riptide

Question 1

product context

Answer 1

• signed to atlantic records (subsidiary of conglomerate Warner)
• indie folk-pop genre
• his first single released in US, became platinum selling
• directed by Dimitri Basil and Laura Gorun
• 500 million views

Question 2

budget and why

Answer 2

• low budget, unique style
• could be artistic or economic decision, he was just starting out, later videos eg ‘Georgia’ make use of larger budgets

Question 3

editing

Answer 3

• montage editing used in overt way - a wide range of contrasting shots juxtaposed (often through hard jump cuts)

Question 4

eisenstein’s concept
and examples of this

Answer 4

• ‘intellectual montage’
• where new ideas emerge from collision of images
• sequence where a man and woman turn heads to look at something off-screen, next shot is seemingly unrelated pile of dollar bills

Question 5

narrative

Answer 5

• lacks a clearly defined narrative
• some coherant narrative eg whengirl goes missing in graveyard

Question 6

women

Answer 6

• objectified and victimised- reinforcing patriachal society?
• make audiences feel uncomfortable - victimisation of women is undesirable

Question 7

examples of women presented

Answer 7

• fragmented sections of women’s bodies - feet running, hand being stabbed
  -women undresses out of swimming costume with back to cam
• lip synch sections - woman sings lyrics into mic - first she has immaculate makeup, framed and lit - flattering way (conforming social norms)
• she becomes increasingly disheveled, make up smudges, sings ‘words wrong’

Question 8

bell hooks

Answer 8

• hooks as a stimulus for contradictory messages about gender
• objectifying woman in an ironic/ knowing way or feeding into oppression?
  hooks’ position that feminism is a struggle to end patriachal oppression

Question 9

example of way the video subverts mv conventions

Answer 9

• opening line ‘i was scared of dentists and the dark’ - interpreted explicitly
• shot of female looking ‘scared’ with metallic contraption in mouth (signifying dentists chair) followed by shot of light swinging in dark room
• overt graphical representation of lyrics largely repeated

Question 10

reference to feature films

Answer 10

• references Western and Thriller genres
• hipster style of Wes Anderson films
• horror genre iconography

Question 11

Roland Barthes semiotics

Answer 11

• ‘friends are turning green’ - polysemic
• image of dollar bills provides anchorage
• achieved Barthes status of myth through a process of naturalisation- allow for more complicated meanings

Question 12

Steve neale genre

Answer 12

• indie folk mv genre is dominated by repetition (low-fi videos with bands playing instruments) - extent to which ‘riptide’ offers variation to these aspects
• is variation due to artistic reasons or to generate interest in band to make profit

Question 13

surrealism

Answer 13

• references surrealist or avant-garde cinema - such as work of Luis Buneal (Un Chein Andlov)
• eye cutting scene in Un Chein comparison to hand stabbing scene

Question 14

david gauntlett identity

Answer 14

• Guauntlett’s concept of pick and mix - video constructs a range of stimuli with diff interpretations