Wednesday, 24 September 2014

Goodwin's Theory - Genre Characteristics - Country

Country Music

 Country music is one of the oldest genres of music to date. It originated in the 1920s in Southern parts of the US, and it has slowly spread to all parts of the world. Country music is the most popular genre throughout the United States and often wins Grammy awards over the majority of other genres that we would consider 'mainstream'. The defining characteristic of country music is an acoustic guitar, with just the vocals of the singer to accompany it. Country music has changed over the years, adopting a more modern style, mixing with other genres in order to attract a larger and more diverse audience.

Forms and conventions of country music videos
- Tend to have a strong narrative aspect
- Set in very stereotypical locations, such as rural areas
- Mise-en-scen tends to be very traditional or set in an elder generation, e.g. Victorian
- The artist usually features within the video

Modern day country genres, like many other genres are mixing or being influenced by other genres, 'Pop' being a popular choice. The U.S.A seems to stay true the the original country roots, but other countries, such as the UK welcome many songs influenced by pop as well, such as Taylor Swift.


In the Modern country genre videos the mis-en-scene is very natural ambient lighting. The girls are normally wearing dresses in the music video and boys keep a smart casual look, normally wearing jeans and a shirt. The video is also a narrative music video.The representation of the aritst is that they are innocent and sweet.


Taylor Swift has taken a modern day twist on her country style in order to keep it relevant and popular in the charts.



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