"Riptide" Music Video Analysis

"Riptide" 
the song 'riptide' was released by Vance Joy in 2013 for his debut EP  "God Loves You When You're Dancing." The music video does not follow a cohesive narrative but instead each frame features a symbol that reflects the lyrics making the video have very literal translations and connections because the lyrics are parallel with the frames which breaks general conventions of a typical music video because although the lyrics and video generally coincide they tend to follow a clear story line, however the genre of the song is Indie Folk so the music video expresses the idea of the indie genre being very unique and original. Each frame is polysemic and have further more complex ideas behind them, for example the last few lines at the end of each chorus features a woman singing and with each chorus it becomes more intense as her make up smudges and she becomes progressively more distressed until at the end a hand grabs her around the neck. when she sings, the lyrics at the bottom of the screen read "you gone and sank the words wolf" however the correct lyrics are "you gone and sang the words wrong" this irony again is very literal however leaves the audience in a state of confusion as the woman in distress contrasts hugely with the mood of the song. The haunting stance of the music video makes the video more engaging and interesting due to the way in which the song is being portrayed. The message behind the video is suggesting a death of a relationship, as seen by the lyric "i want to be your left-handed man" and the images that accompany it is a hand holding a gun and a hand holding scissors cutting a plant both of which signify with the ending of life. The frame whereby a woman is dragged to "the dark side" suggests the relationship is pulling her back although she is trying to escape. The video allows the audience to make their own interpretations of what the clips signifies which evokes interest amongst viewers as their is no clear narrative. The colours during the video vary from bright to dark and therefore add to the idea of an unclear plot.  
 

Roland Bartes

Codes Theory

"A galaxy of signifiers, not a structure of signifields it has no beginning; it is reversible; we gain access to it by several entrances, none of which can be authoritatively declared to be the main one; the codes it mobilises extend as far as the eye can reach, they are indeterminable . . . ; the systems of meaning can take over this absolutely plural text, but their number is never closed, based as it is on the infinity of language." - Barthes 

Barthes suggested that you can look at a narrative from several different perspectives to create entirely different meanings. Barthes believes that texts are either 'open' which means that the narrative can be interpreted in many different ways or 'closed' meaning that there is only one clear interpretation.  

these are the five following codes that feature in narratives: 

1. The hermeneutic code - the story swerves from the truth in order to create mystery, although clues are given no clear answer is given.  
2. The enigma code - build up of tension leaving audience intrigued wanting to know more, whereas unanswered enigmas leave the audience confused and frustrated.  
3. The symbolic code - organises semantic code into wider layers of meaning, it is symbolism's within the narrative that create tension, additional layers of meaning and define characters. 
4. The cultural code - looks at the audiences culture, e.g historical culture. 
5. The semantic code - suggests additional meaning through connotation which is different to the literal meaning. 

Vladimir Propp

Vladimir Propp suggests that narrative structures all follow a similar kind of pattern. Propp states there are eight different characters for each narrative structure these include; 

1. The Villain- opposition of the hero. 

2. The Dispatcher - character who sends hero to tackle evil. 

3. The Helper - helps hero 

4. The princess of prize - hero is unable to be with 'princess' usually because of evil that stands in the way. 

5. Her father - gives task to hero

6. The donor - prepares hero 

7. The hero - falls in love with the princess resulting in happily ever after. generally the hero returns to a state of equilibrium after defeating the villain.  

8. False hero - takes credit for the actions of the hero. 

An example of where Propps theory is used in modern narratives is the popular children's film Shrek. In this film Shrek is the hero who defeats the villain (Lord farquaad) and returns to a state of equilibrium after he falls in love with the princess (Fiona). The helper is donkey who's aim is to help Shrek return to a state of equilibrium throughout the narrative. 

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin's Theory
Andrew Goodwin expresses that there are five key aspects to his theory which include:
1. The protagonist is centre of attention due to majority of camera shots and angles being based around them.  
2. There is a relationship between the songs and action within the music video. 
3. Thought through beat. 
4. narrative and performance of the song. 
5. Technical aspect of a music video. 

The fourth wall is nearly always broken with music videos, as though the singer is performing directly to the audience, in this way they become the main focus of the video. This can also be achieved through visual styling, for example unique fashion that draws the audiences attention to the protagonist. This helps to promote the performer to the public eye through the music video and therefore leads to better success through the well represented artist. 

Goodwin believes that the lyrics in the song are applied to the video and the character does exactly what the lyrics say which therefore makes for a more visually appealing video promoting the song. 

Thought through beat is essentially analysing the chorus and verses and categorising the genre of music then hearing the leading voice of the song and being able to identify it. finally the artist establishes a story within the song which is visually represented through the music video.  

Goodwin states that it improves the promotion of the music video if the artist features within it, either as the protagonist or singing, this creates a more realistic and engaging video therefore the song becomes more successful. 

There are many technical aspects that contribute to a successful music video. These range from lighting to colour which both contribute to the mood of the video, for example dark low key lighting with frequent colours of black, greys and dark blues would suggest a more negative video. The rhythm of the song is important for cut aways which give the video a more entertaining edge. 

Laura Mulvey- The Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey is a theorist that discusses that the male gaze occurs when the audience is generalised to be looking through the eyes of a heterosexual man as the scene focuses upon the curves of a woman's body through slow motion effect amongst other editing techniques. Mulvey argues that woman in this sense are an object of admiration purely based upon their physical appearance and therefore a woman views themselves through a mans perspective. Women gaze at each other in the same way a man would which is  a consequent of the male gaze and hence end up dehumanising other women. Mulvey expresses that the female character has two functions on screen, the first is they are an erotic character within the narrative and secondly they are an erotic character for the audience to view. 

Preliminary Task

Research

Research

we have chosen the song 'dakota' by The Stereophonics to create our music video to. We started this task as it was approaching summer and felt like the mood of this song represented summer and the connotations of summer such as happiness, adventures and having fun. We wanted to convey this mood within the video. Firstly we looked at the original music video for Dakota and took inspiration from the car journey and adapted that in our own way which can be seen at the start of our video where we have a time lapse filmed of a car journey along the motorway. We also explored moods of other music videos, for example the video for 'All I Want' by Kodaline explores a story of a man with a facial disfigurement who is neglected in the workplace but eventually meets a woman who is accepting of him. We felt however that the general mood of Dakota is more uplifting and a feel good song therefore it would be difficult to present elements of a sad mood so we began to look at other music videos. We explored videos of the pop genre which tend to feature feel good videos although dakota falls under the rock genre so it is breaking conventions of a generic rock music video but we felt this contrast would make the video more interesting because it is unique. Videos such as 'Wildest Dreams' and 'Style' by Taylor Swift have both good visual effects and have a similar mood to what we were aiming for.