CASE STUDY 3 : RIPTIDE (Vance Joy)

 

PAPER 1: Section A

CASE STUDY 3: RIPTIDE (Vance Joy)

 Genre + Audience : 

1.  "Indie"
2. Independent + Retro
3. Many references to Wes Anderson techniques and scenes:     

•  Centre Shots and Shots from Above: woman running away from the camera in centre of screen, the suitcase shot from above
• The lady looking at the camera with binoculars scene very similar to a Wes Anderson scene
• Quick Horizontal Span - Man and woman look at money

      4. References to David Lynch techniques and video tone:

• Woman singer who gets slowly worse and abused
• Very similar to Blue Velvet (parody)

Research and summarise the indie genre : conventions, influences, audience  and key artists.
What is the definition of " indie " and does the artist, video fit into this category ?

The indie genre is something that doesn't have a specific theme or a recurring pattern

Narrative:

1. Structure - repetition 
2. Linear/non-linear story-line
3. Fragmented
4. Women in video is the only sort of linear development

Linear , clear and resolved narrative , or fragmented montage based on the lyrics of the song ?
Analyse scenes for symbolic objects and the meaning they contain .

Riptide is a mixture of a fragmented montage, which also includes a sort of linear/non-linear storyline. They usually display the lyrics very quite literally within the video which makes the video very fragmented without any order/ meaning. But they also create a small narrative with references to David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" using an a slowly deteriorating female singer going from a bright, confident singer to a messy, "abused" singer looking more dull. They include a couple subtle, in-direct meanings within the song which as unusual as most of the song just represents how the lyrics would look in real life. These include the lyric "all my friends are turning green

Theme:

1. Violence against women

Representation:

• Gender -
• Women are victims
• Restrained 
• Scared
• Sexualized
• Dehumanised
• Abused
• Positive Examples: Low angle to show more powerful, confident women

Technical Codes:

1. Iconography
2. Language - Lyrics : Can be shown literally/metaphorically/abstract

• "she's been living on the highest shelf" - could be shown as powerful as she is now spying on the camera and is shown at a higher angle or she's unwanted as being left on the shelf

      3. Colour and Framing: Binary Opposition of the bright colourful scenes to a dark, horror scenes

Theory - Postmodernism

• Intertextuality - using other genres: Horror, Western
• Pastiche + Parody : References to a film that doesn't exist(pastiche), a lot of straight references of horror films(parody)
• Ironic Tone + Dark Subjects
• Reflexivity - being self-conscious