Visuals & Lyrics
Here is a video I made combining the lyrics and the visuals, in order for you too see the relationship between the two.
The camera then continues to zoom until you see a pregnant women (Dido) laying on the bed. There are several camera movements (bird eye and close ups) of her stomach, emphasizing her isolation and how heavily pregnant she is. The room is artificially lit, with lightening effects as well as the continuous non-diegetic sounds of the rain and lighting, setting the mood.
Then there is a quick cut to the scene in the bathroom, where the audience see a man, who slightly in some ways resembles Eminem - introduction the obsessive fan 'Stan'. In this section of the clip, the audience is shown several close ups of Stan putting bleach in his hair - a significant part of the clip (it enhances his overzealous behavior of wanting to be look Eminem as well as be him). Next an over the shoulder shot of Stan looking at himself in a manic manor, more medium shots are used to emphasize his facial expressions that are shown in this sequence - highlight his crazy nature. His facial expressions show that he is really satisfied with the hair change trying to replicate Eminem's hairstyle.
The camera then cuts to a long shot of Dido, running to use the bathroom - 'Stanley open the door' Stanley blatantly acknowledges but ignores her plead, as he continues to stare at himself in the mirror. During the period of him staring at himself in the mirror, the audience see the transition of his hair colour from blonde to bleach blonde. The bird eye view of the separation between him and his girlfriend shows the negative relationship between the two, this can be identified by the verbal dispute in which afterwards he reluctantly gives up the bathroom for her. This could also highlight the communication boundaries between the two.
The melody and the lyrics of the song then begins at 1:23 with a medium shot of Dido, positioned in the middle of the frame on the toilet, as she mimes the chorus. The video is an illustration of the lyrics, highlighting Dido's mood and her sadness 'amplifying the relationship between the lyrics and the song'. As the melody and lyrics continue on, the camera changes to a medium shot of the window; shown in the first scene.
The transition (fade out) is used to show the transformation from one scene to another - the other scene being Eminem on a tour bus receiving letters. A medium shot is used again to show Eminem sitting on the sofa in a gaze. The scene automatically contrasts with the scene which contains Stanley in a grubby bathroom with a stained vest.The camera cuts backs to Dido on the toilet miming the song, these cut to cuts allows the audience to see more characters within the video narrative and how they will soon relate to one another. Once the camera cuts back to Dido, it vertically tracks down the bathroom to the basement where the audience is reintroduce to Stanley. The basement scene then reinforces Stan's obsession with Eminem, once Stan begins writing a letter, a pan shot around the basement is used to reveal the posters, magazine front covers, newspaper clippings that Stan had collected of Eminem; once again enhancing his overzealous behavior as an obsessive fan. As Stan writes his letters for Eminem, a circular motion is used for the camera movements which allows the audience to see the importance within Stan's emotions along with the background which creates a unease atmosphere.
As the chorus begins again, a medium shot of Dido back with Stan in the living room, followed by a scene of domestic conflict; in between this sequence, the audience is brought to the location of an Post office, where a letter is accidentally left behind. The many cut zoom towards the letter finally reveals the letter to be from Stanley. The several fading transitions are then used to show time passing by. As the time passes by the audience sees an extreme close up of Stan's letter which fell from the mail basket, implying the letter would not reach Eminem in time, there is then show a parallel between the forgotten letter and Stanley who progressively become more aggressive towards Dido. This causes a concern for her well being from the audience as she is pregnant, at the same time building up tension.
A low angle is used to begin the second verse of Stanley looking aggravated, as begins writing another letter for Eminem. Once again the relationship between the music video and the lyrics is amplified, the audience hears 'If you didn't wanna talk to me outside the concert you didn't have to..' the audience is then shown a clip of Eminem standing in the front row of Eminem's concert with his younger brother. The rest of the lyrics '
That's my little brother...He to be just
like you man, he likes you more
than I do' causes concern for the audience, as they try to imagine his younger brother being more obsessed of Eminem than he is, this could also imply that Stan is a bad influence on his brother. The obsession with Stan is enhanced as Stan states 'I even got a tattoo with your name across my chest' this wipes any doubt the audience had of Stan not being an obsessed fan of Eminem. As he continues to write the letter there is a non-diegetic sound of a pencil writing, highlighting his consistency with the letters, along with how desperate he is to receive a reply. Additionally during the periods of Stan writing a letter, he explains 'my girlfriend is jealous cause I talk about you 24/7... We should be together too' revealing he has placed pregnant Dido as a second priority in his life (which explains the deteriorating relationship), as well as show Stan's obsessiveness migrate to possessiveness.
The camera cuts back to the chorus, showing Dido leaving her bed, whilst Stan is asleep, creeping towards the basement, realising she had not ventured into the basement before. Once she reaches the basement she begins to look through Stan's collection. As she camera changes to a low angle showing Dido in the foreground and Stan entering the basement in the background. This builds a huge amount of tension for the audience, as they worry of his reaction.
As suspected Stan's reaction is aggressive, he grabs hold of pregnant Dido in anger. The camera then cuts to Stan in speeding through the heavy rain, which immediately builds tension as the audience wonders where is he going at such speed. Tension continues to build as the audience see Stan driving the car with one hand on the wheel and a tape recorder in the other hand. The audience is instantly baffled by Stan action as he states 'this will be the last package I ever send your ass....doing 90 on the freeway' the audience immediately expects the worse to happen. The use of the camera shots, focusing on Stan throughout the time, whilst showing the terrible weather conditions in the background, along with Stan's progressively bad driving (swerving to avoid another car, almost crashing) builds a huge amount of tension for the viewer. As Stan proclaims his final words 'thats my girlfriend in the trunk....well gotta go im almost at the bridge now, oh s**t I almost forgot how am I supposed to send this s**t out?' the tension reaches its pinnacle for the audience as they see Stan's car flying off the bridge and landing in the river.
An ariel view is used as the audience watches the sinking car from the top of the bridge. The camera fades back to Eminem, Still sitting in his tour bus; not knowing what has happened. The medium shot is used to shoe Eminem reading his fan mail, which the audience would assume it is from Stan as the camera cuts back to the sinking car. The sinking car is shot from many angles implying that no one was able to escape as it reaches the bottom of the lake; revealing that everyone died.
The camera then cuts back to Eminem, as he begins his verse - replying to Stan. Eminem begins rapping "I meant writing sooner but I just been busy" immediately the audience feels regretful, as the audience realize Stan's and Dido's death was unnecessary, as Eminem is now replying to his letter.
As he continues to write his letter to a deceased Stan, the camera cuts to Stan's younger brother and another lady, which the audience would assume to be Stan's mother standing at the burial stone of Stan. As Eminem, finishes his letter saying "I hope you get to read this letter", I just hope it reaches you in time' which is ironic; the audience knows it's too late, Stan is already dead - Eminem is still unknown to this.
Eminem then realizes...."I see this one thing on the news a couple days ago that made me sick. Some dude was drunk and drove his car over a bridge, and in the car they found a tape but they didnt say who it was to, come to this about his name was, it was you. DAM."
The video ends with Eminem sitting on the tour bus, as a flash of lightening appears, and as it does, we see Stan in the window looking through at Eminem. The camera then faded back to Stan memorial as we see his little brother in a medium shot leaning on his brothers grave stone.
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