I am analysing the video “Stan” by Eminem ft Dido.The story of the song is a fictional story about a man named Stanley Mitchell who claims to be Eminem's biggest fan. Throughout the song Stan becomes obsessed with Eminem. The first three verses are delivered by Eminem as Stan while the fourth verse is Eminem attempting to write to Stan, only to realize that he had already heard about Stan's death on the news. The song has sold over 750,000 copies in the UK.
The genre of the music is R N B , rap. The genre of the music drives the editing . Andrew Goodwin states in his book dancing in the distraction factory that particular music genres have there own music video style and iconography. This is because different shots and cuts interpret different genres. For example lots of cuts would not match a slow genre song. You can tell this by the video because the only singing in it is from dido’s, song, the rest of it is Eminem rapping. Other characteristics that show the audience that the video is a rapping genre is the clothes that Eminem is wearing, he has baggy jeans on and a baggy top, and through out the song is slouched in a chilled position sitting down.
The muse-en-scene in this music video works well with the tone and the mood of the song. The lighting is dark and dim with natural light coming through the windows. Stan is wearing exactly everything that Eminem wears, big tops, baggy jeans and has even died his hair blonde. The weather is shown through the open window at the beginning and when Stan is in the car, it is raining heavily and is very dark and gloomy, the tone of the light is negative and dim.
The song video itself is a narrative music video, because although it does have Eminem in it, he is not performing his song or even singing it, it shows a story of a fan reading out the letters he has sent Eminem and then shows Eminem reading them and sending a letter back. The relationship between lyrics and visuals (what is said in the letters to Eminem) is acted out by “Stan” . When stan says “I got a room full of your posters and your pictures man” a pan shot around the room of all the pictures of Eminem is taken to show us the extremeness of this fans obsession. Another way in which the lyrics are visualised is when Stan says “If you didn't wanna talk to me outside your concert, You didn't have to, but you coulda signed an autograph for Matthew That's my little brother man, he's only six years old” As that is being rapped, “Stan” is stood out side the concert with his little brother calling Eminem's name while Eminem rushes past him. “I even got a tattoo of your name across my chest” this is another lyric that is shown visually, on the video Stan is shown to be getting a tattoo of slim shady’s name on his chest. The beats of the song goes with the music video well for example when the drum pattern begins we see the darkness and eerie scene of the basement, which is parallel to the audio. The beat of the song and the tone of the rapping changes through out the song for example at the beginning when Stan was writing calmly to Eminem the tone was happier and slower but as he gets angrier and angrier at the fact Eminem hasn’t replied back the beat gets faster and the tone gets louder and quicker, “So this is my cassette I'm sending you, I hope you hear it I'm in the car right now, I'm doing 90 on the freeway Hey Slim, I drank a fifth of vodka, you dare me to drive? You knowthe song by Phil Collins, "In the Air of the Night" about that guy who coulda saved that other guy from drowning but didn't, then Phil saw it all, then at a a show he found him? That's kinda how this is, you coulda rescued me from drowning Now it's too late - I'm ona 1000 downers now, I'm drowsy and all I wanted was a lousy letter or a call” when this quotation is rapped Stan is driving in the car, intoxicated with alcohol talking into a cassette. " Lyrics tend to help establish a general feeling, or mood, or sense of subject matter, rather then offering a coherent meaning. Key lines may play a part in the visuals associated with a song but very rarely will a music video simply illustrate the lyrics whole sale" this is quoted by Andrew Goodwin. For example in Rhianna- unfaithful there is a lyric saying "I might as well take a gun and put it to his head" This is talking about how it would be better for the man to be dead then experience any more pain. However in the video she is not seen putting a gun to his head. The relationship between the music and the visuals works in sync with the beat, each cut works in line with the video, for example when the pace of the music gets faster the cuts get quicker and the song sounds more powerful and the video looks more jumpy and action filled.
Special effects used with in the video are dissolves used when the posters of Eminem are shown. A vignette is used with in the video, this is when flash lights are used and it is faded around the edge. Fade in , Fade out special effects are used after most cut. For example when Stan is driving in the car. After he has finishe telling Eminem how he feels a fade out is used to show Eminem sitting in his trailor writing the letter to Stan.
At the beginning of the song, it starts out where Stan is writing his letter to Eminem wondering why he has not wrote back yet, it’s a slow pace rap as he is just getting started and the cuts slowly cut between him writing to Eminem, his wife in bed and Eminem reading the letter. The cuts also get slower as dido’s singing part of the song comes on, the wife is mainly shown through out this bit, she shows her worry and fear for her husbands obsession. Here no solo instrumentals are shown because it is a narrative video and emphasises on the story.
Through out the video there are not any close ups of Eminem himself, the only time Eminem is shown in person is when he is sitting there reading the letter, which is a long shot of him sitting down. However the artist himself is shown an awful lot in pictures and posters on the wall of “Stan's” room. Many of the posters are close ups of him and a tracking shot is used when showing all of these posters. The camera is always moving through out the video with tracking shots, following Stan's life, for example when the camera tracks around the basement his obsession with Eminem is shown. This helps sell the video as fans of Eminem want to see him in the video so they get a sense of knowing him and being near him. Andrew Goodwin says that there is a demand on part of the record company for lots of close ups of the main artist. The record company looks to sell this track as showing fans that Eminem does appreciate his fans but sometimes doesn’t have time to write back, by showing lots of pictures and posters of him its another clever way of showing him and letting the audience still get there fix of their idol. The image of the artist being shown is one of a busy man trying to show his fans that he does appreciate them but doesn’t have the time. He tries to express his feelings towards his fans and their obsessions. Motifs that have been used previously are the whole idea of Eminem rapping his opinions and feelings but the change of image from Eminem is that it has singing as the chorus from Dido and a conversation between Stan and his wife at the beginning of the video. Not manyof Eminem's videos do this.
In this video there are no senses given out that the artist is on sexual display, this video is not about showing a new figure or some one sexually, the meaning of it is showing Eminem and his feelings towards fans. None of the other actors or actresses are displayed sexually either. The only thing that displays little sign of sexual display is the lyrics and they only show a tiny bit when "stan" says to Eminem " I loved you Slim, we could have been together t
hink about it, you ruined it now" this is stan showing his feelings towards Eminem, he is implying that he wanted to be with Eminem in a relationship, more than friends. The camera work shows this by using close ups of pictures of Stan and Eminem that he has made and cut his wife out of, also by showing close ups of Eminem in his posters, half naked, with out a top on can hint a slight sense of sexual display, to do this the camera is kept moving at all times so that all the Eminem posters are shown. I feel this slight sexual display has been shown to show the extent of what some fans are like and to show the impact of the obsession and how it isn't healthy or norm. Also Eminem with out his top on in his posters will help sell the video and song to the real fans watching it.
There are a couple of references to "looking" such as through the window at the
beginning of the video and through a mirror near the end of the video, stan is standing up angry with Eminem and as he looks in the mirror his reflection is Eminem him self. This shows his obsession to the extreme. He's started looking like him and acting like him now. This is not because he wants to be Eminem but its because he wants to spend all his time with him, talking to him, being with him and having him there.
There is one intertextual reference with in the song Stan by Eminem, one
uses a slightly modified break from Dido's "Thank you"as its base sample. The track also plays the opening lines of "Thank You" as its chorus. Both songs were released as singles in late 2000. Stan has been called one of Eminem's best songs and is considered one of his signature songs. The chorus is used after each rapping verse to mainly show Dido who is the wife upset and concerned, it also some times shows Stan and Eminem's worries, this is used effectively when listening to the lyrics and the pace of the singing it matches worry, concern and sadness.
Altogether this is a narrative music video, showing the extent of obsession and the unhealthy antics it causes, it also shows Eminem's feelings towards his fans and his view on their obsession, he tries to get through to them that some times he doesn't have time to reply back to them but this doesn't mean he "doesn't want them to be his fans" he shows this by rapping but rapping as a man called Stan and then rapping as him self, he uses Dido's song Thank you as the chorus showing that the song has a sense of sadness and concern in it. Overall I feel this is a mature song with a interesting twist used when Eminem is expressing his views on fans and obsession through another way of getting his voice heard. The beat is fast but low beat all the way through and the cutshappen to cut parallel.
The audience are meant to feel that Stan's little brother is going to lead the same life as Stan by the end of the video where he has blonde hair just like eminem and just how stan did at the beginning of the video.
No comments:
Post a Comment