The music video for Eminem's "Stan" tells a dark story in contrast to typical hip hop videos. It follows an obsessed fan, Stan, who writes letters to Eminem but doesn't receive a response. Upset, Stan gets drunk and drives his pregnant girlfriend off a bridge, killing them both. The video uses a linear narrative and darker lighting/tones to convey the serious message about the dangers of celebrity worship. It attracted fans who could relate to the characters' lower socioeconomic status. Though unconventional for the genre, the video effectively delivered an important social commentary through its storytelling.

1. Task 3
Eminem: Stan
Genre & style:
The genre of most Eminem’s music is usually hip hop and pop, with these genres most song
are quite joyful and don’t usually have a main story to it, but in
this Eminem song it’s all different to his other music, it is still hip
hop but doesn’t include the type of things you would see in a
hip hop music video this includes, money and girls in nice cars
but in this music video we can see that the characters don’t
have a lot money this sets the scene of a different type of hip
hop music video. The beat of Stan shows us that this is a hip
hop song, we know this by how fast the beat might be going, also we can tell this is hip hop
because the language used and lyrics are often containing swearing and this song does just
that. Stan is unconventional because it is different to most music videos (hip hop) it contains
a message and doesn’t include the male gaze throughout the whole music video, the music
video isn’t showing the audience what Eminem has like money and nice things but instead
Eminem is trying to relate to the audience by showing the audience people who don’t have
a lot, having all these things such as the money and the male gaze will distract the audience
from the message they are trying to show the audience so Eminem doesn’t include these
things in his music video.
Codes & Conventions:
In the music video Stan bleaches his hair blond to
make him look like Eminem he does this because he
wants to be like Eminem. The clothing used in the
music video Stan shows us all different things about
the characters, firstly Stan dresses exactly like Eminem
to show how much of a fan he is, Stan wears white to
show purity but in this music video it shows Stan and
the colour white symbolise madness this is because Stan acts mad with everything he is
doing about Eminem. Stan’s girlfriend wears blue this symbolises loyalty and bravery, she
kept Stan under control at times when he was starting to ‘lose it’, she is loyal to Stan and
will always care and love him, the clothing they wear shows the audience what type of calls
they are, for example their cloths don’t have any
branding names showing us that their clothing is quite
plain and they don’t really have a lot of money to
spend on clothing. The music video is set in a lower
class area to show the audience they don’t have a lot,
this is unconventional of a hip hop music video,

2. because he is trying to reach out to people who can relate to what is happening and how
they are living and not showing the audience what the artist has and the audience doesn’t.
The codes used show the audience different
things about the music video, for example
denotation is used in the music video because
the first thing we see from the music video is
that Stan is writing to Eminem showing the
audience that he is a diehard fan but there is
connotation in the music video that people may not see. In Stan the connotation is to show
the message that Eminem isn’t that good and he doesn’t want people copying him for how
he is, the main message that is hidden it that he doesn’t want his fans obsessing over him
and celebrities when you can’t be them. The connotation is the thing that is saying
something beyond what you see and hear in the music video.
The music video is very dark and sad, they have done this to set the mood that this is an
important song with an important message, the lightning in the background of the music
video shows us that it’s a dark video, the lighting throughout the whole music video is very
dark and dull so the audience know
this song isn’t bright and joyful, it
shows the message to the audience.
The lightning makes the atmosphere
feel scary, this is because of the
sounds used can show the audience
what is going on. Rain can make
people quite dull and sad and in the video Stan is very angry at times so his emotions can
relate to the weather. In the whole music video there is only one part that shows a bit of
light, this is the flash back for when Eminem meets Stan and a signing point, this brightens
the mood just for a small amount of time.
The song is sung by Eminem but you don’t see a lot of Eminem in the music video, but he is
singing though out the whole video, this is because he uses lip syncing, this is conventional
for hip hop music videos because it makes the video look like it’s still their song. In the song
more than one person is playing the same
voice, it contains both con and
unconventional, this is an internal monologue,
Eminem is singing for the fan and this helps
the message reach out to people who can
relate to the fan, it shows the audience that
Eminem is right and the message might be
about them, if it wasn’t sung by Eminem people may not take the message seriously and
just think it’s another song. Due to the audience not really seeing Eminem until the end but
only through short snippets of his performances and via posters, it does in fact make the
audience very curious and is subconsciously making Eminem the star image in the video.

3. In the Music video there is no dancing because it will distract the audience from listening to
the lyrics, and what the message has to say. Not having dancing for a hip hop music video is
unconventional because most hip hop song are happy and lively where this one is the
opposite, if there was dancing the message won’t be shown, most hip hop song don’t
usually have a message to tell the audience. Other artists such as DR DRE and snoop dogg
usually have lively colourful song with music videos containing girl’s money and cars but his
is because they are not sending a message to the audience. Stan talks about how he feels.
Its unconventional for hip hop music videos to have a dark and sad message. In the music
video Stan, they use other artists such as dido and in the song he talks about Phil Collins
Eminem does this because he is showing his audience he is not the only one who has these
type of fans. During the end of the music video there is a bright light in the window where
Eminem is writing Stan’s letter and when he lightning flashes you can see Stan in the
window, this means that even though Stan is dead he is never going to leave Eminem.
Narrative:
The narration of this music video is about a boy called Stan that was completely obsessed
with Eminem. Stan always was writing to Eminem but he never realises that Eminem is very
busy and can’t always read his letters, because
of this Stan gets very annoyed and keeps on
trying to write to Eminem but his letter gets
lost in the post office so Eminem doesn’t
receive his letter, this makes him angrier. After
a couple of month Eminem still hasn’t wrote
back so Stan becomes very angry and becomes
drunk, kidnapping his pregnant girlfriend and
put her in the trunk, and ends up driving into a lake off a bride ending up killing himself and
his pregnant girlfriend. Eminem is unaware of this and starts writing back to Stan and
apologising and realises that h heard about someone killing themselves and realises it was
Stan. The music video Stan is linear, the start is going forward in time. Flashbacks occur but
they are just memories from the past and not part of that story. They use linear because
they don’t want to confuse the audience and the message
Target audience:
Stan has a message that allows the target audience to relate to, this can attract the target
audience because people who can relate may get a lesson from this some from Eminem.
The music video represents as Eminem having a massive fan wanting to be like him, and this
can relate to a lot of his audience because a lot of his fans want to be like him, this is
because they can relate to his life and what he has been through, this can attract more
people to his song because he will have more people that may relate to what might be

4. happening in the video. In other hip hop
music videos not a lot of people can
relate to the artist because they often
express and show off all their money and
people who listen to their music might
not have this stuff. The video attracts a
lower class target audience because they
are able to relate to what is happening the most than other who may have money.
Camera angles:
In Stan there are many camera angles used. Firstly, in the opening shot the camera is using
zoom towards the window to show the audience what type of atmosphere it is, they are
showing the rain and thunder to show its quite a sad dull mood. Furthermore, a lot of close
ups are used throughout the whole music video this is to show the emotions of the actors
and people get a sense of how they are feeling emotionally, one close up is of the pregnant
girlfriend and her stomach. The music video consists of a lot of cuts, this is good for a music
video because people get to see a wide range of
things that may be going on in the music video.
One part of the music video cuts to where Stan is
bleaching his hair, the camera uses a bird’s eye
view angle because it shows the whole room and
the audience can see what their financial state is
like from the view of their house. long shots of Stan's little brother and a woman, stand in
front of Stan's gravestone. These shots are important as they were foretold, in a sense,
earlier in the video. Over the shoulder shots are also used when Stan is writing to Eminem,
this camera angle allows the audience to see what Stan is doing giving the audience a feel of
what his view is like. We then see an over the shoulder shot of Stan looking at himself in
quite a bizarre manor, which causes concern for the audience, as to why he is behaving in
this way. The camera then cuts to a long shot of Dido, rushing to the bathroom, whilst
shouting "Stanley open the door" to which Stan acknowledges, but does not respond to at
this point, as he continues to stare into the mirror, this can make the audience feel a bit
worried for Stan because he is acting differently and acting strange, this shot makes it feel
that you are Stan and you are wondering what you are doing to yourself.
Andrew Goodwin’s music video theory:
In the music video Stan, the Goodwin’s theory is used. Firstly, in Stan Eminem uses the
music video theory when the music video is linking to the lyrics, this happens when Stan is
writing to Eminem because he Is singing what he is writing down. The beat of the music
video is slow this means there will be less cuts and this is correct, in Stan the cuts happen
with the beat but not every beat because there would be too many cuts for a slow sad song.
As the genre is hip hop on of the parts of the Goodwin’s music video theory we are told that

5. the codes and conventions are to do with that genre but in this music video of Stan they
don’t use this. They use lots of close ups to show the star but because the star Eminem is
not in a lot of the music video they manage to still get close ups of posters of him in Stan’s
basement so the audience will still be able to see who the star is. Voyeurism is not used in
the music video because you can tell someone is not holding the camera, they use a tripod
to make the music feel like a film. In the song Stan Eminem often reflects on other artists in
the song, firstly he features dido in his music video because this allows people to see what
she is like and it makes Eminem’s fans want to listen to her music. Eminem often dresses up
as other people and artists to entertain the audience in a humorous way but he doesn’t do
this in Stan, this is because he is trying to make the music video mature so people can find
the message of what the song is trying to say. At the end of the song Stan mentions another
artist named Phil Collins, he mentions this because his song in the air tonight relates to what
is going on, the message of Phil Collins song is that he could have saved someone from dying
and Stan is telling Eminem he could have done the same things but it’s too late.
Katy Perry: Last Friday Night
Genre & Style:
The Genre of the music video Last
Friday Night is pop, we know this
because we can tell by how the
music video and the song is
presented. Many different things
made the video show us that the
genre is pop, the music video
included bright joyful colours to
the audience and also included
dancing, this showed us that the
music video is fun and happy. To
show the audience that the music video was pop, they showed the audience teenagers, they
don’t this because most of the genre pop’s target audience are teenagers so this will show
the target audience what the genre the song is showing. The music video was conventional
to the genre of pop music because it showed bright colours, fast beats were used as well,
this shows the audience that the song is fast paced and uses a lot of cuts. The music video
included dancing and partying this made the music video suitable to the genre of pop. The
Lyrics suited the genre because they didn’t use foul language this means the music video is
suitable for all ages, this means the target audience becomes bigger. Most pop music videos
don’t contain messages to give to the audience, this music videos doesn’t include a message
this means this music video is conventional to its genre of pop. It’s also unconventional
because it felt like a film with the first scene outside the house, pop music videos usually get
straight to the music.

6. Codes & conventions:
Firstly, in the music video Last Friday Night most of the characters are wearing different
clothing. The clothing used in the music video is bring to stand out, the colours are to make
a happy atmosphere and a happy mood for
the audience, the party was themed an 80s
party we know this because the music video
was set in real time but the people at the
parties dressed as they were in the 80s this
included all the bright clothing used. At the
start of the music video Katy Perry wore
clothing that showed the audience she wasn’t
a popular kid we know this because you would
thing she would be wearing nice colourful
clothing but instead at the start of the music
video she was wearing a jumper with a denim
jacket. This showed the audience she wasn’t
that popular, Katy Perry also has classes and
braces on giving us the message of a stereo
type geek. However, When Katy Perry got
dressed for the party she ended up wearing
clothing that made her feel and look like a
different person, Katy Perry wore bright
colours to make her stand out than anyone
else, this is good for the music video because
then when people are watching the music
video people will be able to tell who the start
is. She was wearing a short skirt and a thin
pink top to show her feminism side to attract men, this means that the male gaze is also
used in the music video to widen their audience by using attractive women. Katy Perry
wants popular people to notice her so she dresses to stand out over others. The men wear
the serenity top and has gelled up hair to symbolise popularity and to show people that he
has muscles and to show them off to the girls.
The code connotation is used because we know what is going on in the music video, it is
quite obvious because the music video shows a story of Friday night, the name of the song
tells us what is going on also there is no denotation with this song because there is no
hidden message except for that Katy Perry likes the boy wearing the serenity jacket but the
music video makes that quite noticeable so it doesn’t count as a denotation, this is
conventional for pop because most pop music videos don’t show a message to the audience
that may be hidden.
The music video is very bright and colourful this gives off that the music video is joyful and
fun and it is just a music video for people to enjoy and watch instead of listening to what the

7. artist is saying because there is no message, the lighting is very bright because it links to the
genre this makes the music video conventional to a pop song because it includes things that
a pop song should have. At the start of the music video it is bright and in the morning this
tells us at the start that this song is giving off a good and happy vibe instead of a dark sad
atmosphere. Because the music video includes bright colours and is in the day at the start it
makes people happy compared to if it was raining people may not be as happy and mostly
sad. At the end it is at night but the atmosphere makes the scene still joyful and fun.
Katy Perry is in the whole of the music video,
she is singing all of her song and there is no
lip syncing in the music video so the whole
song is based on her. Parts of the music video
Katy Perry isn’t singing but the music is still
going on in the background, this doesn’t
matter because she is still in the scene when
her music is playing, this is conventional for a
music video because the star is always involved with their music where others don’t star in
their music video, this allows the people who are watching her music video to know who the
star is and who’s song it is. In the music Video there is a lot of dancing this is to entertain the
audience when they are watching their music video, it would be different if there was a
message being sent out to the audience because the audience would be distracted by the
dancing but there is no message so people don’t need to listen to what the artist is trying to
say, this allows the audience to enjoy what
the artist is presenting to the audience.
Dancing creates a fun up beat atmosphere
for the audience to enjoy, In the music video
they present just dance to remind the
audience that the music video is based in
normal time, she also uses just dance to
promote the game because Katy Perry stars
in it. The Song relates to Rebecca Black’s song
called Friday. The song is a carry on from her song, this promotes Rebecca’s song and herself
so people may want to listen to her music and the song that relates to Katy Perry’s song. It’s
a continuation from Rebecca black’s song Friday.
The songs meaning is that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover because as you see in the
music video Katy Perry started off not that popular and she wore not so fashionable clothing
but later in the video she changed and looked way better, Also the music video shows us
that the girls have to put in a lot of effort to get noticed by the popular boys.
Narrative:
The narrative of the music video is about a girl who isn’t popular and is known for being a
geek, the girl changes who she is and becomes popular. It starts in the future then goes bac

8. to the night but then back at the end it goes back to where it started off, this sis like a
flashback for the whole night but people may not know this because they don’t use any
bright lighting around the screen to make it look like a flash back but the lyrics allow the
audience to know when this was. The music video is about a party that happens on Friday
night, the music video is in a non-linear order
this means that the music video started in
the future and went back in the past, the
music video started off the morning after the
party this is un conventional for a pop music
video because it is showing the video as
being a type of movie with a story, not many
music videos have this for a pop music video
this makes it different to other pop music videos.
Target Audience:
Katy Perry doesn’t have a message that can relate to her audience but he audience can
relate to how she dresses and how she acts, for example when you are a teenager you
would want to impress people for how you dress, people can relate to how Katy Perry
dresses to impress a boy. People can also relate to partying with drinks and music. The
target audience for this music video are teenagers that are around 18 that go out partying
and drinking this is because they can relate to some things that are going on in the music
video, this video also has a target audience of all ages because the music video is joyful and
happy. The genre of pop doesn’t really use a
message in their songs so this music video is
conventional for the pop genre and is able to have
a target audience of everyone, this is good for the
artist because more people will listen to her music
and will have a bigger audience who will buy her
music. Having a large target audience is not very
hard for some people because they just include the things that people enjoy and want to
see such as dancing and people having fun without a deeper meaning. Children are also part
of the target audience because the artist doesn’t use any offensive scenes such as violence
and offensive language this allows the artist to expand her audience. The music video
attracts any type of class because people who may not Have as much as her want to watch
to see what it’s like having all this stuff. Middle class people can relate because they can
afford clothing and are usually going to parties dressed in a similar way, lastly upper class
people are able to relate also because the music video is set in quite a rich area as we can
see by the opening scene where we see the house.

9. Camera Angles:
There are many camera angles used in Katy Perry’s music video Last Friday Night because it
shows people what may be going on in different places and it makes the music video see
more like an actual music video. Firstly, the camera angle at the start of the music video is a
establishing shot and this shows the view of all the houses and the neighbourhood this gives
the audience of what type of area it is, Also lots of mid shots are used in the music video to
show the audience what the actors are saying
for example when Katy Perry wakes up at the
start she is talking to herself in a mid-rage
shot so the audience can see the expressions
on her face and her body, having the mid-
range shot allows the actors to express
emotions on their face and to use hand
moves so the actors can emphasise more on
the subject they may be talking or singing about. During the first course there are many cuts
used in the music video this is because the cuts happen with the beat and because the song
is quite fast there will be a lot of cuts and also a lot is going on at that time so they are trying
to show the audience everything that is happening. Most shots with the other actors are
medium shots but with Katy Perry there are mainly close ups to focus on her so people
know she is the star. Long shots are also used a lot in the music video because it shows the
whole scene and what is going on around
everyone, at the start when Katy Perry
wakes up you can see her whole room and
the mess from the party this shows the
audience that the party was really mad and
it got out of hand, the long shot of the room
allows us to see what went on last night
without seeing the actual party, this means
we know what happened before we see
what happened so people know what the music video is about. Another close up shot is
taken of the nerd to show his body language and facial expressions towards Katy Perry’s
new appearance. The shot is taken focusing on him sitting in the corner, showing the
audience as him being the outsider of the party. There are many shots taken within this
video which embark on other famous people throughout. To match the 80/90's theme, a
90's band are seen playing in the back of Kathy's garden. Not only this, but a shot is taken in
which you see the famous saxophone star playing the character of Kathy's uncle playing the
saxophone on her roof.
Andrew Goodwin’s music video theory:
Throughout the music video, there are visuals illustrating the lyrics, sometimes word for word and
sometimes the actors in the music video use actions relating to the actions of the characters in the
music video, an example of this is when Katy Perry says ‘is this a hickey or a bruise’ and she shows

10. her neck where the kickey is. The images on the
screen are reflecting what Katy is singing. This is
conventional for a pop music video because
people can see what the artist is talking about.
The music video is quite fast and fits well with the
song this is conventional for a pop music video,
because it’s quite a fast up beat song there will be
a lot of cuts this fits with the music video theory
because there are a lot of cuts and the song is quite fast. All of the cuts fit to the beat of the song
and makes it look like it all fits together and looks professional. The music video shows the audience
that the genre is pop, people can tell by how it is shown to the audience with all the bright colours,
mostly pink and yellow to stand out, the codes show the audience that the genre is pop this shows
that it fits with the music video theory because
the song shows the right codes for a pop music
video to have. The genre is shown by the music
video because the song contains a lot of dancing
that is all up beat with people dancing along. In
the music video there are a lot of close ups to
show the audience who the star is. The close ups
are often only on Katy Perry sop the audience
know who the star is. The close ups are usually
when Katy Perry is singing the lyrics of the song, there are many close ups for when she has her
makeover this is because the music video can use the male gaze to get more people to watch her
music video. Having close ups for the star is part of the music video theory. This shows us Katy Perry
is trying to follow the theory for her music video. The is also voyeurism for when Katy Perry is getting
changed and when she is going down the stairs this makes it look like someone is watching her, this
is also part of the music video theory so this is conventional towards it. Katy Perry has referred to
other artists in her music video because she uses Rebecca black in part of her music video, this
shows us that she is trying to promote Rebecca’s music because she created a song called Friday that
relates to Katy Perry’s song. This is conventional for music videos to include it is also conventional
for the music video theory. Overall the music video follows Andrew Goodwin’s music video
theory this is good because is sets all the needs for that music video to include where other
music videos do not.
Overall both Eminem’s music video and Katy Perry’s music video are completely different
but one is more conventional towards their genre than the other, we know this because we
have looked through both music videos and seen the differences. Firstly, Stan is very
unconventional for a hip hop song because it doesn’t include the things you see in a hip hop
music video, this is because Eminem is trying to send a message to the audience and hip hop
song don’t usually do this because they like to show off things that the artists have and
things other people don’t. In Stan Eminem does the opposite so he can relate to his
audience. This is unconventional for a hip hop music video. However, Katy Perry’s music
video follows the whole music video theory, this shows us that her music video relates to
the genre of her song. In pop there are a lot of bright colours and dancing and Katy Perry’s
music video includes all these things. Last Friday night is conventional to the genre pop and

11. this allows people to understand that its pop where if people listen to Stan they may not
know what genre this is.