Vance Joy - Riptide

POSTMONDERNISM - Cannot have a definition. It is a theory that hates theories

Aspects of post modernism:
Style over substance - valuing the looks of something rather then the depth of it
Lack of distinction between "low" and "high" culture
The erosions of self and identity
Emphasis of surface meaning over deeper analysis
Distrust of form, convention and established conventions
Breaking the fourth wall
Theories to Match this video
bell hooks & Lisbet Van Zoonen 
Key Terms

Objectification - The process by which a human is represented as an object. Producer uses media language to do this.

Male Gaze - The assumption that every media product is made for a hetereosexual male audience which means that the function of any woman we see in the media product is used for the pleasure of the audience. Lisbet Van Zoonen's Theory.

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

Voyeurism - Taking pleasure from watching someone wit out them knowing.

Scopophillia - The love of watching

Vance Joy - Riptide (2013)

• General theme and narrative - montage of shots suggests themes of drowning and death.
• Alternative theme and narrative - unpredictable and deliberately misleading montage of shots.
• Emotional response - cold, confusing, creepy
• Montage consistently matches the themes of the lyrics - e.g. "this cowboy is running from himself" then see 2 longshots of the cowboy running around and cutting,canted angle. symbolic of dual personalities, afraid of what he has become.
• Intextuality of old cowboy film - mise en scene costume suggests the adventures of an old western film . Referential code included to reach out to more of  a larger audience, and create audience appeal.
• Additionally the mid shot of the seance and the mise n scene of the ouija board is referential of horror cinema, in particular 70s horror films. 70s because it is cool
• Mid shot of letter dated August 1974 anchors audience into a particular time period. 
• Mid shot of feet being dragged under a bed, low angle shot, low key purple lighting - purple lighting connotes evil and darkness, specific reference to 1970s Italian horror films
• The video denys the audience a definite response/reading
• Voyeuristic mid shot, high angled POV shot of young blonde woman removing a one piece yellow swimsuit. Tone of yellow is very 70s. Slow zoom.
• Intertextual reference to early Bond films and Baywatch
• "Techniques of photographing girls' heavily manicured female hand pushes red leather book in to frame in a manner that looks staged and forced. Non consensual. 
• Anchors the audience as the pervert. MALE GAZE THEORY

CONTEXT:

Vance Joy is an Austrailian singer/songwriter. Riptide was Vance Joy's first single to be released in the USA. It became a platinum selling single. He is signed to Atlantic records ( a subsidiary of major label, Warner) Warner is a conglomerate. His music is classified indie folk-pop genre

IDEALOGY PRESENTED

• Women are vulnerable - Stereotypical in other films, intertextuality. Represented as the damsel in distress. Women are consistantly shown as uncomfortable and in the way of harm. Lyrics achores  the audience into believing this
• The only shots where the woman looks powerful when she is dressing up as a man and doing stereotypically un feminine things such as smoking.
• Often close to men or being comforted by a man . Shows that women are in need and helpless.
• Consistent shot of feet and hands which objectifies women which makes them something less than human.
• Subverts and conforms to stereotypical representations of women.
• No specific anchorage of ideaology in the music video
• The video is highly polysemic 

Shot Analysis:

High angle shot- voyeuristic intent. Audience is positioned as the creep.

The woman is looking out into the ocean - very symbolic of an adventure.

Exotic influences of the mise en scene costume.

She is framed in the centre of the shot. Focuses on her, so appeals the the male hetereosexual audience.

Shallow depth of field. She is the only thing in focus. Everything else is blurred. 

Shot with a zoom lense. Further positions the audience as the scopophiliac 

Stereo typically attractive -long blonde hair

Midshot of her back, she doesn't know she is being watched.

Luxurious mise en scene of the beach. 

Natural lighting.

A lot of very violent images within the music video. Something very wrong and odd about it.

How does the video to Riptide encode feminist ideology?

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

Many shots of women in stereotypical male clothing. Low angle M/S of woman holding arms in a gesture that connotes power.

M/S Blonde woman bound in tight ropes connotes the restrictions that women face in society and is a critical notion that women are the "weaker sex"

INTERTEXTUALITY WITHIN THE MUSIC VIDEO

"Suspiria" (1979) re-release trailer. Italian Horror film.

Genre conventions/ paradigmatic features of horror films - 

• Iconagraphic features such as cherry red blood
• Violence 
• Weapons
• A weak and vulnerable female protagonist
• Prominent, vibrant primary colour scheme created through the use of different colour filters.
• The soundtrack - use of suspenseful non diegetic sound. As well as diegetic female screaming.
• Violent male antagonist
• Retro fashion - muted colours.

The iconography heavily references the horror genre:

"I was scared of dentists and the dark"

- the close up shot looks like a torture device. Dark and unsaturated colour, vibrant use of red lips ad nails.

How did they achieve the colours in this video? -

Desaturation and colour correction used in software such as premier. produced in such a way it looks like it's made in the seventies. 


SURREALISM - is a artistic movement that originated in France. It's very dreamlike. It can be a style of painting or film or music video. A text which follows the logic of dreams.

"Un Chien Andalou" - French surrealist film 

Both "Riptide" and "Un Chien Andalou" both lack continuity.

Normal films/ music videos use eyeline matches and a match on action - e.g. someone takes off their glasses and looks over then the next shot is what they're looking at. This creates a narrative. Both of these videos lack this.

This reference to surrealist cinema creates intertextuality and provides the audience with that gratification of social interaction as they chat about the video.

A music video needs to be catchy and stick in your head. That is their primary ideology. And by making the video weird you will remember it.

BINARY OPPOSITIONS:

Claude Levi Strauss looked at the idea of structuralism and the idea of how we make sense of the world through binary oppositions. 

Why do producers use binary oppositions?
To create conflict and comedy as well as a story.

What is representation? - How the producer re presents a certain group of people, issue or even a place. Shows the ideology of the producer as well as allowing people a way of making sense of the world.

Self fufiling prophifsey