for women to be powerful they need to be like men 
• One argument is we live in a society dominated by men 
• Women are offended on close proximity or being comforted by men suggesting women cant be independent 
• There are consistent shots of feet and hands which objectifies women

Looks mature and glamorous
has propionate cheek bones 
Looks italian 
Hair style might make her look grumpy 
Has dark berry lips which suggests she's sultry and mysterious
Mid-shot/ close up 
Voyeuristic and an uncomfortable position
Creepy shot 
The shots are repeated (master shot)   
No explicit anchorage to this 



Feminist ideology encoded:

• Shown as confident - bright colours(yellow) , stripping in front of the camera 
• Presents a mocking parody of sexism in music videos ("how to photograph girls" which connotes that women are purely present to be looked at by heterosexual men)
• Many shots of women in stereotypical male clothing 
• Low angle mid shot of woman holding arms in a gesture that connotes power
• Mid shot of blonde women bound in mise-en-scene of tight ropes connotes the restrictions that women face in society, and is critical of the notion of women as a 'weaker sex'- connotes of 'being tied down' with maternal responsibilities etc
• Video lacks anchorage which forces audience to make own assumptions, simultaneously providing sexual gratification for male heterosexual audience, but also consistently informs the audience that schopophilia is creepy and NOT okay 
• Ironic representation of patriarchal hegemony
• Sexualised images utilised as referential codes  

Intertextuality-  where one media product makes reference to another media product - Allows audience a completely new way to relate to the product
- Allows audience satisfaction 
- Draws in a significantly larger audience   




Paradigmatic features of the horror film- Suspiria (intertextuality Riptide):

• The props- knives, noose, gloved hands, barbed wire
• Weak and vulnerable protagonist- damsel in distress archetype 
• Colour scheme- red, blue, white and green - vibrant primary colour scheme- red and blue filters, highly typical of 70's horror 
• Sound track builds suspenseful non-diegetic sounds. diegetic female screaming
• Violent male antagonist 
• Iconographic features such as cherry red blood 
• retro- fashion, muted colours 

Surrealism:

 Artistic movement which came about in the early 20TH century. It originated in France 

A text that follows the logic of dreams 

Allows the audience another way to relate to the music video- provides gratification of intertextuality- causing the audience to talk about the video with others after they have seen it - provides audiences of social interaction 

Eye line match or a match on action- when you cut from something happening to the reaction of something happening and generally they would make sense with the previous shot or image. Riptide has very little of these

Binary oppositions- Claude levi strauss 
Bart Simpson is naughty because Lisa is the complete opposite 
We know it's day because it isn't night 
They are used for comedy