Task 3: Music Video Analysis
- 1. Task 3: Analysis of “Stan” Music Video The music video of “Stan” is quite narrative. The genre to this song is quite Hip-Hop but further Horror core. This is one of the sub genres of Hip-Hop which is darkly transgressive due to the lyrical content. This is as the music video tries to send out a message to their audience and persuade them. For instance, Stan is a non-fictional character who is a crazed fan and obsessed over Eminem. He goes to every concert, signings and even writes him letters daily. As the video progresses so does the story showing a clear idea of what ‘Stan’ is going through. The story also relates to the lyrics throughout and to the audience’s experience. For example, break ups, where ‘Stan’ is always having an argument with his pregnant girlfriend or death. So the music video is quite dark as the whole time the weather has been heavy rain and thunder including lightning. Also notice the way ‘Stan’ is always in the basement writing to Eminem and has his posters, etc. The basement was a perfect setting as usually even in horror movies, the basement is always creepy, scary or uncomfortable so the environment suited Stan’s character as a whole.
- 2. lighting used creates a little spot on the lady, light coming through the window but the rest of the room is pitch black. This also explains the low-key lighting used throughout the video. When you get to fifteen seconds in Stanley is looking at himself in the mirror, this shows that he is looking at his identity, he might be questioning himself of his appearance and his thoughts. In the first eight seconds of the video you already feel like it’s a horror film because of the darkness and the camera zooming in through the window. All you can see is a lady lying on a bed but the You can see at the beginning; Stan is also bleaching his hair blonde which shows his commitment and how much he also seems to look like Eminem. He is happy in his thoughts however, when he sees his girlfriend, his mood changes as he probably does not want her in his life anymore as they always argue and wishes he was together with Eminem.
- 3. Throughout the video Stan looks in the mirror all the time and sees Eminem in himself especially with the posters everywhere and him on television.
- 4. Throughout the music video you can see Stan wear a white tank top or a white half-sleeved shirt and so does Eminem. White signifies As you see Stan has a lot of mail envelopes with addresses and stamps on them which already show how he writes to Eminem every day for the past 6 months. innocence and purity and so this shows how Stan felt towards Eminem and how his character would change towards him. However, Stan's girlfriend from the start of the video till the end seems to wear a blue robe and blue pyjamas. The colour blue plays an important role for Stan's girlfriend's character. Blue signifies trust and loyalty. In the music video, Stan's girlfriend is seen supporting Stan for his obsession over Eminem and yet stays with him throughout in their surviving relationship. We
- 5. Also just before Stan takes his girlfriend to the trunk and kills her, Stan’s girlfriend is seen wearing green. Green symbolises life and the irony is she dies that very night as she is put in the trunk and drowns. Also she was pregnant and green also symbolises renewal.
- 6. Stan is played by a Canadian actor, Devon Sawa, who lip synchs to Eminem's music video Stan. Eminem raps as Stan and himself but Devon Sawa lip Synchs as Stan to show the audience a clear understanding of Eminem's message of an obsessed fan. The lip synch is done greatly as the audience feels as Stan is actually rapping and speaking out to them especially while Stan writes his letters. Each time he writes he gets more aggressive.
- 7. There is no dance choreography in this music video as the whole point is to change the way audience. This does not make this video conventional for hip-hop as they are always dancing and having fun. But in order to make the audience feel intense, the video is dark and depressing to make the message clear and stand out in its own unique way. This song was written in order to get the audience to understand what Eminem is trying to say in a visual way. He wants his fans to know when he is not behind the microphone, he is just like them, an ordinary person who wants to live normally. Eminem also wants to tell his fans how they should never try to be like him by his looks or stuff he does as he believes he is not a good role model especially for younger audiences. Eminem believes his fans should also stay in touch with their loved ones and spend more time with them rather than obsess over him. This maybe because Eminem was not close to his mother until he realised it was wrong of him. This is than why when Eminem writes back to Stan, he tells him “I really think you and your girlfriend need each other, or maybe you just need to treat her better”. Eminem is represented as a generic celebrity who doesn't bother to respond or interact with fans. However, near the end of the video you see that he does in fact reply and read his fan mail although it was too late as Stan dies by committing suicide leaving a huge amount of guilt on Eminem. Although the video is not about
- 8. Eminem, he is still well promoted due to the narrative being about someone who is obsessed with him; this makes the audience want to know more about the Eminem and why it is that Stan is so obsessed over him. There are many allusions in this song such as when Stan writes how when he has a daughter he is going to name her Bonnie. This name comes from Eminem’s favourite cult heroes, Bonnie and Clyde, also the song Eminem did ’97 Bonnie and Clyde’. Also another crazy allusion is when Stan writes how he felt bad about Eminem’s uncle’s death. Stan writes “I had a friend kill himself over some b*tch who didn't want him”. Eminem’s Uncle Ronnie was Eminem’s best childhood family member, Eminem said his uncle was the family he had. Ronnie was charged with third-degree assault by kicking a female on December 12 1991. This means he had an The music video is linear as Eminem wants the message to be clear and straightforward to his audience and not confuse them. There are some flash backs but they still go forward in time like when Stan takes his younger brother to Eminem’s concert or when they go to his signings.
- 9. argument with his girlfriend which led him to shoot himself in the head on December 14 1991. Dido’s verse plays a good part for Stan’s character. This is because throughout the video it is dark, rainy and thunder. So Dido sings: “The morning rain clouds up my window And I can't see at all And even if I could it'll all be grey Put your picture on my wall It reminds me, that it's not so bad” This verse shows how Stan is always calm and happy when he says Eminem on his television or how he sees the entire wall covered with posters of Eminem mostly close ups of his face.
- 10. The song however does also link to other artists. Firstly, the chorus by Dido is sang from her original song “Thank you”. This song was about how she is happy with her day even though there is troubles and problems, her happiness depends on the guy which is why she thanks him. So this shows in the music video how even though Stan is a psyche, how he treats her poorly and yet she is still loyal. Eminem also mentions Phil Collin’s song "In the Air Tonight". Specifically, Stan refers that the song is about Collins seeing a man drowning, while getting closer Collins does nothing to save him. So this relates to how Eminem is guilty about Stan as his blood on his hands maybe showing that he is also guilty in his uncle’s death in some way. Stan continues depths of his anger: "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". After that, screaming is heard and Stan reveals that his pregnant girlfriend is in the trunk, "Shut up, b*tch, 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" this refers to Eminem's song "Kim", where Eminem murders his wife after realizing she is cheating and doesn't love him; at the end of "Kim" he slits her
- 11. throat and throws her in his trunk. At the end, Stan realizes too late that he will be unable to send the tape to Eminem. Eminem tries to target lower class audiences to try and tell them not to mess their life up more by copying him but to realise what really matters and do something useful with their life. We can tell it’s a lower class audience as Stan says “My girlfriend's jealous cause I talk about you 24/7, but she doesn’t know you like I know you Slim, no one does, she doesn’t know what it was like for people like us growing up, you got to call me man”. When Stan says “people like us growing up” he probably means have had a poor relationship with parents growing up and taking drugs due to depression. This stereo types a lower class audience.
- 12. The video starts from a black fade transition shot to a low key lighting set, beginning with a window in centre frame, showing the establishing shot. Close ups are used in this scene to show the reaction of both Stan and Dido, a look of joy and passion on his and a look of disgust and worry on hers. This helps show Stan’s obsession with Eminem and Stan’s wife’s concern with it. The video does not entirely focus on the artist but it has a lot to do about the artist. Despite Stan being main actor of the music video, his obsession with the Eminem makes the audience think a lot about
- 13. Eminem and therefore kind of makes the entire video specifically about him.This is difficult to portray in this music video as through most of it, Stan, not Eminem, is narrating the events however due to this, Stan takes place of the artist and close-ups are seen, a specific example being at the beginning of the music video where he is looking in the mirror, he is clearly shown to the audience. Throughout the rest of the video, whenever Stan is at his desk, he is always placed in centre frame and if not, the shot is from behind or the side. Analysis of “Last Friday Night” Music Video The genre of Katy Perry’s song ‘Last Friday Night’ is Dance-pop from the album ‘Teenage Dream’. The music video meets conventions for a typical pop music video as there is typical young love and parties presented in the video.
- 14. In the music video there are a lot of bright and bold colours used which is very conventional in pop videos and songs. This is mostly because pop songs give a happy and loving mood to the audience and makes them want to dance. The style of the song is very cheerful like many pop songs and videos. Therefore, this song meets the stereotype of pop music. The music video tells a story to the song which is attractive to watch and is very interesting. The video relates to many teenagers and their lifestyle which would make them want to watch the music video and listen to the song.
- 15. As you can tell, the music video is an 80/90's theme. So the clothes worn are based on then with the tight high trousers to the hair. The clothes are bright as they used to be in the 80's for attraction. You could also tell the theme due to the font of the text and the newspaper boy and the style of the car behind him. Katy Perry plays Kathy who is a nerd who wears stereotypical braces from the 80's style, glasses and has no sense in dressing meaning she was not showing any skin. This made it obvious how she was to get a makeover during the music video.
- 16. Katy Perry is seen transformed from a geek to an attractive young lady to grab attention of the popular boy she is into. This also involves the male gaze theory as the wears neon coloured clothes which are short and tight including high heels. Some younger audiences may relate to this seen as they try to make a lot of effort to get a boy to notice them as Rebecca Black shows us in the music video how she transforms Katy Perry. This also shows voyeurism as Kathy becomes more of a sexual object showing off her body portraying her curves. Katy Perry mostly is wearing pink. The colour symbolises feminism and delicacy. This shows Katy Perry as a character as she is still the same innocent girl even though she transformed her appearance. She also wears a green skirt and green symbolises renewal meaning her appearance again. The popular boy Kathy is interested is seen to wear a jock. This shows how he is the popular guy every girl has a crush on and is very macho. In the 80's wearing a jock meant you were popular, a sign of how important you were and the guy who will get all the girls just as the way in the music video how he went straight to the 'blonde and popular' girl in the corner.
- 17. The jacket is red which symbolises power and strength showing how he is in charge and all macho. The geeky boy called Everette is also wearing braces and big glasses. Notice the way his glasses also have tape in the middle which shows his true geekyness. Everette has his hair neatly done and is wearing suspenders which show off more of his stereotypical geek look. He is in love with Kathy as it makes it conventional for a pop video showing 'young love'. He day dreams of him as a knight and Kathy as a princess. This shows how he tries to be Kathy's knight in shining armour, not the jock. Throughout the music video, Katy Perry is lip synching as Kathy as the lyrics match the actions. So Katy Perry wants to show the audience how Kathy is singing about what a good time she had and what she did throughout her Friday night.
- 18. A dance choreography was essential as its very conventional for a pop music video. It also shows how in the 80/90's people would usually dance at parties and have a good time. It's also fun to watch different people dance differently as the dance matches the beats and is needed at some point in the video as the genre of the song is dance-pop. This song has many different meanings. One basic meaning is that these days many teenagers like to party and have fun once in a while. It helps them loosen up rather than stressing just as Kathy went from a boring nerd to a party animal and ended up having fun.
- 19. Especially when Kathy's parents came and said how her to party was acceptable even though she trashed her house as they used done crazier things when they were young. Another meaning is not to judge a book by its cover. This is because Kathy was a boring nerd who would just study and not be invited to any parties. However, she ended up making the party even better and everybody ended up thinking she was actually super cool especially when the guy at the beginning said "I don't care what anybody thinks about you, your actually really cool.... Best party ever!!". Last but not least, one meaning could be how Katy Perry is trying to show how girls these days have to go through a lot of effort just to get a boy to like them or even notice them. A message trying to say how it's not about beauty but about personality cause even the
- 20. macho or good looking guys can be childish and a pain in the back side, just wanting you for a sexual object. Also that there is a guy out there who likes you for yourself as Everette liked Kathy the way she was as in the end when she passes out he puts her glasses back on. He may not be macho or popular but is innocent and will treat you right. There were quite a few of hidden messages in this music video. As it was a 80/90's theme, the guy who plays the saxophone and is Kathy's uncle actually is a famous saxophone player, Lenny G. Also there is a famous 90's band called Hanson who are seen playing in Kathy's back garden.
- 21. Kathy's parents are also 80's icons. Kathy's dad is played by Corey Feldman who became well known during the 1980s, with roles as a youth in films such as The Fox and the Hound. Kathy's mom is played by Debbie Gibson a singer who went triple platinum for leasing her album, Out of The Blue in, in 1987. Also notice the way Kathy's parents are calm with her having a huge party and trashing the house. This shows how rich people would not really care as they spoil their children and let them get away with stuff. There are no links to other artists other than Rebecca Black. This is because she wrote a hit song called 'Friday' where she sang about how it's Friday so we should party. That's why Katy Perry also
- 22. includes T.G.I.F which stands for 'Thank God It's Friday'. Also in the music video, Rebecca Black is having the party on a Friday night, Kathy goes just to try and shut it down. The music video was done in a non-linear way. This is because the video starts off with the aftermath of the party where Kathy is hung over and then they show the night before and then cut towards the morning after. The music video attracts the audience as they have used real life situations for instance the way a girl tries to get attention of a guy. Also every guy tries to be the hero in their minds just the way Everette sees himself with his crush (Kathy) and defeats the guy after her or tries to. This makes the audience interested and want to watch the rest of the music video to see what happens next.
- 23. There was really good use in camera shots and angles. The first camera shot features an establishing shot of the character’s houses and front garden. This is conventional for a pop music video as it gives a film-like style as it's telling a story. Another great shot was when Kathy was on her bed showing 3 people passed out in her room. This was important as it showed Goodwin's theory of relations between visuals and lyrics. For example, when Katy Perry sang "There's a stranger in my bed" which there was in the video.
- 24. Close-ups were very important and was used a lot in order to show the characters’ expressions. For instance, to show how Kathy felt towards certain things like the pain of the wax or the way Everette pulled his 'I'm in love' face when he saw Kathy and started day dreaming. There were a lot of wide shots and low-angled shots in Kathy's backyard scene. This was to show how many people were present at the party and what everyone was doing such as drinking and live music. This was also showing a stereotypical American party as to how young teenagers can lose control at parties and act wild.
- 25. Panning was used greatly at the scene where Kathy is transformed into a sexual object starting from her feet to her head and is walking downstairs to the party.
- 26. Both music videos are very different as you may have noticed. The music video for Stan was very unconventional for a hip-hop video as most of the time there is the male gaze present which there wasn’t. There may have been Dido playing Stan’s girlfriend however she was not seen as a sexual object. Also most hip-hop videos show how rich people are with their dress code such as jewellery: diamonds and chains. Yet the music video was targeting a lower class audience who are below average and not rich at all. We could tell as Stan would wear simple and plain shirts and even Eminem was not dressed as a rich rapper with many gold chains. The music video to Stan had very low-key lighting throughout which changes the way a hip-hop audience thinks. This is due to Eminem wanted the message straight forward and seriously taken, not fun distracting the audience. However, Kay Perry’s Last Friday Night music video is very conventional for a pop song. This is as the video and lyrics relate to a typical teenager as they show ‘young love’ and how the nerd is the hero for the first time and not the popular guy. This video had a lot of dancing which is very essential for a pop song as the song is more enjoyed. There were people wearing bright colours which shows the audience a typical pop song. Also at the beginning the video is shown as a short film showing the location and settings. The story was shown as a movie style which becomes more interesting to watch.
- 27. There was the use of bright lights throughout to lighten the mood for the audience and make the video look cheerful. There also many famous icons shown in the music video which makes it more interesting as most pop music videos use other celebrities such as Katy Perry including Rebecca Black in hers.