Roman White Makes Country Music Come to Life
Roman White's childhood sounds like something out of a country singer's bio. He grew up spending time on his grandparent's farm and listening to the Grand Ole Opry on their big radio. "It was part of my Nashville upbringing, and it rooted something deep down inside me," White told me. But that kind of raising doesn't always mean you're going to make music. For White, it meant making music come to life as a director. The latest example is Taylor Swift's new video, "Fifteen."
So how did he get from the farm to having all kinds of county music video awards under his belt? "I always had a big imagination. I'm passionate about story songs. Then after college I did my share of dues paying, but having relationships now with artists and labels now definitely makes things easier," he said.
Since his first video shoot for Rodney Atkins' "Honesty," he's piled up the director credits on nine Carrie Underwood videos, and he's worked with everyone from Blake Shelton and Josh Turner to Reba McEntire and Kellie Pickler. When he talks about his path to success, White is humble and almost reserved. But when I asked him about "Fifteen," he was downright effusive.
"It's this huge elaborate special effects video that we shot over green screen because from the beginning I wanted to do something different from what Taylor had done before. We wanted to take this one outside of high school. The idea is that there's a place where you can go back and revisit your memories. She's in this void and memories are manifesting around her. The story evolves and she walks across this dream world. When she walks through those doors and people fade in and out, she just has this amazing sense of innocence." (And I don't know whose idea it was to have Swift in bare feet, but that's the epitome of innocence and true unreadiness.)
Since White was the director of the "You Belong With Me" video, I had to ask how he felt when Kanye West stole Swift's moment at the MTV Video Music Awards. "I pretty much went into this weird friend-in-danger thing, and I wanted to leap into my TV and save her. I saw in her face she didn't know what was going on," he said. "But karma is taking care of everything now."
©2008 Country Music Television, Inc., a Viacom company. A division of
CarrieNEWS.com says:
That’s really sweet and actually pretty cool how Roman felt protective of Taylor. Roman is a class act and everyone at CarrieNEWS loves his great music videos. I’m glad Roman is getting more and more credit for his fantastic body of work. Thanks, Alison, for helping to spread the word about his talent.
Brittany says:
Roman White is an excellent director. Taylor is my absolute favorite of all time and he has directed many of her videos along with Trey Fanjoy. Roman, Trey, and Taylor are just amazing!!! :D
Taylor Fan 13 says:
Kudos to Taylor,Roman White & the team that put this awesome video together. It’s my favorite video ever.
tsfan44 says:
He does great work…Love Fifteen!!!!
T J says:
Wow - both Taylor and Roman wanted to do something different for her next video - they sure did. This FIFTEEN video is visually stunning with all the computer enhancement! WTG - White and Swift!
8charlotte says:
I do agree Roman White is an excellent director.I love the videos he directed for Carrie.With his talent and Carrie’s talent they worked great together and What awesome videos the two of them came up with.
Robin says:
“Fifteen” is a great video, but “You Belong With Me” was just so so - not bad, but not good either. Love “Best Days of your Life”. Loved “Somebody Said A Prayer”.
His best video to date is “Before He Cheats” and “Just A Dream”, but “Wasted”, “Jesus Take The Wheel”, “So Small” and “All American Girl” were good too. “Don’t Forget To Remember Me”, was ok - didn’t love it and didn’t hate it. But, it was ok.
Big One says:
Don’t get any closer Underwood, he might eat you!
Big One says:
…and then use Swift for his toothpick!
Samantha Christine says:
He is one of my favorite directors. He is so creative.
jaz says:
taylor swft is sooo pretty man i love her
jasmine says:
i love you taylor
FURIOUS says:
To the idiot who is “Big One”…really? You cant think of anything intelligent to say about a clearly amazing and talented person? Keep your immature comments to your self…what have you done in life that gives you the right to critisize others? People like you shouldnt be allowed to open their mouths…clearly you are a classy and educated person….NOT!