Genre: Hip Hop/Horror core (Narrative)
Directed by Phillip Atwell & Dre
Released on 9th December 2000
Stan is arguably one of Eminem's greatest songs/videos. Eminem is a world famous Hip hop and R'n'B artist and created this film-like video around a story line. Although this video is very famous, it was considered highly controversial because of the themes of violence, drinking, murder and obsession that had been incorporated. This video has won quite a few awards due to the fact that it was shot as though it was a film.
The first scene starts off with a shot of a window. As they camera tracks in, we see rain drops and flashes of lightning accompanied with the sound of thunder. This could be the establishing shot of the video to help us as the audience to set the scene. It cuts into a view of Stan (Devon Sawa) washing his hair with bleach as the camera tracks in. This already tells us about the Stan's obsession over Eminem as he bleaches his hair blonde. He looks at himself quite aggressively in the mirror (as seen through a medium close up) where we can quickly analyse his appearance. He is wearing just a vest and a chain. His left arm is tattooed with a design of some sort, including a crucifix. The background is his bathroom walls and door, very old with the paint peeling off. This indicates that the Stan character is a quite poor man.
The scene cuts too low angle shot of Dido, who is Stan's girlfriend and is pregnant. She briskly walks down a dimly lit corridor, stops outside Stan's bathroom door asking him to come out. He aggressively opens the door and screams 'What?' in her face, showing his anger for disturbing him. She asks him what he did to himself as she just saw his newly coloured hair. She asks him 'don't you think you are taking things too far?' showing that she is aware of his obsession. He shows his power of Dido as he grabs her and pushes her towards the toilet seat, regardless at the fact that she is pregnant. A high angle shot is used here making it seem as though we are dropping into the private lives of this couple.
The scene changes to a train carriage with Eminem sitting on a seat while a person gives him a pile of letters, indicating the start of the song (we later identify the scenes with Stan as a flashback). The camera tracks from Dido singing in the bathroom (lip syncing) down to the basement where Stan's obsession over Eminem is clear. Whilst Stan writes a letter the camera revolves around him which reinforces Stan's emotions.
The lyrics are very violent and shows Stan's aggression and anger towards Eminem for not answering his letters. He even admits his obsession as he writes 'I got a room full of your posters and your pictures man'. We then see a scene where the reason why Stan did not get any replies from Eminem. A postman drops a letter on the floor while collecting a pile of Eminem's fan mail. We can identify the writer when a medium close up of the envelop shows us the word 'Stan' written in the corner. Stan's next letter is full of swearing which ,again, emphasises on his outrage and disappointment. Stan wishes to replace his girlfriend with Eminem as we see an over the shoulder shot where a picture of the artist replaces Stan's girlfriend in a photograph.
In a later scene we see Stan driving a car in a rain storm (non-diegetic sound of rain and thunder) shouting into a voice recorder. We see various close ups of Stan's face as he shouts that he is 'doing 90 on the freeway' indicating that he is speeding and that he is also drink driving indicated by the lyrics 'I drink a fifth of vodka, ya dare me to drive?'. Intertextuality is used as he mentions that he is playing Phil Collins' 'From the air in the night'. We later find out that Stan has tied up his pregnant girlfriend in the trunk as we hear her screaming in the background. Stan exclaims "Shut up bitch, I'm trying to talk". He then boasts about his actions.
We see a long shot of the car crashing and falling of a bridge as Stan drives the vehicle into a river. The slow motion editing technique is used here. We then see a scene where Eminem is replying to his letter which is flicks back and forth of a scene with Stan's brother Matthew attending Stan's funeral (parallel editing). Eminem then realises that Stan was involved in a car crash, that he heard about on the news.
Stan has a very good narrative although the themes, that have been incorporated, may be violent and disturbing. However the film-like feel to the video appeals to me the most. I may use this to help me generate ideas for my own video.
The lyrics are very violent and shows Stan's aggression and anger towards Eminem for not answering his letters. He even admits his obsession as he writes 'I got a room full of your posters and your pictures man'. We then see a scene where the reason why Stan did not get any replies from Eminem. A postman drops a letter on the floor while collecting a pile of Eminem's fan mail. We can identify the writer when a medium close up of the envelop shows us the word 'Stan' written in the corner. Stan's next letter is full of swearing which ,again, emphasises on his outrage and disappointment. Stan wishes to replace his girlfriend with Eminem as we see an over the shoulder shot where a picture of the artist replaces Stan's girlfriend in a photograph.
In a later scene we see Stan driving a car in a rain storm (non-diegetic sound of rain and thunder) shouting into a voice recorder. We see various close ups of Stan's face as he shouts that he is 'doing 90 on the freeway' indicating that he is speeding and that he is also drink driving indicated by the lyrics 'I drink a fifth of vodka, ya dare me to drive?'. Intertextuality is used as he mentions that he is playing Phil Collins' 'From the air in the night'. We later find out that Stan has tied up his pregnant girlfriend in the trunk as we hear her screaming in the background. Stan exclaims "Shut up bitch, I'm trying to talk". He then boasts about his actions.
We see a long shot of the car crashing and falling of a bridge as Stan drives the vehicle into a river. The slow motion editing technique is used here. We then see a scene where Eminem is replying to his letter which is flicks back and forth of a scene with Stan's brother Matthew attending Stan's funeral (parallel editing). Eminem then realises that Stan was involved in a car crash, that he heard about on the news.
Stan has a very good narrative although the themes, that have been incorporated, may be violent and disturbing. However the film-like feel to the video appeals to me the most. I may use this to help me generate ideas for my own video.
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