Media language: initial
analysis on Riptide
The music video interprets the exact lyrics quite
literally. In the beginning it opens with the lyrics ‘I was
scared of dentists and the dark’ with the images of someone at the dentist with
a dentist in their mouth and a lampshade. There is also a play on word with
subtitles underneath saying ‘you’re gonna sank the worlds wolf’ when ‘you’re
gonna sing the words wrong ‘is played.
The video could be referred to as a narrative music video because it
tells the story of the lyrics.
· Genre/Mise-en-scene
The upbeat indie folk song has been lyrically described as a
"coming of age love story" and is known for its metaphors and pop
culture references. The video doesn’t contain much sexualisation of women apart
from on the line ‘I was scared of pretty girls and
starting conversation’ where there is a girl in a swimsuit and she is taking
down the strap, however it still doesn’t really expose her or sexualize her.
All the props used are simplistic and everyday objects possibly to try and make
it more relatable to the audience.
· Gender
Gender equality is
evident in this video. The stereotypical
genre associated with the inequality of women and the sexualisation of women is
r&b/pop, which is the opposite of this song.
Vance Joy’s Riptide video is a good example of an illustrative music
video as it has strong images to transfer an obvious motif throughout the
generally upbeat song. 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. Within the video each line or section of the verses
and choruses are accompanied by imagery that is literal in terms of content,
for example the line”: “Oh, all my friends are
turning green”
As the line is sung the short depth
of field shot of a man and woman looking distressed is followed by a
close-up shot of a one dollar bill. The fact that the dollar bill is green is
obviously the literal translation of the shot, however it is safe to say that
the combination of the two scenes is the singers way of stating that his
friends have become greedy or materialistic. This is a basic example of how
each image, have more meanings. More complex examples can be found in the
chorus, which contains various reoccurring sections; such as people being
pulled into darkness as the line “Taken away to the
dark side” is uttered. However, the most prominent
example occurs at the end of each chorus, with a woman singing the last
lines of it. Each time she appears on screen she is more estranged, with her
make-up smudging and her mascara running due to tears and eventually to her
being grasped around the neck by an unknown hand. The relation between the
lyrics and the image is far more subversive with meaning having to be
inferred from the gradual change. The line that she reads is as follows: ”I love you when you’re singing that song and, I
got a lump in my
The last line is the most relevant in
trying to understand what is happening to the woman. The first time we see her
in the video she looks relatively content and sings the lines perfectly, except
for the last line in which she sings “sing the words right” opposed to wrong
resulting in the realisation of the lyric and mixed up lip syncing. However
with another section of the chorus being a particular standout. The line
goes “Taken away to the dark side” and is accompanied by imagery; of people being
pulled into darkness, dragged out of a bed, and a woman being submerged into
darkness. My interpretation of the line is that the singer is
stating that the girl has moved into a stage in their relationship were she has
lost interest in it, the dark side represent the lack of light between the two.
This could also relate to the earlier section of the song, at the start of the
chorus when the line: “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. This is what drew me to the video and was what I found
so interesting about it, that it bares a fairly serious message, about
inevitability not only in the context of a relationship, but in life in
general. However the video attempts to contradict this and fool the audience
into thinking that everything is random and the images are merely literal
translations of the more ambiguous lyrics. The way in which it forces you to re
watch in order to find out what is going on is very powerful and achieves the
ultimate goal of a 
music video to create interest in the song.
music video to create interest in the song.
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