media task for media studies

1. Eminem - Stan
This song can be defined as in the hip-hop genre as it follows
the beat very strongly, although it has many differences from
most hip-hop songs, in that it is not just bragging about how
good his life is, but instead conveys a message, that his fans
should not get over worked on him but instead understand
there are other things what are more important, such as family
and your friends getting a job etc. which is even stated in the
song when Eminem writes back saying he should pay more attention to her and treat her better.
Eminem’s supporting artist is a pop singer dido, not someone of
the hip hop genre, because he wanted her to help convey
emotion, which not done that often as people generally pick
people who have the same sort of way of singing to help them
with their songs as they know people who like the other artist
music are likely to like his own.
The video show use of pathetic fallacy as the setting of the
video is dark and raining is to show that the video is not happy
one but is instead about much darker tones the reason for this
is at allows for us to know what to expect from the song and it
further diffenituates this form other songs of the hip-hop genre
which are usually sunny.
The dark tone of the can be seen in many other ways such as
his behaviour and the driving off of the bridge at the end which
kill Stan his wife and child and how at the start of the song Stan
shoves his heavily pregnant girlfriend into the bathroom when
she does not like his new look.
The lyrics hold a moral message which is unusual the fact that
the only theme the song is bring is when he is meeting Eminem
is to show that is the only part of the song where he is actually
happy and not depressed which is to help illustrate the level
that Stan is obsessed over Eminem and show that it is
unhealthy and try to make people understand that is not the
right thing.

2. The clothes hold different means such as the girlfriend wearing
blue which is used to represent the fact that she is a loyal
person which we can tell as she sticks by Stan though out all of
the song which is set over 6 mouths despite the obvious that
their relationship is one sided which can be seen as he covers
her up on the photo with Eminem and it is possible she is
mistreated given how he sees what she is doing when he sees
her out of bed.
Eminem wearing white shirts is to mimic Eminem which is easy
to see it is also used to represent how he is mad with his
obsession as white can be used to represent madness in some
old beliefs with the word lunacy deriving form the world Luna
the moon which is white which can be seen in werewolves
which are driven made by the moon this is so people can see
that Eminem believe that obsession to that point is an illness
that you need to try and cure yourself of and instead use moderation.
Emimem adds in several different types of shots to give
different meanings for eample the shot towards th stage is an
high angle shot as this is in stans perspetive and is him looking
up at stan as a metaphore for stans oppion of eminem with his
admiration and prise thinking that eminem is an idol.
The video is introduced with a medium shot that zooms into the
window as if you are looking into Stan and his girlfriend’s life as
a silent observer this also serves to introduce the mood of the
video as there is a large amount of rain and lightning which we
associated with dark moods.
The video uses over the shoulder shots to continue the feeling
that we are looking over their everyday life and show us what
their life is like and show how they are struggling to get by and
how their relationship is at different parts of their life over the 6
months and show the stain that Stan’s obsession over Eminem is
causing it.

3. There are still parts of the song which fit into hip-hop normally
such as the use of the artist face in this song though the use of
a large number of posters in the basement although this is not
the way this is expressed as it is normally done using close ups
of their faces which is a type of shot not used to often in this
song as it would ruin the feeling and message that is being
created but instead show the extent of his obsession.
The basement is also important for another reason which is
the fact so much of the song is set in the basement is that the
basement is used as a visual representation of Stan’s mind
which is why the basement is so dirty and decrepit also why it is
so dark and poorly it as well as why the production team filled
it with Eminem all over instead of just his desk.
The location also shows us what sort of people Stan and his
girlfriend are which is lower/working class people as the house
that they live in is a small one with very few rooms and it looks
like it is an old decrepit place that is not worth much and is
cheap to stay in and you imaging that it would be cold and
hard to liv in showing that they are not having an easy time
but are struggling and allows for us to see that Eminem is
Stan’s idol as someone like him who got rich and left that kind of life.
The song also uses two-shot in order to establish links
between different people for example at the start open is
used in the bath room with Stan and the mirror where he
sees Eminem instead of himself resenting what he wants to
be.
This song does not use common features of hip hop such as
dance instead focus on improving the narrative that they are
creating by having Stan writing his letters and showing the
relationship between Stan and his girlfriend to make it seem
more believable and grounded in reality so the message will
be taken seriously.
As dancing and other common place parts of hip-hop do not
work with the message that he is trying to put across he did
not use them because they would be running the atmosphere
and sense of reality and tone of seriousness that the song is
griped by which contains many messages such as be careful
when listening to his music as little brothers could hear it and

4. become a fan of his despite the language and themes he covers being inappropriate for that age
group.
The song Stan shows some of the parts of Goodwin theory of
media videos for example the dark tone and way that the
video is made with the writing the song as letter fits in very
well and what is on the screen reflects the lyrics of the song
which helps to emphasis the songs message and make it
clearer for people.
The speed that she song cuts is quite random with some
features giving it like the lighting flashing and people leaving
but it can change at different times from one scene to the
next the reason for this could be to reflect that Stan is not
mentally stable and instead a tad mad which would fit into
the theme of instability further driving the point in.
In the song Eminem fills the roll of the star by his
appearances at the end and though being the point of Stan’s
obsession so that when people they will think of him as one
which will make people want to be like him and buy his
music to mimic him to some extent but the way he did this
fit into the story so as to not detract from the message and
warns them of what could happen if you get to obsessed
over what he creates.
There are not many shots taken to feel like voyeurism in this
song as the shots are mainly in a 3third person perspective
taken over the shoulder or form a distance away from the
people in the scene and those that feel like they could be
them are used to show what their life is like for example in
the kitten scene showing their relationship and how small
the house is.
This song shows the 6th
part of the theory as he works
alongside dido who is a pop singer and also when Stan
mentions having that album where Eminem worked with a
band he used to be a part of in the lyrics and showing it in
the video at the same time and mentioning another
collaboration that he did with another artist which allowed
for Eminem to promote himself and other artist while
keeping his message as Stan saying that fits into his character

5. Katie Perry -music video review- last Friday night.
Like Stan this message contains a few messages of its own
although it can be more easily to miss them than it was in
Stan as they are not as much of a priority. One of the
messages of this song is that people should not judge others
based on how they look which is showed too different ways
the first of them is in how Katie Perry changes from being a
nerd to a fun full of life person which represents that
appeacnces don’t dictate personality. the second way that
this is showed is through the use of the nerd when he beats
the jock showing that although he does not look like he can he can defend what he wants.
Unlike Stan this video does not show some techniques such
as pathetic fallacy but it is also a nonlinear song as it starts at
the end showing aftermath of party the following day and
Katie Perry’s reaction to what she finds and then transitions
to the past at the start of the party when she looks on social
media to see what happened and the song and video
continue form there.
The clothing that the characters’ wear at first is to show
what stereotype teenager they represent with the jock the
pretty best friend the male nerd and the female nerd with
them acting as they would like that for example how the
male nerd places his hands at his face a lot and acts nervous
despite this the colours still hold meaning such as after her
costume change the pink on Katie Perry’s outfit represents
her femininity
A similarity between the two songs is that we are made to
recognise the singer although this is though more direct
means showing their face very often bring a large number of
close ups of the main character and how their dress is made
to standout form the other people which sink into the
background making us better recognised them and see
them as a star.

6. This video shows male gaze theory though out the entire
song with many different shots of point to show different
parts of Katie Perry’s body such as legs and chest as well as
this the outfit that she wears is made to be very tight to
allow for people to see her better this is to make the song
more eye catching so people will be more likely to watch the
video this also help to make many people want to be like
the main artist.
This song has the setting of a party with an 80ies theme
which can be seen in the cloths that the different people
wearing such as the dress that Katie Perry changes into and
the stereo typing of the clothing also fits into that era with
the jock and nerd clothing being what you would expect
form an 80ies sitcom.
The video reminds you it is set in present day when they are
dancing as it is using a just dance game which is an example
of synergy as she is trying to promote the game in her song
as it has many of her other songs so she could get herself
more heard and allowing for her to make more money as
just dance could then choose to work with her in the future
and pick you use her songs again allowing her to expand her
fan base.
The tone of the song is a fun one which can be seen in the
fast beat is which gives an exited full of energy feeling which
is a large difference form the slow serious beat of the song
Stan. This is backed by a bright colour scheme and the lyrics
which are more fun and less serious which helps build this
up as well as this the scene is well light and in the day time
parts the sun was up and there were few clouds in the sky
to represent how the mood was and when it is night there
are lights every when to keep it well lit.
This song as stated previously features parts of Laura
Mulvey’s male gaze theory about how songs are made to
catch means attention by showing women in promises ways
that show skin e.g. when Katie Perry is coming down the
stairs after her change in clothing.

7. Not just Katie Perry is used to grab people’s attention as her
best friend in the video was also used to help with this
although not as common as to avoid taking away form Katie
Perry as she is the star of the video and the friend is one of
the secondary charaters so while they do take some of the
screen time and are recognised it is not as much.
The song does not just display Laura Mulvey’s male gaze
theory but also Goodwin’s theory of media video and
displays more parts of it than the Stan music video as it fills
more conventions of music videos and as a pop song people
would expect this of the song singer like Katie perry who is
well known for songs like this so it would be a risk to change
her style.
The music video is well light and made using a large variety
of bright colours the reason for this is that the song has a
fast pace and the lyrics are happening and are about
partying this helps to reflect and show it visually.
The second part is not shown but I believe that this is
because it is to better reflect that it is about a party where
there are every few rules and things are generally not
regulated so to help mimic this they wanted to cut randomly
like photos being taken at random times which matches up
with the start.
The video contains dancing bright colours a repeating curse
a fast fun placed beat all of which you would expect form
the pop music genre even the catchy lyrics are part of it and
help to show this though out this song she acts like a fun
loving teenager and does a lot to boost this for example
maxing the credit card which is tied with teenagers when
they are being irresponsible.

8. The song features multiple close ups of Katie Perry as this
places her as the main character but there are unlike most
music videos secondary charters such as the best friend the
nerd and the jock which is more like a movie than a music
video to help push what we saw that the start of the song
with the establishing shot often used to establish the scene
of a movie.
The song also features a few long shots so we can see the
entire scene for example the garden scene as many parts
that were set form a distance so we could see the scale of
the party and make it feel more real and show that there
was a large attended that filled the house and show some
of the damages to the house such as the coloured paper
everywhere.
The video shows scenes that are voyeuristic such as when
Katie Perry is coming down the stairs it is shot to make it
look as if we are looking up at her as if we are part of the
crowd although this is the easiest example there are many
more than this and this is done to make us look up to her
and to make people feel more involved as well as this the
type of shot used is a pov shot to make us feel like we are a
person who was in the party as if we were there.
This video is packed to the brim with intertextual references
especially pertaining to the 80ies which shows people of all
sorts of media for example the farther in this played one of
the roles in the goonies a famous 80ies movie and was a
well-known actor at this time, the mother was a famous
singer at the time, and the uncle was a saxophone player at
this time which is brought up in the end credits another
connection to a movie to help make Katie Perry a star.

9. Comparison and contrast between the two songs
These two songs had much in common for example they were both made by very famous artist with
large fan bases and contain a message in the case of Stan don’t become obsessive over music and in
Katie Perry don’t judge people by how they look as there is more to them than that they both
brought on other famous people with in Stan their being dido and in last Friday night all of the
people who were famous back in the 80ies both of them promote the artist t and other songs and
people who they worked with in order to try and make more money.
Both of the songs show some unconventional features for example in Katie Perry they were using
features and shots found more commonly in movies to try and promote that Katie Perry could do
more than just sing which is un and in Eminem they did not have male gaze theory and it took a dark
atmosphere and feeling despite what type of music it falls under does not follow many of its
conventions in order to carry’s its message which Eminem wanted to give to his fan base.
The overall feel of both of these messages is very different as well with Stan being a very dark video
that people will not find fun but instead more depressing the way that this atmosphere is created in
the video is through the use of rain when you entre to start you off with expectation for it to be dark
as we are conditioned this way though horror movies and then the dim lighting of the room which
leaves it dark for the most part and the way that Stan acts pushing his girlfriend and driving off the
bridge and the lyrics such as him cutting himself. Katie Perry on the other had made her song a
happier one and to create this atmosphere it sated with a bright street and goofy opening text keeps
brightly light and uses large lightly painted open spaces to make it feel more open and bright the
people wear light colours and are dancing adding to this mood.