Vance Joy - 'Riptide' and 'Georgia' Music Video Analysis

Economical Contexts 

Funding: The music video to the Riptide by Vance Joy was low budget film, with no special effects or major editing added. The Australian band are signed to Atlantic records label and this song 'Riptide'; was their first single to be released in America. On the other hand, once their popularity grew, as did their funding, the video to one of their more recent songs, 'Georgia' clearly had a far larger budget and was shot with special effects, looking more like a film, than a music video. Visually it was a lot more cinematic, and was made to have more of an effect on the viewer. The 'random' images displayed in a montage style in the video to 'Riptide' are seemingly random, but when combined with the lyrics, we see how they represent the words he is saying. This is an example of a cheap budget but meaningful music video, some may say a powerful message is displayed.    

The combination of elements of the media language influences meaning in the video, the linguistic codes are represented by visual symbols. The montage style in the video is used to convey meaning and intertextuality. The media visual language (the images on the screen) are used to represent the linguistics (the lyrics to the song). The video takes artifacts from other forms of media, to build on the narrative and make it easier for the viewer to understand the video in the short 3 minutes, this is called intertextuality. 

The video is only there to represent the lyrics, it is a non linear story, it doesn't have a clear beginning, middle and end.