Music Video Analysis'

Eminem ft Dido- Stan

'Stan' by american rapper Marshall Bruce Mathers III, more famously known as Eminem or slim shady. The song was recorded in 1999 and features Dido, a well established pop arist. It was produced by the 45 King but wasnt released till 2000. It has been nominated for numerous awards, not only the song but the video and has been considered one of Eminem's best and signature tracks because of the deep meaning behind it. The name "stan" has now been commonly associated with over obsessed fans.

Background-

"Stan"
(feat. Dido)

[Chorus: Dido]
My tea's gone cold I'm wondering why I..
got out of bed at all
The morning rain clouds up my window..
and I can't see at all
And even if I could it'll all be gray,
but your picture on my wall
It reminds me, that it's not so bad,
it's not so bad..

[1st Chorus: volume gradually grows over raindrop background]
[2nd Chorus: full volume with beat right after "thunder" noise]

[Eminem as 'Stan']
Dear Slim, I wrote you but you still ain't calling
I left my cell, my pager, and my home phone at the bottom
I sent two letters back in autumn, you must not-a got 'em
There probably was a problem at the post office or something
Sometimes I scribble addresses too sloppy when I jot 'em
but anyways; fuck it, what's been up? Man how's your daughter?
My girlfriend's pregnant too, I'm bout to be a father
If I have a daughter, guess what I'ma call her?
I'ma name her Bonnie
I read about your Uncle Ronnie too, I'm sorry
I had a friend kill himself over some bitch who didn't want him
I know you probably hear this everyday, but I'm your biggest fan
I even got the underground shit that you did with Skam
I got a room full of your posters and your pictures man
I like the shit you did with Rawkus too, that shit was fat
Anyways, I hope you get this man, hit me back,
just to chat, truly yours, your biggest fan
This is Stan

[Chorus: Dido]

[Eminem as 'Stan']
Dear Slim, you still ain't called or wrote, I hope you have a chance
I ain't mad - I just think it's FUCKED UP you don't answer fans
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
We waited in the blistering cold for you,
four hours and you just said, "No."
That's pretty shitty man - you're like his fucking idol
He wants to be just like you man, he likes you more than I do
I ain't that mad though, I just don't like being lied to
Remember when we met in Denver - you said if I'd write you
you would write back - see I'm just like you in a way
I never knew my father neither;
he used to always cheat on my mom and beat her
I can relate to what you're saying in your songs
so when I have a shitty day, I drift away and put 'em on
cause I don't really got shit else so that shit helps when I'm depressed
I even got a tattoo with your name across the chest
Sometimes I even cut myself to see how much it bleeds
It's like adrenaline, the pain is such a sudden rush for me
See everything you say is real, and I respect you cause you tell it
My girlfriend's jealous cause I talk about you 24/7
But she don't know you like I know you Slim, no one does
She don't know what it was like for people like us growing up
You gotta call me man, I'll be the biggest fan you'll ever lose
Sincerely yours, Stan -- P.S.
We should be together too

[Chorus: Dido]

[Eminem as 'Stan']
Dear Mister-I'm-Too-Good-To-Call-Or-Write-My-Fans,
this'll be the last package I ever send your ass
It's been six months and still no word - I don't deserve it?
I know you got my last two letters;
I wrote the addresses on 'em perfect
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 know the 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 show he found him?
That's kinda how this is, you coulda rescued me from drowning
Now it's too late - I'm on a 1000 downers now, I'm drowsy
and all I wanted was a lousy letter or a call
I hope you know I ripped all of your pictures off the wall
I love you Slim, we coulda been together, think about it
You ruined it now, I hope you can't sleep and you dream about it
And when you dream I hope you can't sleep and you SCREAM about it
I hope your conscience EATS AT YOU and you can't BREATHE without me
See Slim; [*screaming*] Shut up bitch! I'm trying to talk!
Hey Slim, that's my girlfriend screaming in the trunk
but I didn't slit her throat, I just tied her up, see I ain't like you
cause if she suffocates she'll suffer more, and then she'll die too
Well, gotta go, I'm almost at the bridge now
Oh shit, I forgot, how'm I supposed to send this shit out?
[car tires squeal] [CRASH]
.. [brief silence] .. [LOUD splash]

[Chorus: Dido]

[Eminem]
Dear Stan, I meant to write you sooner but I just been busy
You said your girlfriend's pregnant now, how far along is she?
Look, I'm really flattered you would call your daughter that
and here's an autograph for your brother,
I wrote it on the Starter cap
I'm sorry I didn't see you at the show, I musta missed you
Don't think I did that shit intentionally just to diss you
But what's this shit you said about you like to cut your wrists too?
I say that shit just clowning dogg,
c'mon - how fucked up is you?
You got some issues Stan, I think you need some counseling
to help your ass from bouncing off the walls when you get down some
And what's this shit about us meant to be together?
That type of shit'll make me not want us to meet each other
I really think you and your girlfriend need each other
or maybe you just need to treat her better
I hope you get to read this letter, I just hope it reaches you in time
before you hurt yourself, I think that you'll be doing just fine
if you relax a little, I'm glad I inspire you but Stan
why are you so mad? Try to understand, that I do want you as a fan
I just don't want you to do some crazy shit
I seen this one shit on the news a couple weeks ago that made me sick
Some dude was drunk and drove his car over a bridge
and had his girlfriend in the trunk, and she was pregnant with his kid
and in the car they found a tape, but they didn't say who it was to
Come to think about it, his name was.. it was you
Damn!

Lyrics

The introduction of the video is of Stan in the bathroom dying his hair blonde, in an attempt to look more like Eminem. The lighting and sound during this introduction plays a vital part in setting the tone for this video. The sound of rainfall and lightning is working in tandem with flashes of light to indicate a thunderstorm occuring outside, which straight away, is thought to be linked to trouble and sadness. The introduction scene includes no music but includes some dialogue between Stan and his girlfriend (Played by Dido who sings the chorus). There are over the shoulder shots of Stan used and the birds eye view camera angles limits the amount that the audience see from Stans girlfriend's point of view during this sequence, making it visual to the audience straight from the start go that Stan is the protagonist in the video and it will mainly be focused on Stan.

The first chorus of the song is to establish the locations in the video. There is an extreme long shot of the stairs and basement, a tracking shot of the wall/shrine plastered in Eminem pictures, a long shot of Stan's table and a close up of the letters on the table. This establishes that this is Stan's 'Shrine' to Eminem. This is the location where the first two verses are based. The very first verse involves a combination of only three/four variety of shots, with them being either slow-moving, medium tracking shots, long establishing shots or birds-eye shots. There are two exemptions to this is, one is an over the shoulder shot of Stan looking at himself in the mirror, where the reflection transforms himself into Eminem. This could connote that he clearly wants to be Eminem, which links back to the intro where he dyes his hair. The second is a cut away out of the basement setting and two a mid shot of Stan's girlfriend, accompanied by the line 'My girlfriends pregnant too'. Although this is a key part of the narrative, it is a quick shot that only lasts one second. This could implicate that at this moment in Stan's frame of mind, it is not something that Eminem will care too much about. The slow tempo that this verse creates, is done through the use of these shots, which could connote the mood of Stan at this point in the narrative. He is optimistic that Eminem will read his letters he has wrote to him and the close ups of his face suggest this.

The second verse is very much alike to the first verse with the use of mise-en-scene, lighting, camera and sound. The light flickers like the thunder outside to correlate to the weather and creates a very dark and gloomy atmosphere. The combination of the dark basement area with low key lighting and the sounds effects hints to the audience that it is going to be a 'dark/emotional' rap which usually tells a narrative about something the artist has personally experienced. As the chorus finishes the character of Stan begins to write and the lyrics are sung in the video, as if they were being said in the characters head when he is writing them down on the paper.

The diegetic sound of the pencil writing and scribing against the paper highlights this to make the video seem more realistic to the viewers. The quiet background and non diagetic sound of the rain enforce the depressing atmosphere throughout the scenes as it cuts to a number of camera shots of him still writing. He also mentions things that correlate the characters to Eminem himself, from naming the daughter "Bonnie" from one of Eminem's famous songs "97 Bonnie and Clyde" which involved the suicide of one of Eminem's family members. It is obvious to the audience that Stan is uneasy and aggrivated from his body language that we see and certain lyrics are mimed by the character of Stan to portray their importance, for example "I'm your biggest fan".

The chorus after the second verse is when the tone in the video changes. The same establishing shots and birds-eye view shots are used to present Stan's girlfriend sneaking down into the basement to discover Stan's Eminem shrine. Stan then follows her and grabs her. The shot the rapidly cuts to a panning shot of the scene where Stan is driving his car in a rainy storm. This is accompanied by the sound of rain and the lightning flashes. There is a sequence of cuts used between stan driving and the over the shoulder shot of Stan rapping into the tape recorder whilst we can see a close up of a picture of Eminem hanging from his mirror. Whilst doing this he is not paying attention to the road which causes to be costly later on. We see through Stan's facial expressions that he is very angry and the close ups of his 'screwed up' face suggests this.

The anger is amplified further as he begins to shout into the tape recorder, also screams come from the boot and Stan responds to this with the lyrics "Shut up bitch, I'm trying to talk! Hey Slim, that's my girlfriend screaming in the trunk'. This is where the shot of the pregnant girlfriend in the first verse becomes important and these lyrics also suggest he is more concentrating on trying to talk than drive at "90 down the freeway".

We then here non diagetic sounds of his car horn and skidding as the scene is cut to a barrier at the end of the bridge, these are used to highlight desperation and danger with the way the character is driving. We also here non diagetic sound from Stan's girlfriend screaming in the 'trunk' to which he replies with "I've just tied her up/ not slit her throat" which links to slim shady's song "Kim" where shady cuts his wife's throat and throws her body into the boot of a car after he finally realises she has cheated on him. These very effective cross links between songs, purposely done by Eminem, shows the complexity the artist has put into the meaning behind the song that a normal viewer would not pick up on. The action of Stan looking back to the boot when he shouts at his girlfriend, causes him to lose control of his car and he crashes into the barrier and falls off of the end of bridge into the water. This is constructed through the use of extreme long shots of the car appearing over the edge of the bridge in slow motion with the lake in the bottom of the framing. There is a tracking shot of thr falling car used to capture the climax in the end of the third verse.

The last verse of the song is portrayed from Eminem's point of view instead of the norm of Stan's as he replies to Stan's many letters. The verse involves a variety of shots, some which are repeats from earlier on in the video. The first type of shot that is used it replicated throughout the whole verse which is a medium close up, slightly tilted up so it looks as if we are looking up at him (idea of being an idol). At this point Eminem is at his desk in his tour bus, this is important to the mise-en-scene as the first line in the verse is 'Stan, I meant to write you sooner but I've just been busy'. The verse then cuts inbetwee this medium close up of Eminem and the different shots of the car being discovered under water by a diver, then being broughout up to surface b a crane.

As well as the long shots of the car, there are long shots of Stan's little brother Matthew and a woman (assuming is his Mother) at his gravestone. The imagery and the sound of rainfull and lightning were used in the first scene of the video as Stan dyes his hair and now the same weather effects are used to replicate Matthew's reveal to his Mother that he has also dyed his hair. She immediately seems shocked and worried by her facial expressions as the use of intercutting between Matthew and Stan could indicate that Matthew is going to grow up to be a crazed Eminem fan like Stan, which is proved earlier on in the video as Stan writes "He wants to be just like you man, he likes you more than I do". His Mother is worried and shocked as she is afraid he will replicate Stan's mad behavior and lead to dire consequences as portrayed in the video. Finally the epiphany at the end of the video is when Eminem realises it was Stan that he saw on the news which emulates the climax and final sequence of the narrative video.