Similar product research - music videos (Vance Joy - Riptide)

1. Similar Product Research
When looking into videos for inspirat ion for my music video, there were
lot s of different videos that I liked for many different reasons. For
example, in Ellie Goulding's 'Beat ing Heart ' I liked the choice of light ing
as I felt it helped with telling the story and port raying the progression
within the music video. However, when it came to similar product
research, I felt that the music video for Vance Joy's 'Ript ide' was a
good choice as the idea of relat ing the lyrics of the song direct ly to an
image or act ion which shows the idea of their being an illust rat ive
narrat ive as highlighted by Goodwin.
There are some key scenes that st ick out for me in relat ion to how this
illust rat ive narrat ive is port rayed, the first being the opening scene. The
song opens after a short int ro with the lyric “I was scared of dentists and
the dark” which is port rayed through the use of a close up shot of a
woman sat in a dent ist chair and then the light ing going dark. The use
of the close up shot highlight s the emot ions on her face which signify
the fear which related back to the lyric of the song.
At 0:20 in the song, the lyric “All my friends are turning green” which
could have a literal meaning as the camera slight ly zooms in on a wad
of green dollar bills posit ioned on a blue bench, or this money could
signify that all of his friends are 'green with envy' over his success in the
music indust ry. Either way, the posit ioning of the money in the cent re of
the screen highlight s the importance that money has to either himself
or the people he surrounds himself with, and the importance of this is
backed up with the close up shot of the money where it takes up most
of the frame. However, it could be seen that in relat ion to the previous

2. lyric where he states that he WAS scared of pret ty girls and start ing
conversat ions, suggest s t hat he is now over t his ‘fear’ and t hat his
friends could possibly be jealous of this.
In terms of the lyric “Lady, running down to the riptide Taken away to
the dark side I wanna be your left hand man.” The video takes a literal
meaning and port rays a woman running down to the ript ide and then
a young woman being dragged from her bed into the darkness. The
imagery that has been used signifies that he has been chasing after
this woman for a while now, but she has maybe started hanging out
with the wrong type of people and is get t ing herself into some kind of
t rouble. This is mainly highlighted by the close up shot of the lady lying
in her bed with the dim light ing only highlight ing the main features of
her face, leading to her being taken from her bed.
At 0:45 in the video, the lyric “I wanna be your left hand man” is
suggest ing that he has all of his loyalty lying with her and just want s to
help her get through this dark stage no mat ter what. The video again,
takes a literal meaning of there being a left hand on the microphone

3. and subt it led text on the bot tom of the screen in bold white writ ing
saying ‘LEFT.’
In terms of the lyric “This cowboys running from himself” could suggest
that they both do not really understand why she could be behaving in
such a way. A cowboy could also be a reference to someone who
does ‘dodgy’ jobs, (e.g. cowboy builders), which is suggest ing t hat she
might not be being fully honest with not only him but herself too.
At just under halfway through the music video, there is a mid-wide shot
that port rays a woman standing on a balcony with the camera
posit ioned in a low angle shot looking up at the female character
which can be seen as relatable to the lyrics “She’s been living on the
higher shelf” which could be suggest ing that he put s her on a pedestal
and sees her for all the good and t ries to ignore any of the negat ivity. I t

4. could also be interpreted as her thinking very highly of herself and that
she believes that she is bet ter than other people, including him.
At the point 1:24 in the song, there is the imagery of two ice lollies stuck
together and then are pulled apart which t ies in well with the lyrics
“and they come unstuck.” The ice lollies are two alternate primary
colours – red and yellow – which can be a representat ion of the male
and female characters in the video. I t could be perceived that the
pulling apart of the ice lollies is a reference to him having enough of
her behaviour and him ending the relat ionship.
In the chorus of the song, the words “I love you, when you're singing
that song, and I've got a lump in my throat, Cos your gonna sing the
words wrong" could be suggest ing to the audience that overall, he st ill
does have feelings for this girl, however, she always seems to say
something wrong that could upset him or someone else, and that she

5. comes across as being quite reckless – she is no longer the girl she was
when he first met her which has led to their relat ionship going downhill.
During the bridge of the song, the lyrics hear him saying “I just wanna, I
just wanna know, if you’re gonna, if you’re gonna stay.” These words
are repeated which illust rates an amplified narrat ive as he is desperate
to know if she is going to leave him or not . He just want s to know the
t ruth and is quest ioning the reliability of what she has previous told him.
These lyrics are backed up by the close up shot of a packed suitcase
and tarot cards being read out which illust rate the idea of him using all
possible mediums to find out the t ruth about her, the girl that he has
fallen in love with.