Riptide- Vance joy
The song riptide is a song by an Australian
singer-songwriter called Vance joy. It was first released as a track from his
debut EP ‘God Loves You When
You're Dancing which was released in 2013. The song is also going to be featured on his debut album
‘dream your life away’. The song comes under the genre of indie folk/pop music.
For a quite unknown singer this song has very much made his career as his You
Tube video has over 21 million views, more than many popular artists in today’s
charts. Riptide peaked at number ten in the United Kingdom and entered
Billboard's Alternative Songs chart, peaking at number 1.
The genre indie folk arose in the 1990s from
musician who were in the indie rock community and were influence by folk music.
Indie folk include the melodies from indie rock but with the acoustic sounds
such as guitars and ukuleles that would be used in folk and classical music. We
know that riptide comes under this genre because the song includes the
attributes of a folk song such as the guitar and ukulele that is very dominant
throughout the song and makes up the beat and the rhythm of the song. There are
also many other instruments used which are more distinctive. This makes up the
folk/indie idea of the song and the pop side comes from the fast and upbeat
tempo of the song. Pop songs are known for being upbeat and faster than the
folk genre so combining the two together makes the genre indie folk/pop.
Although the music video was
shot in the modern era it has a very vintage/indie feel to it. The reason for
this is because there is lots of different clothing and objects that are not
used in today modern society. An example of this would be the clothing that one
of the lady characters wears. She is wearing a thick
brown valour blazer and skirt with a mustard colour jumper. In today’s society
this would be seen as a very old fashioned vintage piece of clothing that no
one would really wear. And by including this in the music video helps steer
away from the typical modern video wearing new clothes. This also helps to
provide the audience with a better understanding of why the genre of the video
is indie. Another way that the indie era is shown is by the clothing of one of
the male characters. We see him wearing a red white and green striped shirt
that looks very washed out which gives it a vintage look. He is also wearing
big round sunglasses which a metal bar across the top which are not your
typical modern sunglasses. They look very vintage that once again ties in the
indie genre.
The purpose behind the music video is for
entertainment purposes. The main reason for this is because it doesn’t actually
include Vance Joy himself, so he isn’t trying to promote himself through the
video. By making a video for entertainment it means he can use whatever and
whoever he wants in his video. This also means he can make the video however he
wants because he hasn’t got to make sure he includes himself in a certain
amount of shots. Vance joy’s video very much links to the quote “music videos
exist as an art form that you enjoy and are entertained by”. I believe that by
following this quote you are much more likely to create a popular and exciting
music video for everyone to like as you haven’t just based it around making
yourself more well-known. However all music videos are still a form of
promotion but some are more based around that than others.
Throughout the video there the clothing that the
actors are wearing are actually very similar. They all appear to be vintage as
it includes paisley shirts, big sunglasses, high wasted shorts and lots of
washed out colours. Not only is this stereotyping the actors but it also ties
in again with the genre. This also helps us as the audience get a better
understanding for the singer. The reason for this is because the video portrays
what he likes and what his personality and dress sense would be like. Another
prop that we see is a video. In today’s modern society we use DVD’s, online
streaming and many other ways of watching films being videos the most unused and
outdated way. There are also clips of someone doing math work using a book to
help them, where in today’s society people would use the Internet, as it is
quicker and easier to use. This really portrays the vintage era that the music
video is portraying.
The narrative behind the story is generally quite
confusing this is because it accompanied by a vast majority of images in a very
fast paced motion. This does mean it is hard to follow but the pictures are
self-centred around the lyrics. There isn’t actually a specific narrative to
the song because the different clips are literal interpretations of the lyrics
from the song. This isn’t what your conventional music video would be like but
it helps put a different twist on the song and bring out the true personality
of the artist, as he obviously likes to be different. This is how the
music fits with the lyrics an example of this is he sings, “I was scared of
dentists…” which is accompanies by this image:
This shows exactly how the lyrics interpret the
clips, because the girl is going under dental work, and her facial expressions
show that she is very scared. This technique is used throughout the video, so
the viewers can watch how the lyrics are put into perspective.
One of the main editing techniques that are used
in the video is sharp cut shots, this helps to give the video more of an edgy
feel. The camera has been used with a different lens that gives the clips a
different colour and texture, and the one that is used gives it more of a
vintage look. Therefore the actual video itself is quite simple with a number
of clips, pictures and shots blended together. The camerawork is very much
built up of just close ups. This is because the close ups are of objects or
people relating to the lyrics. Therefore this means that the specific shot is
focusing on the main object so looking at many different things doesn’t confuse
the audience. This really helps to show the comparison between the clips and
lyrics and how they relate. An example of this is when he sings “I was scared
of dentists and the dark” and we can see a close up of a chandelier that is
being turned off. Once again this is shown throughout the whole music video.
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