Riptide - Vance Joy MV Analysis

Genre and Audience 

Indie is a music genre, described as alternative rock/pop. In industry it means independent record labels. In film industry this genre of movies often includes various visually aesthetic scenes, props and colour pallets. The music video fits into “indie” category, because of its retro/ vintage layout of the video, hints of narrative that link directly to the lyrics and helps audience to have better understanding of the concept.

Narrative and Iconography 

-Many of these cuts also have a clear link to the lyrics themselves and candidates might explore the visual metaphors and possible significance in these edits in relation to the lyrics.It can be argued that the video does not follow a narrative; however when the images are looked at closely, it could be seen as a story about a relationship. The video is also a great example of how the mise-en-scene has been considered within each frame, how every aspect is used as a symbol for an idea.

-“And you come unstuck, lady running down to the riptide” 

Is sung paralleled with the imagery of a girl escaping from a tree she had been tied to and her then running towards the sea away from the camera. It is almost as if she has escaped the relationship and is running towards the riptide which will carry her towards the dark side away from the singer.This idea of a fading relationship becomes more prominent as the video progresses with the light become lower as the song progresses, with the beginning shots being bathed in golden sunlight and the final shots a dull evening light. That light being the personification of the relationship which it is going out.

"I was scared of dentists and the dark” -This is quite a gothic/horror interpretation of the dentists. Dentists and the dark are very common social fears people have. The point of showing a very unrealistic interpretation of how dentists now look is so the fear is felt within the audience as well. The fear of dentists is one of the most common phobias in people. 

"I was scared of pretty girls “- Looking at this clip from Viptide we can apply Laura Mulvey’s 1975 theory about male gaze. The women is seen 'seductively' removing the straps from her shoulders as the camera zooms in closer. Removing the straps would mean that she would be revealing her chest which is a main attraction to men. However from the audiences perspective all we see is the women’s back recognising what she is doing. Nervousness around pretty girls can lead to putting them on a pedestal.

“And she’s been living on the highest shelf”- suggests how he has been putting this girl on a pedestal for most of her life, above everyone else. In the video we see how she is standing on the balcony, filmed from low angle which creates the image that she is placed high. As well the highest shelf can mean that she is untouchable or he wants her to be unwanted, which suggests how he is obsessed with her. Through out the video, the theme of obsession is presented in different ways. The many shots taken from the main character’s back creates this atmosphere. As well with the progression of the music video, the scenes gets darker. 

"You're gonna sing the words wrong”- The video shows a women throughout the song becoming increasingly more distraught as the line is repeated.At the beginning we can see the main character being focused with high key lighting, which gives more glamorous visuals and shows that she is the important one in this scene.  Towards the end you start to see how her makeup starts to get ruined and there are evidences of blood coming from her hand, suggesting that she is hurt. This connotes images violence and aspects of domestic, physical abuse towards women. She sings the wrong lyrics at the end, which creates an image that she is traumatised or being forced to do it. 

The video frequently references the Western and Thriller genres, but mostly notably uses of Horror genre iconography- women being dragged off screen by unseen forces and a character going missing in the dark graveyard. This creates more mysterious atmosphere which is typical for indie rock/pop music videos and it links to the horror theme that the music video wants to portrait. 

Representations 

The video offers many interesting examples of the representation of women- they are repeatedly presented as an object to be watched. In one shot a woman undresses herself with her back to the camera, this emphasises how someone is watching her without knowing- stalking. In the lip-sync section, the main character is wearing beautiful makeup which represents female’s glamour and beauty. Towards the end of the music video. As the scenes repeatedly show this set, the woman’s makeup get ruined, which connotes violence and domestic abuse.

Through out the video Vance Joy and his band are being represented as the film makers of a video with this woman as the main character. This is quite ironic because they are filming a video while they are in the video. In the beginning we see a scene including a book with the name "Techniques of photographing girls" and a woman hand holding the book and giving it to someone. This suggests how the main character in Riptide agrees with the idea of filming her and even shows them how to do it. Towards the end of the video, cuts starts to get faster, which creates a dynamic pace and emphasises an anxious feeling of someone following her. There is possible idea that the men got too obsessed with her and continue to go after her even if she is trying to escape. The lyric at the start of the song "I was scared of pretty girls" may suggests that the film makers are not good with the opposite gender and are beginners in starting conversations with them. This explains the obsessive behaviour because being close with woman is something new to them and they don't know what is right and wrong. 

Postmodernism 

In Riptide we can see many inspirations from the film director Wes Anderson. One of the layouts which is typical for his movies is the overhead shot, where the objects and the hands of the characters are in scene's focus. This makes audience focus more on the shown prop and find out symbols and messages where in normal shot type they may not be noticed. With this shot type this music video shows many hidden symbols and allows viewers to focus more on the objects which are linked to the lyrics and creates the music video more interesting. 

The aesthetic and the settings layout are similar to Wes Andersons' most movies. He uses mainly warm and well matched colours, which creates beautiful visuals. In riptide most of the scenes include yellow, red and orange, which emphasises warmth and gives summer vibes. 

The dark parts of this music videos are inspired by the director David Lynch, particularly from his movie "Blue Velvet". The movie includes scenes where the male character abuses a female singer to a level that she starts to like his vulnerability. This can be seen in Riptide music video, when they show us the main character singing and looking beautiful, and towards the end, bruises and blood start to appear on her face. This suggests how she is being forced to sing even if she doesn't want.