ISP 18- riptide

Task 1:

Thinking about the context relating to this video, do you think that this seemingly low budget, unique style of the music video was an artistic decision or an economic one? (Write 250 words on this)

Consider the role of technology in the way music videos are distributed/shared

Consider the role online video views play in the chart positions of modern music artists in the US/UK

(1 hour)

I think that the music video was produced in the way it was, due to a mix of both budget and artistic style. I feel that possibly due to a lower budget, than Vance Joy has now, that he was challenged to think creatively, this may have sparked a unique style of his and urged him to go down such a route. The style of the video looks purposeful, so therefore if it was due to low budget, it is a good cover as the video is so intricate and interesting you forget about budgets. With all the quick cuts and the sheer number of props creating lots of fast scenes, I think that the video possibly was not really that low of a budget film, it served its purpose and was entertaining to viewers. A higher budget may have made the song seem more glamourous and professional, but due to the eerie nature of the song with contrasting lyrics and melodies I think that the style of the video fit well. As Riptide was Vance Joys first song being released in the US, the creative and unique style of the music video would have helped him to stand out in the industry, not only as a new artist but as a creative individual. The video was shared on YouTube, on an Australian shared music video account. The fact that he didn’t have his own separate YouTube account until he became popular in the US shows how the consumption of music has changed over time and Music videos are becoming a more important part in an artists work. Some charts in the music industry take into account MV views, they at least promote the song and could result in it being played on the radio, therefore garnering even a further reach.

Task 2: 

Avant-garde is originally a French term, meaning advance guard (the part of an army that goes forward ahead of the rest).

• Reference to art in France in the first half of the nineteenth century.
• Henri de Saint-Simon, believed in the social power of the arts and saw artists, alongside scientists and industrialists, as the leaders of a new society.
• It is applicable to all art that pushes the boundaries of ideas and creativity, and is still used today to describe art that is radical or reflects originality of vision.

Watch the film Un Chien Andalou (1929): 

What possible meanings can you take from this film? 

From looking at the comments on the film, it is suggested that it is an abstract representation of emotions, there is no literal meaning to anything and we must decode and analyse the images to get the story. The idea is that the film is like a dream, nothing that happens in it can be explained, there are moments when they open doors and end up on beaches, put clothes on a bed and they become a man. The women are sexualised and desired even in death, and the men are left to be feared, yet the innocent man ends up with the girl. As there is no dialogue and only sound, the emotions of the characters are felt by their expressions and the rise and fall of the tempo of music.

 What are some of the most dominant signifiers in the film?

The idea that women are not attracted to men who are forward and obsessive, they like the idea of creating their perfect man, even if he is not real. Also the idea of greed and how stealing from others and being violent would lead to your downfall and unhappiness. It is a metaphor for a failed relationship, the men almost represent the seven sins, the lust, greed, sloth etc. The men all share similar characteristics but fail to understand the woman fully. At the end the symbol of the woman and man being buried in the sand shows how the relationship was doomed and how even the good ones fall.

What parallels can be drawn between this and Riptide?

You can see the negative treatment of women, and the uncomfortable imagery of women being tortured and eyes being slit, or hit by a car. There are also just some strange scenes of ants coming out a mans hand, armpit and fade shots of various odd clips of a woman with severed hand. There is also a scene where a woman is trying to get away from a man but he catches her an gropes her, relating to the imagery of the women being unable to escape in the riptide video. There is also the iconography of guns in the film, they connote violence and are used against a man in this film whereas it’s not aimed at anyone in the music video.

 (100 words each question)

(1.5 hours)

Task 3

Representation – Gilroy’s Postcolonial theory

Read and summarise this section on Page 95 in your textbooks in relation to Beyoncé’s Formation only. Summarised notes on your blog.

(30 min)

• Formation conforms to and challenge Gilroy’s postcolonialism theory.
• The music video incorporates binary opposites based on notions of difference and otherness in terms of race and ethnicity.
• Formation positions Beyoncé as the strong black woman challenging the notions of the postcolonial legacy.
• However, certain elements of the video also reinforce the idea of ‘otherness’, ‘the exotic’ and the ‘dangerous’ stereotype in relation to representation of race.
• In the representation of a range of racial issues in the video she herself can also be said to reinforce a sense of division rather than racial integration.