there are a whole load of shots within this time and lot of good examples of editing.
in the exam, you don't need to go into as much detail- but this gives you an indication of what you can talk about in the exam.
the first shot is known as the establishing shot, the establishing shot in riptide is very mysterious. there's a beautiful blue serene sky but we do not know where we are, which immediately positions the audience in a slightly uncomfortable mode of address. the camera slowly pans down and at the end of this shot we are expecting to see something- for something to be established. but that doesn't happen.
at the bottom of the screen we see something highly unconventional- the text. it's something conventional to a film poster, it's a list of all the different elements of the music video. it's very small and over in a matter of seconds, the audience will have no chance of reading this in one go. this is an excellent example of why music videos need to be watched over and over again. most people watching wont notice but it provides something exciting for more interested fans and is a great example of intertextuality. and some of the words seem to be referencing horror.
the next shot is a hard cut (meaning not a fade) of a close up/extreme close up of a women's face, she has the mise-en-scene of a metal instrument in her mouth. and this shot matches up with the lyric 'i was scared of dentists and the dark.' the metal thing doesn't really seem to have anything to do with dentistry, however the lyrics and the image combine in the audiences to convey uncomfortable messages. this hardcut is a binary opposition to the calming sky. her expression connotes violence- a proairetic code for violence. her gaze lands away from the camera- presumably to the person doing this to her. the woman is hegemonically attractive- intertextuality to horror movies. being a close up the audience is positioned next to her putting them in a particularly scary position, are we torturing her? if she's being tortured why arent we doing anything? but there's also no actual mise-en-scene to denote violence, no blood or weapons. this whole shot is emphasised and anchored by the spinning light.
then we dip to black and see a light hanging from the ceiling, the implication being it's light that was shaking over her. through the use of cause and effect and montage we know that this is a pov shot and suddenly we are positioned as the woman being tortured. we are looking out of her eyes and the dip to black suggests something has happened. so even thought no violence has been shown the gaps are filled in by our heads- this is extremely experimental but also an excellent way to show quite violent scenes without actually doing it and breaching the rules and restrictions.
another hard cut brings us to a totally different shot, we're back at the sea but it's a more gloomy day. the camera pans and slowly zooms in on a woman in a revealing yellow swimsuit, switching the audience in an extremely voyeuristic mode of address. the fact this is shot w a telephoto lens (a long zooms lens) adds to the creepiness. she is hegemonically attractive although we can't see her face, we don't know if this is the same woman as before. this is a trick the music video uses, we switch from woman to woman all of whom look very similar but are played by completely different actors.
the next shot is bird eyes view- used a lot in the video. we see a female hand holding a book in extremely harsh highkey lighting. the title of the book is again very creepy and anchor the situation as voyeuristic- the slow zoom emphasises its importance and the red presents a diametric opposition to the white of the background and the nail polish. so far the video is very confusing.
the next shot gets even more confusing as we cut to an exterior day shot, the mise-en-scene of the setting is out of focus however it looks like a European apartment block. there's a woman with her head away from the camera and a man who looks to be in distress, wearing stereotypical 1970's costumes. again confusing to the audience and an example of a post-modern reference to a different time. why is the music video suddenly set in the 1970's? well we don't know. this reinforces the idea of narrative and the idea that this music video is set in a completely different time. if we look at the colour grading the video is washed out- like a film from the 1970's- not every shot looks like this which is confusing.
another hard cut, and pretty much precisely when the singer says 'turning green' we see a dollar bill on what appears to be a beach towel. green is symbolic of money- with a fairly literal interpretation of the lyrics.
another hard cut to an exterior close up and hands outstretched. suddenly due to a jump cut a card (the queen of spades) appears in someone's hand. he's wearing a suede jacket which is very stereotypical of 1970's fashion and a watch that also seems to belong to a different time. the audience is forced to question what kind of symbolic code this is representing.
suddenly a hardcut isn't used and instead a whippan is from right to left. then we see a women who seems to be wearing a very similar costume to the man in the last shot. a low angle shot is used and she's dancing with her arms outstretched. there's no anchorage here and it's very confusing. a dancing woman is very conventional to a music video but the fact shes not dancing in time to the music is extremely unconventional which once again anchors the idea this is an extremely subversive music video.
we cut once more to another exterior yet it seems to be dusk. the lighting is natural making everything dingy and it's an example of a shallow focus shot taken through a zoom lens. the graveyard setting is out of focus but recognisable. this is another intertextual reference to the horror genre. this is extremely unconventional as it doesn't fit the happy indie pop genre. her costume is glamourous and very 1970's, she doesn't appear to be one of the women previously in the video although she looks very similar and has a very similar hairstyle/colour.
the camera is being handheld and we know this because there's a slight wobble. this is further emphasised by the fact the camera has significantly zoomed in on the model- voyeurism.
suddenly right to left we cut to a whip pan of two people we've never seen before. at this stage we do not see the performer at all. there's a man and a woman a who only appear once, they're in the graveyard with a torch.
suddenly there's a whip pan, left to right. the original woman has disappeared. this functions as a hermeneutic code, this is a mystery for the audience and they're left wondering where she's gone. our mind starts to wander and dark thoughts are reinforced by the mise-en-scene of the setting and previously seen voyeuristic themes.
we whip-pan again from right to left but this time it's slightly different. suddenly it's a different time of day although it's still quite dingy and we're in another setting. another hegemonically attractive blonde has been tied to a tree, she's desperately trying to escape. this shot can potentially make the audience very upset, they're positioned as a voyeur once again- we're looking from a long distance, it's creepy and handheld like someone doesn't want to be seen.
a narrative of sorts is being constructed here but it makes no sense and is very unconventional, women are disappearing and being tortured and need to put the pieces together. but try as we might it doesn't quite make sense.
the camera is following the women on a dolly but zooming out at the same time, it's a very weird effect only used in a few films. it's often called a vertigo shot as it was used in hitchcock's vertigo. it's a very specific shot that demonstrates clear intertextuality. it makes the audience feel ill, a weird ultimately creepy effect is created. the audience is also positioned as someone running after this woman- horror slasher reference. why is it that this video is making reference to horror films? like the texas chainsaw massacre and Halloween. because this video can't go as far as these films in sexual content and slasher content. so they create this creepy effect by referencing it.
this next shot appears several times during the music video when the singer uses the word riptide. it's a birds eye view shot of a choppy sea that is symbolic of distress and something unpleasant about to happen. it heightens the sense of discomfort.
it then cuts to a surprising shot of a woman who suddenly wakes up and is pulled away screaming. it uses low-key lighting and is a very clear reference to the horror genre. the audience is positioned right next to her as this is happening.
cut to a left hand holding an old fashioned microphone whilst the subtitle 'left' flashes across the screen in a really straight forward not at all flashy font. why? to make reference to foreign films? to reference the lyrics?
the next shot is the 'master shot'- she holds the microphone under highkey lighting. she lipsyncs along to the song (not very well) she doesn't look at the audience rather somewhat to the right and her performance isn't particularly enthusiastic- she doesn't seem particularly happy but she also seems quite drugged and out of it. the mise-en-scene of her costume is glittery and symbolic of show business and celebrity yet there is something quite off about the way she is staring off into the distance. the woman is quite hegemonically attractive but perhaps slightly older than the kind of models who would stereotypically be in an indie-pop music video. her red lipstick is connotative of sex, passion and love.
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