Music Video Analysis - Eminem (Stan)

Textual Analysis of Music Video

Introduction

The music video i will be analysing is Eminem - Stan ft Dido. The video was directed by 45 king. The genre the music in the music video belongs to is RAP. The characteristics of rap that the video has is a rapper (eminem) rapping to an instrumental, which is shown in the video. 

 Eminem - Stan ft Dido (Lyrics)

What is the relationship between the lyrics and visuals?

 

In most music video there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, this can be seen in the Eminem's music video. For example at 2:12, Stan says "Dear slim, i wrote you but you still aint called yet" while his saying this his is writing out the letter in the video. so we as an audience know what he is writing and feeling.

As the song goes on we see that Stan and Eminem have some things in common, for  example both their girlfriends are pregnant. Stan see's this as a way of connecting with Eminem. This could be seen through both the lyrics and the visuals. 2:29, " What's been up man, hows your daughter? My girlfriend's pregnant too, I'm bout to be a father
If I have a daughter, guess what I'm a call her? I'm a name her Bonnie. I read about your Uncle Ronnie too I'm sorry, I had a friend kill himself over some ***** who didn't want him"

Also at 3:34, the lyrics says "but you could have signed an autograph for Matthew, that's my little brother man his only six years old, we waited in the blistering cold for you for 4hours and you just said no".
At this point of the video we see Stan and his little bro at a concert look up  at Eminem, emphasising that they both look up to him and he is their idols. We then see them out side in the cold waiting anxiously for Eminem and when he does come out Eminem is pulled away by security but Stan see's it in a different way.

At 4:09 the lyrics "i even got a tattoo with your name across my chest". We see Stan sitting on a chair with a tattoo artist writing the words 'Slim Shady' on his chest. This shows us that Stan's obsession with Eminem is growing and slowly getting out of hand.

At 5:47 Stan says "i ripped all your pictures off my wall" and we see him ripping pictures with anger one by one. The lyrics are amplified by the actions of stan at this point of the video. At this part of this video his releasing his pain and feelings towards Eminem and we start to see that his losing it.

What is the relationship between music and visuals?

Most of the video cuts to the beat. For example in most cases there is a transition to a different clip every 4 beats. The pace of the video cuts depend on the mood of the rapper. For example when Stan is calm the video cuts are slow but when he starts to get frustrated and then angry the pace of the cuts increase rapidly.

"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,  Shut up *****! I'm tryin' to talk!"

 








Are there close-ups of the artist and star image motifs?

The record company is looking to sell the track through track sale online, albums and even through downloading the video. Other ways in which the record companies can promote the track is also through tours and concerts.

Here is the album cover for Eminem Stan.

The image that is being offered of the artist is that many people look up to him and love his music. This is can be seen to some people as odd, maybe because of the type of person Eminem is and his lyrical content. He is known for his violent, and weird lyrics.

There is not really any relation to any previous music video for example toy soldiers, he did not do a story type video but he just rapped to a beat and performed a bit.

But eminem is known a lot for his acting in his music videos, especially in "without me".

Is there reference to the notion of looking?

In this music video there is not a lot of referencing to looking. The only time when there is a  reference to looking is when Stan looks at the pictures which he has pasted all over his room

Are there inter-textual references?

Is the music video performance base, narrative based or concept base?

The music video is both performance base abd narrative base as a story is being told of a obsessive fan and how the fan takes things to far, but there are also a few bits of video performance.