The Human League - Louise, By EMI

What this video is

Released November 1984 on Virgin Records, Louise emerged during a commercially and critically uncertain period for The Human League — the Hysteria album sessions had been prolonged and expensive, taking place at AIR Studios across 1983–1984 with multiple producer changes. The single reached number 13 in the UK charts, spending 10 weeks on the chart. It appeared on Melody Maker's list of the 50 top singles of 1984.…

Why it matters

Louise represents a mature articulation of the UK synth-pop narrative video tradition. As a sequel video to Don't You Want Me, it established a precedent for long-form character continuity across music video releases. Barron's black-and-white 35mm filmmaking approach elevated the promo to…

The director

Steve Barron (born 4 May 1956, Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish-British filmmaker. He began his career as a camera assistant on A Bridge Too Far (1977), The Duellists (1977), and Superman (1978). He co-founded Limelight, which became the world's largest music…