eminem-stan music video analysis

 

The music song, Stan was created in 2000 by rapper Eminem and singer Dido, and was later released as a music video in 2002 by the aftermath entertainment. The song tells the story of an obsessive fan of Eminem, who goes to the extremes to gain his attention. The full length music video lasts 8miniutes and ten seconds, where as the shorter version which is most commonly shown on the music channels, lasts just four minutes , fifty seconds.

The opening scene of this music video uses a transition which fades from black to a zoom towards a sets the mood window, looking from the outside in. The use of weather in this scene, which is thunder, rain and lightening, for the video and automatically creates a sense of unhappiness for this home. The camera then continues to zoom until we see pregnant Dido laying on the bed. There are then several camera movements including, over the head, and close ups of the stomach, to show her heavy pregnancy to the audience. The room is artificially lit, with the lightening effects, and the sound of the rain continuing to continuously set the mood.

There is then a straight cut to the scene in the bathroom, where we see a man, looking very similar to Eminem. This is the introduction to Eminems obsessive fan, Stan. In this scene we see several close ups of Stan putting bleach onto his hair, which shows its importance in the video. This supports what Andrew Goodwin says about there being "a demand on the part of the record company for lots of close ups of the main artist". We then see an over the shoulder shot of Stan looking at himself in quite a bizarre manor, which causes concern for the audience, as to why he is behaving in this way.

 The camera then cuts to a long shot of Dido, rushing to the bathroom, whilst shouting "Stanley open the door" to which Stan acknowledges, but does not respond to at this point, as he continues to stare into the mirror.

We are then shown the divide between Dido and Stan, with the over the head pan, looking down at both bodies, separated by the wall and closed door, showing how Slim locks his pregnant girlfriend out of his life, and their communication boundaries. The camera then returns to the grim bathroom, showing an over the shoulder shot of Stan as he opens the door to Dido, and they begin to argue. Stan then returns to look at him self in the mirror at his new bleached hair, and a close up shot is shown of this.

The melody and lyrics of the song then begins at 1.22, with Dido positioned in center frame in a medium shot on the toilet in the bathroom, as she mimes to the chorus. The lyrics then link with the video, as Dido sings "the morning rain clouds up my window, and i cant see at all, and even if i could it would all be grey"  implying Dido's mood, and her unhappiness with her life as it is at the moment, also linking with the argument she had just had with Stan, which may have been the cause of this.  This supports Andrew Goodwins theory of "there is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals. With the visuals either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music."As these lyrics are performed, the camera then returns to a medium shot of the window, from the outside in the pouring rain, which had been shown at the beginning of the video.

A fade effect is then used as a transformation from one scene to Eminem in his tour bus, sitting down, positioned on his sofa, in a medium shot, in a gaze.  This scene immediately contrasts with the one of Stan in his grotty bathroom, as Eminem, is in much more expensive clothing, with a man handing him his fan mail.

We then cut to the a camera movement which is panning down the house leading into the low key lighting basement, where we are reunited with Stan as he enters the basement in a long shot down the stairs. The basement scene then reinforces Stan's obsession with Eminem, as he begins to write his letter to him, a pan of the room reveals the amount of posters, and newspapers clippings Stan has collected about Eminem, revealing his obsession.

There are two key shots which are filmed in this scene, in order to enhance Stan's obsession of Eminem. One of which, is when Stan waves at Eminem on the TV, as if he knows him, and is responding to Eminems actions, unaware that Eminem is just waving to the TV. Another is when, Stan placed a photograph of Eminem, over the face of his girlfriend, in order to make it look like the picture is of them both instead of him and his girlfriend. Similarly, as Stan continues to write his letter to Eminem, we see Stan looking in the mirror, and his reflection is Eminem, which also reveals his obbsession with the rapper. Our thoughts of Stan are then proven, as we here the lyrics "truly yours, your biggest fan this is Stan".

 

A lot of fading transitions are then used to show the passing time after that. As we see time pass, we also see an extreme close up of Stan's letter to Eminem fall from the mail basket, meaning that it would not reach Eminem in time. We also see Stan becoming more aggravated and aggressive towards his girlfriend as time passes, causing a concern for her safety for the viewers, whilst also building tension.

As the second verse begins, the audience are shown a low angle shot of Stan looking up towards his aggravated face, as he writes another letter to his idol, Eminem. The lyrics link well with this image, as we here " i just think its fucked up you dont answer fans!" The lyrics then continue to link with the images, as we here "If you didn't wanna talk to me outside the concert you didnt have to..." whilst the video shows an Eminem concert and a close up on Stan in the audience. Similarly, this link is shown again, as he says "we waitied in the blistering cold for you for four hours and you just said no", and shows Stan in the snow waiting for Eminem. This obsession with Stan in then amplified, as Stan says "I even got a tattoo with your name accross my chest" which confirms any confusion about whether or not Stan was obsessed with Eminem. As he continues to write his letter, Stan continuously compares himself and his and Eminems experiences to each other.  He then goes on to explain in his letter "my girlfriend jelous kos i talk about you 24/7", revealing why he is so distant from him girlfriend, and that his obbsession with Eminem is the cause of that, and then goes on to end his letter with "ps we should be together too."

We then cut back to the chorus, involving Dido, leaving her bed whilst Stan is asleep and creeping down the stairs into the basement, which the camera following with a downwards pan into the basement. A she reaches the basement, and begins to look through Stan's collection, we realize that she has not ventured into the basement before, as she may have been restricted to do so by Stan, as she is so shocked by what she finds, especially the photo which her face has been replaced with Eminems. As Dido looks at the collective obsession, Stan arrives down the stairs positioned in the background  and watches her. This builds a huge amount of tension for the audience, as we worry how he is going to react to this.

Of course, Stan's reaction is just as we suspected, as he grabs hold of his pregnant girlfriend in anger. The camera then straight cuts to a fast speeding car in the pouring rain, which immediately builds tension as to what is happening. Our fears are then proven, as we see Stan driving the car with one hand, whilst recording into a cassette tape, a cassette for Eminem, as he drives. The audience is instantly confused, and worried, as Stan exclaims in anger;"this will be the last package i ever send your ass!". Similarly, the weather conditions are still very bad, as Stan exclaims he is "doing 90 on a free way" the audience immediately expect the worse to happen. The use of camera shots throughout this clip, focus on Stan the whole time, whilst showing the harsh weather conditions in the background, as well as a photograph on Eminem hanging from his interior mirror. Stan's driving becomes worse, as he swerves to avoid another car, and almost crashing, building a huge amount of tension for the viewer. Stan then continues to shout " I loved you slim we could have been together" once again proven the audiences awareness of Stan correct. As Stan exclaims his final words he shouts "thats my girlfriend screaming in the trunk" which builds even further tension, as we now fear for Didos safety. Stan then ends the tape with "well gotta go im almost at the bridge now, oh shit i almost forgot how am i supposed to send this shit out?" then we hear an emphasized skidding of the car, cut to the car flying off of the brige and landing into the river with a huge water corruption.

The car is then seen sinking from an ariel view as if we were watching it from the top of the bridge, as the camera then fades back to Eminem, still sitting in his tour bus, not knowing what has happened. The medium shot shows Eminem reading his fan mail, which we assume is from Stan revealing that he had only just received it, or had time to read it.At the same time, the camera cuts back to the sinking car in the lake as the chorus begins to play. The sinking car is then filmed from several shots, as it sinks, to show that no one escaped from the car, or left the car revealing they must have died. The camera then cuts back to Eminem, as he begins his third verse and begins to write his reply to Stan.  Eminem begins with the lyrics "I meant to write sooner but i just been busy" which immediately gives regret to the audience, as we realize Stan's and Dido's death was unnecessary, as Eminem is now replying to his letter.  As he continues to write his letter, unknowing that Stan has already died, the camera cuts to his little brother and another lady, which we assume to be his mother, standing at the burial stone of Stan.

As eminem, finishes his letter he says "I hope you get to read this letter, I just hope it reaches you in time" which is ironic, as we as the viewers already know it wont, as it is too late, as Stan is alreasy dead, however Eminem is still unknown to this. Eminem then becomes to realise the truth the video shows the news reporters at the scene, and the car being pulled out of the river, Eminem says:

 "I see this one thing on the news a couple days ago that made me sick. Some dude was drunk and drove his car over a bridge, and in the car they found a tape but they didnt say who it was to, come to this about his name was, it was you. DAM."



The video then comes to an end, with Eminem still sitting in his tour bus, as a flash of lightening appears, and as it does, we see Stan in the window looking through at Eminem. The camera then faded back to Stan memorial as we see his little brother in a medium shot leaning on his brothers grave stone.