Star appearances in music videos

A guest appearance is a participation of an outsider performer usually called guest artist. Guest appearances are often described with the words featuring, with, or and. It is abbreviated in credit lists as Feat., Ft., f. The terms guest role or guest star are also common, the latter term specifically indicating the guest appearance of a celebrity.In the early stages of music videos this was with artists such as Queens "Under pressure" Featuring David Bowie. Although in the early stages on music videos artists were not always credited.  For example, Eric Clapton was not credited in print for his guitar in the release of While My Guitar Gently Weeps of The Beatles. Gradually guest appearances have become a fully credited staple of music industry. The custom of guest appearance has become especially prominent in rap music, and this influenced other genres too. In metalcore and rock music it is especially common, often getting other bands vocalists to add screams or clean vocals over tracks. 
In the video for You me at six's track "Bite my tongue" It features guest vocals from Oli Sykes. The singer of You me at six's singer (Josh) and Oli are actually good friends in real life, probably a reason they wanted him to feature over another artist. You me at six are a UK based rock band, often only having clean vocals in their songs. Having a featuring artist such as Oli, who's band primarily use screaming vocals give the band a more diverse sound.In the video Josh begins at the platform of a control panel while his band are playing instruments while his band are held up like puppets on strings. Giving the impression that Josh is in charge and controlling his band. When Oli's part of the song kicks in he throws Josh off the control panel and takes control himself. Showing that both singers are just as important as each other. Its also a good way to get a clear view of both vocalists on camera. In the pictures shown I have screen grabbed the shots from the same camera viewpoint.  

Record labels

Within the music industry; most recording artists have become increasingly reliant upon record labels to broaden their consumer base, market their albums, and be both promoted and heard on mp3, radio, etc. and of course television also, with publicists that assist performers in positive media reports to market their merchandise, and make it available via stores and other media outlets. The Internet has increasingly been a way that some artists avoid costs and gain new audiences, as well as the use of videos in some cases, to sell their products.

A record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion, and enforcement of copyright protection of sound recordings and music videos; conducts talent scouting and development of new artists ("artists and repertoire" or "A&R"); and maintains contracts with recording artists and their managers. The term "record label" derives from the circular label in the center of a vinyl record which prominently displays the manufacturer's name, along with other information.

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a British multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and was one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major publishing arm, EMI Music Publishing – also based in London with offices globally. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but since February 2011 it has been wholly owned by Citigroup (which took the then financially troubled company over because of more than $4 billion in debt it held).

Warner music group

Warner Music Group (WMG) is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies. For three decades the conglomerate was known as WEA, which stood for Warner Bros.-Elektra-Atlantic Records; three major record companies that signed and developed musical acts and, in turn, distributed product for subsidiaries and other record labels.

Sony music entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment (SME or Sony Music) is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation. The company, which evolved into Sony Music, was founded in 1929 as the American Record Corporation (ARC) through the merger of several smaller record companies.

History and Development of the music video

1929 - Blues singer Bessie smith appeared in a 2 reel short film "Saint louis blues". It was shown in theaters untill 1932.

1940  - Walt disney released Fantasia, an animated film based around famous classical music.

1956 - Tony bennet was filmed walking along the serpentine in hyde park, london as his recording of "Stranger in paradise" played. This film was distirbuted and played by UK and US tv stations, Leading him to claim he had made the worlds first music video.

1967 - The beatles took the music video to new heights when they released music videos for Penny lane and Strawberry fields forever. These videos used techniques from films such as dramatic lighting, unusal camera angles and rhythmic editing. These two videos were the first of concept videos to try and illustrate the song and its lyrics in an artful manner.

1970 - Around this time Top of the pops helped music videos to progress rapidly. It created a lot of competition between bands and artists as the limited space on the show meant it could only showcase as number of videos per show. This encouraged bands/ artists to make the best videos possible.

1981 - MTV (The worlds first music channel) was launched. It was devoted to showing bands/artists videos. This also encouraged people in the industry to make the best possible videos. At this time videos were more focused on narative than just the artist performing.

Modern day - Today music videos are even more important to artists. The budget for videos has increased, along with the technology available to artists to make videos. Nowadays music videos are heavily featured on narative.

Bring me the horizon - It never ends.

Movement

In music videos movement often goes with the video, the video will match the pace or beat of the music. In It never ends Bring me the horizon do this very well.  The ambulance in the video moves quickly and matches the guitar riffs and drum beat. Oli sykes (the lead singer) flies behind the ambulance again very fast, and to the general pace of the song. The typical convention for a metal-core song is to be fast paced and heavy, and often movement in the videos matches this convention. Even when Oli is taken out of the ambulance and wheeled to the operating room the fast pace of the video is still kept going. The doctors run with him on the bed and keep the fast paced urgency flowing throughout.

Narrative 

The video has a lose narrative that does match the lyrics although it isn't totally direct. The song title (and main lyric) It never ends, is shown throughout the video. Oli is clearly injured, hence the ambulance, but still people are chasing him and wont leave him alone. The lyric "every second, every hour, every minute, every day. it never ends, it never ends" is illustrated well in this video. The video is set partly at day, and partly at night, showing it doesn't matter what time it is but everyone is still after him. The narrative in this video is apparent as a theme, but not as a direct visual of all the lyrics in the song.


Band/Artist

There is a constant focus on Oli in the video. None of the other band are pictured or seen at all. As he is seen as the "main" member of the band, the focus is almost definatly on him throughout. Since he is not actually perfroming in the track he is acting in it instead. It makes sense for Oli to be the most featured as he is the frontman of the band and also owns clothing lines, he is classed as the most famous. The record label use him to promote the band and give the band good image.

Typical conventions of a music video - prezzi

Typical conventions of a music video on Prezi

Conventions of a music video

Movement

This is essential to music veidos and usually complements the rhythem of the song. Movement can be achieved by moving the camera, or having people moving and dancing on screen, or even with the speed of editing. Some videos rely on movement to excite the viewer, such as in many pop songs like "rock your body" by justin timberlake. Rapid editing with shots less than a second long, complements the dancing in the vdeio.

Narrative

 Music videos may also have a narrative or "story". The story being told in the video may relate to the songs lyrics and illustrate what is being said or be independant and tell a different story altogether. For example "Abigail" by motionless in white features a narraitve, which links into the songs lyrics. The video shows a young girl (presumably abigail) in a police interigation room, and then being released and having a sexual relationship with a priest. The song features lines such as "Oh abigail how could you do this to us?" and the viedo showcases her betrayals in life.

Performing/appearing

In music videos it isnt uncommon for bands or artists to lip sync or pretend to play instruments with the studio track put behind them. The artist or band may also be featured in the video acting or appearing rather than performing. In some cases bands will do both act and perform in the videos. Asking alexandria did this in several music videos, they both acted and performed in them. They put 3 music videos together the make a narrative labeled "Through sin and self destruction" of which the band all acted in.

Intertextuality

Sometimes bands and producers may play with conventions by  making references to a genre as a whole, or to other music videos. This is intertexuality. This can be shown by Capture the crown, and in their video "You call that a knife? This is a knife!" The present metalcore as a whole genre with the clothes they wear, and the movements they make. But the band  also make referneces to other bands in metalcore such as Asking Alexandria. They copy particular scenes and use the same gimmics, such as the singer with water pouring over them.

The purpose of a music video.

The purpose of a music video is to sell products, the main ove being the song featured in the video. Other products to do with a band or artist are also marketed by music videos. For example, the album the song is featured on, the film the song is part of a soundtrack for, or an upcoming tour. Music viedos are a strange way to market, as they allow the audience full access to the product they are selling. When you watch a music video you get the song or "product" being promoted, for free. before the digital age, music marketing was too problematic. Whereas today, with new technology music videos can be seen basically anywhere and at any time. Sites like youtube, facebook and myspace are all popular for displaying music videos by bands or artists. With the internet so accessable on so many devices (smartphones, tablets and laptops) music videos and band advertisment can be seen anywhere in the world.