Generic Locations, Lighting and Editing in Country Music

videos.

Erin Dawson

Locations

In country music videos there tends to be a few locational changes that match the beat and lyrics of country music.

I found that many of the settings tended to be outdoors and feature a set up of the band and the singer performing, either outdoors or in a studio.

Examples of Locations And Lighting

Here in Lucy Hale’s music video ‘You Sound Good to Me’ we see multiple outdoor settings; we see her standing in field singing alone, the main focus is on her through-out scenes like this, it is used to show how at one with nature she is, it signifies that she is innocent and pure which is emphasised by the soft and natural lighting used during scenes like this . It is also used to create quite a whimsical and girly feel; something the target audience will enjoy watching as they stereotypically like being relaxed and feminine. The use

of the soft lighting and the light flares is also used as it is very flattering to Lucy Hale making the aspirers in the target audience want to look as beautiful as she does, it also advertises her to males as they are stereotypically like someone that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

We see this use of subdued natural lighting at other points during the music video, as seen here in this shot of Hale with her friends at the side of the road creating quite a perfect long shot of her friends having a good time, showing what a nice life Hale has which also pleases the aspirers in the target audience. The outdoor setting here is used as people are more likely to relate to similar settings to what they see in everyday life, which enables the target audience to relate to the artist as she is doing what could possibly happen to them.

Examples of Locations And Lighting Continued..

We see a combination of natural lighting in a studio setting featured in Carrie Underwood’s song ‘See You Again’. The use of the natural lighting has again been used to emphasise the stars natural beauty; and light flare used to create an uplifting atmosphere. Carrie is also shown to be wearing a white dress which connotes innocence as featured in a lot of country music videos as it is a common convention as is the curly hair. The

studio setting has been used instead of an outdoor one to give the effect that Underwood is pure, as the background features white curtains and bright light.

A lot of country songs sometimes feature 'normal’ people other than the singer as a part of the narrative, this being used for the

aspirers in the target audience because it makes it easier for them to relate to the video as they are seeing real people and not just the star for real life situations.

Examples of Editing

In country music it is stereotypical to have very smooth transitions between shots, they are hardly ever disjointed or disorientating to the viewer and keep a calm atmosphere to the music video. The cuts keep in time to the beat and lyrics of the song like many genres of country music videos do to create a captivating, escapism to a viewer; they keep in with the mood of the song and help to show a clear narrative. This matches Andrew Goodwin’s theory that there should be a succinct relationship between music and visuals to keep an audience interested, which is something all music videos want including the country genre of music. This form of relationship between shots and the song can be seen in Taylor Swift’s song ‘Mine’, where it begins to pan out from the two main people, Swift and a boy, the camera then pans round creating a blur which then pans to a medium shot of the two, this is in time with the song going from her singing with an instrumental guitar in the background to the drums suddenly starting and the music getting louder as does her voice, this creates a consistency between the narrative and the song, making it easier for viewers to stay interested . This use of panning also wakes the viewer up and

helps them regain interest.

What I will do: Lighting The lighting I will use will be very natural looking, I will

use a lot of the natural light and will also use some form of spotlight, especially for any indoor scenes or highly set up scenes I have in my music video.

The lighting will always be bright and not dark at any points as this is stereotypical of a country video, it also keeps an upbeat, uplifting atmosphere to the video.

I will also use light flares to create this whimsical mood to the video, either done during the filming process of edited in.

What I will do: Editing

There will be a lot of smooth transitions between shots in my music video to help keep the video smooth to match the sound of the song.

Any cuts will match the beat of the song conforming to Andrew Goodwin’s theory.