Music Video Analysis

"There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics

key lines may play a part in the visuals associated with the song but very rarely will a music video simply illustrate the lyrics"

-Andrew Goodwin

Lying is The Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off - Panic! at the Disco

The song is about the effects of sex and its consequences. I am using this music video as I believe its conventions are portrayed effectively, and reflects Andrew Goodwins theory perfectly- as it "illustrates, amplifies" and "contradicts" the lyrics effectively. There are two main characters to this video The woman who we are introduced to first, and her husband, who appears further into the music video.

The first thing you see at the beginning of the video is a woman's feet on frame which then moves to her torso showing off a fancy coat- and finally you see her head. However, it is not as you would expect to see a humans head.

It is inside a fish tank filled with water and fishes. At first this seems a bit odd, however, as the video goes on you then find out that the fish inside the tank are metaphors. The fish in the individuals tanks represent how many people that person has slept with. It is not just this woman who wear the tank, everyone in the video has their own tank with their own amount of fishes inside, (representing how many people they have also slept with).

The woman continues to walk as the lines of the first verse are recited, they frames are of a mixed length some being longer than other and some that are short and sweet to the point for example, the portrait frames of other individuals showing their tanks with fishes inside.

The woman passes these two people and carries on further down the street. She then stops as she notices water on the ground. flowing towards her feet. The lyrics at this point suggest some nervousness as it sings "and your heart is racing as your fingers touch his skin". Although with a sexual meaning behind it there is an element of double entendre as it hints that something has happened to someone she knows. This is highlighted by the high angle of the camera as she begins to follow the trail of water.

As she follows the trail of flowing water, the audience soon realises that the water must have come from one of the fish tanks, as the woman who follows the trail sees a small fish in the middle of the trail, picks it up, and adds it to her collection fishes. This is another metaphor which indicates that who ever was the owner of the tank, she had slept with. This could also represent that she has cheated on a potential partner that at this moment in time we assume she has.

After adding the fish into the tank, she begins to walk on and follow the trail once again. The video displays the street she is walking down until the chorus ends and the bridge starts. This is where she discovers that it is her husband/partner who has died in the act of suicide, by breaking/smashing his tank so all of the water pours out. We assume yet again that this is because of her "cheating" as he only has one fish in his tank (owned by the woman) yet she has many, which is proved by the act of her taking the fish from the ground before discovering her dead spouse.

The bridge highlights this event as it goes "So I guess we're back to us, oh cameraman swing the focus, in case I lost my train of thought, where was it that we last left off?". This is sung as she looks down at the body of her partner, and begins to kneel to where he is laying, and the lyrics highlight her feeling with the "focus" and "trail of thought" as the shock of his death would spark many new emotions for her including coming to terms with his death- "where was it that we last left off?"

After this the final verse begin which while sung, shows the flash backs of them both getting married, having a laugh and a good time together and all of their memories. "oh now I do recall, we were just getting to the part where the shock sets in, and the stomach act finds a new way to make you sick"- can be interpreted as the shock of the finding of her dead husband and how this is a unique and completely new feeling of being "sick"

After the flashbacks and the chorus reciting "lets get these teen hearts beating faster faster" it shows two emergency vehicles pulling up to the scene to investigate what's happened.

However, as they pull up the woman kills herself by emptying her own tank. This shows that although she may have slept around and not been entirely faithful she still loved him none the less, and in so cannot live without him.

And as she is tipping the water out of her tank, the frames of flashbacks increase in speed and show the "life flashes before her eyes" as she dies.

The emergency team see the dead lovers and begin to prep them for the after life by placing them in bath tubs and transporting them to the ocean, the chorus of "lets get these teen hearts beating faster and faster" is ironic as they are both dead and they're heart rates have actually ceased at this point.

As the lovers are put into the ocean by the medics they become alive again, similar to that of a fish, and your final frame of the video is them in each other's arms in the sea submerged in the water.

Video analysis of Stan by Eminem

The music video I will analyse in Eminem's story of "Stan" which features pop singer Dido. The story is of a fictional character known as Stan who is an over obsessed fan who dedicates most of his time and effort to the rapper through writing letters. Dido- who sings the chorus throughout the song is shown as Stan's heavily pregnant girlfriend, who he beats and abuses and later we find out actually kills her along with himself in a river. She has used the chorus of own song "Thank You" in this video, possibly to promote herself.

The lyrics in the first three verses of the song are spoken through the character of "Stan", writing endless informal letters to Eminem. The final fourth verse in the song is of Eminem finally replying to Stan. However, it is here that Eminem realises that a recent death on the news was actually this obsessed fan who had sent countless letters to him was actually- Stan. His realisation highlighted and reflected to the viewer in the video as Stan's face appears on the window next to Eminem as lightenimg flashes outside. Pathetic fallacy is present here following Stan's death, and it is ironic that only after his death that Eminem recieves the letters that have been long awaited to be read and replyed to.

I believe that this video is conveying a message suggested by Eminem about some of his obsessive fans. It cannot be doubted that Eminem is extremly popular and loved across the world. However, some fans take it to the extreme such as the character of Stan who we are shown in this video. Stan is extremely obessed and chaotic with his love for the rapper. The video is conveying a message form Eminem in saying he could be concerned or a bit fed up with recieving obsessive fan mail from people who threaten to kill themselves and as a result chooses not to read them, and therefore do not reply. We see the outcome in the video of "Stan". Its a plea to fans that he will reply but he cannot always do so quickly.

The beginning of the video shows a short clip as a introduction to the music, which lasts around about a minute. It shows a shot that is slow moving yet not in slow motion, the camera is making a crane movement as it moves from outside the house and into the bedroom through a window. This notion of viewing is called voyeurism, and this is because the audience do not realise that they are watching the couple. Pathetic fallacy is portrayed by the use of heavy rain, thunder and bursts of lightening. This storm also mirrors the couples relationship, as stan is constantly angry and abusive towards his pregnant partner.

As the video begins Stans' partner goes to the toilet, and a cross cut is used to show her walking through the hall and also shows Stan bleaching his hair to the same colour as Eminiem's, in the bathroom. There are also many close-ups mainly of Stan once his hair had been dyed. These close up shows Stan expressing less angered looks. Althought the close up shows Stan in focus the viewer is also still able to see his partner in the background and she appears to have a worried expression upon her face. This allows the audience to feel her emotion and therefore the audience becomes worried, the tension in the atmosphere also contributes to this worry. This repeatitative use of voyeurism lets the audience see how other people see Stan- as his partner is giving off vibes and expressions of concern and panic as Stan is dying his hair.

Following this the video shows many transitions of frames, such as fades. The use of a fade transition shows how time has gone by. Also it represents the obsession of frequent letters sent to Eminem by Stan as the fade can represent a change in time. The first chorus is sung by Stan's partner- 'Dido', which leads a slow pan movement down into the house basement, where Stan is writing frantically to Eminem again. The distance the camera travels before it reaches Stan portrays the distance in the relationship they share together. The use of a slow pan movement around the room allows the audience to see the escalating insanity of Stan as the audience is expossed to ever growing pictures and posters of Eminem. When Stan writes to Eminem a cross cut is used and fades form Stan to Eminem reading the letter. This therefore makes it apparent that after writing countless letters only one has reached him.

Following this Stan then goes onto say how his "girlfriends pregnant now, I'm about to be a father" in which the video conveys this into a less positive aspect as it shows Stan's partner and his unborn child sitting alone and looking up towards the ceiling as if she is crying out for help to God. This shows the audience that Stan is more concerned about being a father than his girlfriend who is carrying his child, all because Eminem is a father. There is also a frame where Stan is looking into a mirror and he sees Eminem. This contributes that Stan is ever growing with obession and that he no longer sees himself. Again the shot adds to the voyeurism used throughout the video.

The video follows on to show Stan being at a concert and watching Eminem from the crowd. He is at the front row and a Point of View Shot shows how Stan watches Eminem- again with additional use of voyeurism. The video also shows fans standing out in the cold waiting for Eminem after the show, however he was led away from the fans by security, however, Stan portrayed this as Eminem was ignoring him and a fade then shows Stan's facial expression back in the basement as he wirtes angrily to Eminem about the situation. Stan sees this as a personal act towards him rather than something that was out of Eminem's control. This therefore ends up emphasising Stan's additction to Eminem. Stan also gets Eminems nickname "slim shady" tattooed on his chest. The tattoo is permenant which also represents Stans permentant addiction for Eminem.

Stans partner is later found in the basement looking astounded at Eminems fixations created by Stan. A mid-shot is shown of her in shock at seeing a photo of the couple together with her covered over with a picture of Eminem allows the audidence to see not only how obsessed he has become over time but also Stan standing behind her watching her- this conveys that she is not safe and the audience immediately becomes concerned for her.

This then becomes apparent when the video shows Stan drving irratically through a storm talking into a tape recorder intended for Eminem, the cuts begin to get quicker as it portrays the tension is building and the shot lengths begin to also shorten to show the anger in Stan. The video then shows a shot where Stan is looking in his rear view mirror which portrays voyeurism to the audience and emphasises his insanity as a picture of Eminem is hanging from the mirror. The lyrics in this section of the video are partically censored because he has tied his girlfriend up and put her in the boot of the car which shows he has lost all sanity and that it could result in his killing himself along with his girlfriend and unborn child . As the cuts quicken the video and shows more panic as Stan begins to lose control as he heads towrads a bridge that is under road construction. The video the cuts to show the car going off the bridge and the video then shows over cranking as the car hits the water. It adds drama as this long frame symbolises the death of Stan and his partner along with his unborn child. It also slows the video down form being quick paced and having very short cuts to a long cut this entices the audience.

Once the car is submerged the video cuts to show Eminem's reply to Stan, which is unknowignly too late. It shows Eminems recall of events which as slightly blurred as this may resemble a struggle of ability to remeber where he has been when Stan was there. This part of the song shows Eminem rapping rather than Stan and he quotes "I hope this reaches you in time, before you hurt yourself," the video matches this ironically as the car is pulled from the water with the help of emergency services. This adds to the tradgedy that Eminems letter was too late. The mise en scene used in this ending of the video emphasises the tragedy further as the flahsing lights and yellow uniforms resemble injury and death. Pathetic fallacy is used again as the dark night and heavy rian continues through the duration of the video as the horrific weather matches the situation.

The end of the video shows a news report of what happened to Stan as Eminem raps about what he heard ironically while writing it down in the letter to Stan. It becomes apparent to Eminem that the tape found in the car was mean't for him and that Stan had killed himself.

The final shot is a medium shot showing Stan's little brother mourning over Stan's gravestone, this shot shows the audience he has dyed his hair the same colour as Stan. This could potentially mean that as little brother want to be like there older siblings he will go on to do what Stan did. In the cemetary heavy rain and stormy atmospheres combine to create a dark and negative atmosphere which holds in the audiences mind. This also shows that the younger brother may have looked up to Stan as Stan looked up to Eminem as he is trying to copy Stan in his appearance.