Creating Critical Theory Using Cinema Semiotics for Music Video Art

Abstract

Music video is considered a new art form which had risen with the development of the digital media. Music video is a collaboration of three major forms: literature (lyrics and scripts), music and video. To make a critical approach to music video art, there must be a suitable theory, which should focus on both content and form (structure). Cinema semiotic will become a suitable tool to dig the insights of music video art. Decoding the visual and audio symbols, re-constructing the fragmented pieces of key ideological insights and making an assignment of its film language are the key steps of the critical theory which is based on cinema semiotics. In this study, I have analyzed a few local music videos using cinema semiotic critical theory of music video. The key objective of my study is to make a suitable critical theory for music video art and find a way to analyze different ideological approaches of music videos (feminist, socialist, existentialism). The research problem of the study is to find out the possibilities to understand the different ideological approaches of music videos using cinema semiotic critical theory with special reference to Sri Lankan contemporary music videos.