Music Video Analysis - Stan

Eminem - Stan ft. Dido

The genre of music this video belongs to is rap. The song lyrics narrate the story of a man obsessed with Eminem, with a chorus from Dido. Eminem reads the letters and fan mail he has been sent by Stan in a rap form. The video shows events as Eminem reads them in the letters, but we realise by the end of the video that Stan has already killed himself, his wife and his unborn child.

From the beginning of the video we see Eminem iconography displayed despite it not being him in the video. The person playing Stan, has bleached blonde hair, short like Eminem and is wearing similar clothes that we can relate to Eminem because of his previous videos. This immediately shows the audience who the video is centered around. Andrew Goodwin states in his book 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' that particular music genres have their own music video style and iconography. Similar characteristics are used in the majority of Eminem's music videos and rap videos in general. Eminem has also developed his own style iconography in and out of their videos which in time develops, as stated in Andrew Goodwin's book.

Fade transitions and subtle graphic matches are used at the beginning of the film to set a melancholic scene especially when showing the depression of Stan's wife. Towards the end of the video quicker cuts are used to portray Stan's anger. When Eminem is writing back to Stan, a vignette effect is used to fade the edges of the video. This indicates to the audience that he particular scene is a memory of Eminem's or imagery of the past.

Lyrics and visuals play a huge part in telling the story throughout the video. From the very beginning, visuals coincide with the lyrics as Dido sings 'morning rain clouds up my window' and a storm is shown in the video. Lightning lights up the room and thunder and rain can be heard along with the song. Pathetic fallacy is used in the video to reflect the mood of the characters in the video. The emphasis is on the persona of Stan however his girlfriend is also depressed because of Stan's obsession. As Andrew Goodwin expressed in his book, the visuals illustrate and amplify the lyrics in the video. The notion of looking is used widely throughout the video, whether it be looking through the window at the beginning, or Stan looking at televisions and posters of Eminem. This technique is used to enhance how Stan and Eminem appear to blend into each other, as Stan tries his best to look like Eminem and act in the same ways.

Eminem reads the letters that Stan has been sending, however it is Stan that we see in the visuals back at the point where he was originally writing the letter. We can hear the pencil as Stan writes the words on the letter that Eminem is reading, and visuals once again match the lyrics. We see his emotions and his trail of thought as he decides what to right in the letter, often stopping and starting again when he remembers something new. He sits away from the desk a one point before turning back and saying 'I read about your uncle Ronnie, too, I'm sorry'. The first confirmation of Stan's obsession with Eminem comes when the lyrics read 'I got a room full of your posters and pictures' accompanied by a pan around Stans basement where Eminem posters cover the walls.

The chorus appears to be an outlet of emotion for Stan's wife, as the video cuts to images of her sitting on the floor or arguing with Stan. When she is arguing with Stan, an over the shoulder shot is used to position Stan in the background. This further emphasizes her involvement in the chorus, and the sad feelings she is getting.

As Stan drives towards the bridge, he is caught in a storm. Pathetic fallacy can be use again to show Stan's anger or sadness during this part of the video. The video begins to change pace without the pace of the music changing, but as the lyrics get angrier quicker cuts are involved. Stan's stress is depicted as there are quick cuts between him driving in the car and smashing things in his basement. The lyric 'I hope you know I ripped all your pictures of the wall' is literally shown in the video along with Stan hitting the television he watched Eminem on with a baseball bat.

The last few minutes of the song is Eminem writing back to Stan, until he realises that Stan has already killed himself. As the letters from Stan evolve into the rap by Eminem, it is important that the imagery is similar to what is being said in the rap. Most rap videos have similar videos to convey the story they are trying to depict to the audience and the video is seen as a visual aid.

There are not many close ups of Eminem in the video but they are not needed to portray the iconography of the star. Stan, the main character of the video shows the same hair and clothes as Eminem and almost produces a connection with the audience because he is only a fan of Eminem, not Eminem himself. Eminem's face is shown close up in posters around Stan's basement, and Eminem also comes into the video nearer the end when writing a letter back to Stan.

Eminem bases his songs on experiences and struggles of his life, so will be trying to send a message to his audience through this video about how he appreciates his fans but cannot to reply to all the fan mail he receives.

The song is split into almost two parts, one where Stan is the main focus and another where Eminem is is replying to his messages. Small scenes also reflect this even if visuals do not completely contrast each other. The special effects seen in the images below are reflections of both Stan and Eminem in contrasting scenes. At the beginning of the video we see Stan looking in the mirror and seeing a reflection of Eminem, showing the obsession he has. At the end of the video a flash of lightning occurs and we see Stan's face in the window next to Eminem, just as Eminem realises Stan is dead.