1. How I Chose My Artist: The 1984
By Joe Lever
I found The 1984 through a website
entitled ‘Unsigned.com’. As an avid
Indie music fan I wanted to create
the music video for an Indie band
and so I looked under the Indie Rock
category for bands. The 1984 were
on of the most popular Indie bands
on the website and Unsigned.com
linked me to their song ‘Green-Eyed
Monster’. Coincidentally I had
recently read George Orwell’s
dystopia novel ‘1984’ and thus was
drawn to this band due to their
name. When researching which
song to choose I listened to
approximately 10 songs through
Unsigned.com and also considered…
2. … making a music video for the
Death Metal band ‘The Widow
Machine’s song ‘Human’ as I
personally know the lead vocalist
and could therefore make a music
video that looks legitimate. I
decided against this as the Death
Metal genre has extremely strong
codes and conventions which I
would not be able to fulfil (one
example is that none of my friends
really have the Death Metal look
(i.e. tattoos, long hair, beards..)
besides the lead vocalist, and the
band were not available to film.
Consequently I went back to the
Indie genre, a genre without such
strict and obvious codes and
conventions. Of the songs I listened
to on Unsigned.com, ‘Green-Eyed
Monster’ was the song that I both
enjoyed the most, and had the
strongest concept for.
3. The song has a clear narrative; it is the
story of an individual who is
romantically interested in a girl
however he becomes jealous of her
seemingly intimate relationship with
someone else, hence the title ‘Green-
Eyed Monster’ as the ‘Green-Eyed
Monster’ is jealousy. I felt that the
lyrics and the song itself would allow
me creative control as well as the
ability to produce a video that
effectively accompanies the song. The
song itself seems suitable to
experiment with editing to the beat
due to the frequent staccato guitar
chords/notes. Due to the lyrics telling
a clear story, I believe that the
narrative video will not be over-
complicated or confuse the viewer
which could lead to an ineffective
promotion of the song/band. The song
also allows me the opportunity to
create a strong Brand Identity.