Director Case Study

Jonas Akerlund

• Born Nov 10th 1965
• is a Swedish film and music video director
• was a member of the black metal band 'Bathory' from 1983-84
• has won a Grammy for 'Best Music Video' and 7 other awards for his video for Madonna's song 'Ray of Light'

Artists he has worked with include:

• Ozzy Osbourne
• Paul McCartney
• Christina Aguilera
• Madonna
• Robbie Williams
• The Rolling Stones
• Lady Gaga
• David Guetta
• Rihanna

Some of his earlier music videos sparked controversy (e.g. The Prodigy's- Smack My Bitch Up) which depicted drug use, violence and nudity.

His more recent music videos have surreal settings and use various effects and colour. For example:

Lady Gaga- Telephone ft. Beyoncé:

'Who's That Chick?' - David Guetta ft. Rihanna:

Both of these videos use vibrant and distorted colours and quite surreal settings (e.g. space scene in David Guetta's video). They also both use lyrics on the screen at certain points, making the video seem even less naturalistic. These features and effects reflect the fast pace of the songs, and in both cases the visuals reflect the lyrics which is one of Goodwin's theories.

Both of these examples and many other videos by Jonas Akerlund feature scantily clad women and often depict nudity. This has sometimes caused controversy and Madonna's video for 'American Life' was banned because of its graphic content.

Jonas Akerlund's other work:

• directed a full-length film called 'Spun' in 2002
• directed adverts for Swedish clothing retailer MQ
• directed Madonna's documentary film 'I'm Going to Tell You a Secret'