Director: Jonas Akerlund (born November 10, 1965) Sophie Jakes
Jonas Akerlund has been a Swedish film and music video director since 1988 when he directed “Bewitched” for Candymass. Although he is probably more known for Madonna’s “Ray Of Light” in 1998 as it won a Grammy for Best Music Video and Short Form. Also it won seven awards at MTV Video Music Awards, including the Video of the Year. By wining these awards the music video broke records, thus making it a hit single and video. The “Ray Of Light” video cleverly records day to day life and speeds it up to show life passing by quickly, which suggests that life it too short and how time flies by, making it very literal and meaningful.Looking at his work I can tell that Akerlund likes to make his videos perfect and spends a lot of time on them to make the music video look stylish. As well as working with Madonna and Candymass, he also worked with P!nk, U2, Metallica, Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga and Blink-182. Akerlund clearly likes to be in the spot light as he aims at artists who are very unusual and are always in the press, which links to his personally and appearance. This is probably why he directed Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” and Mika’s “We Are Golden music videos as they are both strange videos which are very expressive and emotional.
Due to him being middle aged he still shows that he is in with today’s trends as choreography and fashion is used in the his music videos. Also as Akerlund was a member of the Swedish Bathory, which was a black metal band from 1983 through 1984, this shows where his passion for music came from. I have noticed that a lot of his videos have all 3 criteria’s which are narrative, performance and concept; this makes his music videos an all rounder. He is best known for his stylish music videos, which are often mock forms of movie trailers and short films. Jonas Akerlund is very committed as he likes to stick to artists he has done before for example he became a long collaborator of Madonna’s throughout her career with “American Life” and “Jump”. There is a common theme for his videos as they are all very colorful and lively to keep the viewer attracted which links to the songs used, as most of the songs he directs for are upbeat and you can dance to. Although Akerlund could been seen as someone who takes thing to far as Madonna’s “American Life” was pulled due to its graphic content, making his imagination and ideas very weird and crazy. Jonas Akerlund is in demand so much that he has to turn down a lot of work therefore he has to carefully pick which music videos he does due to time sketching and ideas he comes up with for the song.
“Smack My Bitch Up” by the Prodigy was Jonas’ greatest work in 1997 as it got a lot of attention due to its extremely controversial and disturbing footage with it being banned from MTV. The video is shot in the perspective of someone therefore the viewer has the point of view shot and makes them feel very involved, yet it finishes on a killer twist which is a cliff hanger. This is because the concept of the music video lets you believe it’s a man yet it was all about a women. As a result Jonas thinks of very cunning ideas for a music video which have never been thought of and would be seen as not pleasant or ethical, thus making his work an oxi-moron, as it is a good idea but people may not like the video. Meaning you either love his work or hate it. In a way his music videos create the image of the artists, for example Lady Gaga is known for her controversial videos as they are often shorted on television to remove the sexual content. Yet this was Jonas Akerlund’s idea thus making her famous. I love how his ideas are futuristic, with fast edits and end on dramatic cliff hangers; therefore he is like a film director by using the same techniques.
Because he uses subjects which are not talked about, these are often sexual and use unusual angles and shots. I find that I like these types of videos as I do tend to like Lady Gaga videos as they shock but interest you. Akerlund definitely feels responsible when directing a music video and gets a very big ego trip after doing one.
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