How I Chose My Artist: The 1984By Joe LeverI 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…

… 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.

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.