Jonas Akerlund - Music Video Director
Jonas Akerlund is a Swedish international director, his work consists of music videos, commercials, documentaries and short films. He is most known for his recent work, directing Lady Gaga's infamous video "Telephone" that featured Beyonce. He is also known for Madonna's video for "Ray of Light" which won Jonas a Grammy for Best Music Video, a record seven awards at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards including Video Of The Year.
Jonas Akerlund has worked with many different artists on their Music Videos some of which include;
Britney Spears - "Hold It Against Me",
Pink - "Sober"
David Guetta ft. Rhianna - "Who's that chick?" (Day & Night version)
The Rolling Stones - "Rain Fall Down"
Scissors Sisters - "Tits On The Radio"
Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera - "Moves Like Jagger"
Before Jonas became a Music Video Director he was a member of the Swedish metal band "Bathory". He was a member from 1983 through to 1984; the first piece of directing he did was for the Swedish pop band "Roxette".
Akerlund forte is stylish music videos, he is well known for creating music videos that mock forms of film trailers and short films. Jonas doesn't focus on a particular genre of artist or band for his videos as some directors may do. He makes every video he does fit the style, personality and attitude of the artist he is working with. He has worked with such a wide range of different genres which shows how versatile he is and makes his music video portfolio enhanced and shows his abilities in working with different genres and personalities. Even though Jonas was in mental band he doesn't sway more to what he likes when directing other artists music videos.
Akerlund produces mainly mainstream work but also produces some underground work for less heard of bands. Each of his videos is different, from live performance music videos such as Hollywood Undead to narrative videos such as Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce. He also has been known to include some controversial topics within his videos which can be seen as dark an opinions or views that the majority of people wouldn't agree with. This is shown in Christina Aguilera's video "Beautiful" where the use of anorexia, homosexuals and transvestites are used throughout to portray that everyone is beautiful no matter what others say. A video that has been criticized is Prodigy- "Smack My Bitch Up". This video was banned from television because of people feeling that the message encourages violence towards women. Accusations like this got it banned from television due to views not feeling comfortable or seeing a different side to the song.
Jonas Akerlund is big on editing in his videos, his use of editing enhances the video. The editing in Lady Gaga's video- "Paparazzi" makes it easier for the viewer to follow the narrative more with the items used such as; newspapers flashing up to show snippets of story that go with the video.
Theres a point in the video where Lady Gaga is falling and a black and white swirling spiral shows up behind her. This is effective because its almost like shes going to fall into the spiral.
Lady Gaga's ft Beyonce video "Telephone" gives the impression of what Jonas is known for. Its a very unusual video more like a short film. The video leaves many question unanswered to the viewers such as; Why Gaga and Beyonce poison the cafe visitors? What will happen to the visitors? Will Lady Gaga and Beyonce get caught?. The video also ends with "To be Continued" which is how films end sometimes so it defiantly has the characteristics of a short film. The video also has a slight resemblance to the film "Kill Bill" because of the car used in it. The yellow truck used in this video was learnt to Lady Gaga and Jonas Akerlund for the video by Quentin Tarantino as it was the exact same truck used in the film "Kill Bill". With the use of the truck in the video it gave it a more Hollywood style and effect.
Lady Gaga's video "Paparazzi" was also directed by Jonas Akerlund and follows a narrative storyline. This is shown where Lady Gaga's boyfriend attempts to murder her but before he does this she gets her revenge and poisons him. The video focuses on the artist Lady Gaga a lot and is very stylized. One thing i like about this video is the use of narrative throughout, Jonas has great ideas for storylines which has worked so well in this video with the artist and the song. Due to Jonas focusing on the artist a lot he shows this by using close ups of her throughout the video. Also the use of pre production editing that's shown with the black and white spiral and the newspapers in the video. The costumes used in the video goes with the personality of the artist. It shows that the artist had a lot of input into the costumes as well.
The reasons why i chose to study Jonas Akerlund is due to his use of storyline throughout the videos for Lady Gaga- "Telephone" and "Paparazzi". I love how he uses a storyline to draw the audience in and it gives them something to follow. Throughout the artists he has used he is so versatile and doesn't just stick to one style or what he knows. He is capable of producing a wide range of different videos, styles for different artists.
Jonas Akerlund has worked with many different artists on their Music Videos some of which include;
Britney Spears - "Hold It Against Me",
Pink - "Sober"
David Guetta ft. Rhianna - "Who's that chick?" (Day & Night version)
The Rolling Stones - "Rain Fall Down"
Scissors Sisters - "Tits On The Radio"
Maroon 5 ft. Christina Aguilera - "Moves Like Jagger"
Before Jonas became a Music Video Director he was a member of the Swedish metal band "Bathory". He was a member from 1983 through to 1984; the first piece of directing he did was for the Swedish pop band "Roxette".
Akerlund forte is stylish music videos, he is well known for creating music videos that mock forms of film trailers and short films. Jonas doesn't focus on a particular genre of artist or band for his videos as some directors may do. He makes every video he does fit the style, personality and attitude of the artist he is working with. He has worked with such a wide range of different genres which shows how versatile he is and makes his music video portfolio enhanced and shows his abilities in working with different genres and personalities. Even though Jonas was in mental band he doesn't sway more to what he likes when directing other artists music videos.
Akerlund produces mainly mainstream work but also produces some underground work for less heard of bands. Each of his videos is different, from live performance music videos such as Hollywood Undead to narrative videos such as Lady Gaga ft. Beyonce. He also has been known to include some controversial topics within his videos which can be seen as dark an opinions or views that the majority of people wouldn't agree with. This is shown in Christina Aguilera's video "Beautiful" where the use of anorexia, homosexuals and transvestites are used throughout to portray that everyone is beautiful no matter what others say. A video that has been criticized is Prodigy- "Smack My Bitch Up". This video was banned from television because of people feeling that the message encourages violence towards women. Accusations like this got it banned from television due to views not feeling comfortable or seeing a different side to the song.
Jonas Akerlund is big on editing in his videos, his use of editing enhances the video. The editing in Lady Gaga's video- "Paparazzi" makes it easier for the viewer to follow the narrative more with the items used such as; newspapers flashing up to show snippets of story that go with the video.
Theres a point in the video where Lady Gaga is falling and a black and white swirling spiral shows up behind her. This is effective because its almost like shes going to fall into the spiral.
Lady Gaga's ft Beyonce video "Telephone" gives the impression of what Jonas is known for. Its a very unusual video more like a short film. The video leaves many question unanswered to the viewers such as; Why Gaga and Beyonce poison the cafe visitors? What will happen to the visitors? Will Lady Gaga and Beyonce get caught?. The video also ends with "To be Continued" which is how films end sometimes so it defiantly has the characteristics of a short film. The video also has a slight resemblance to the film "Kill Bill" because of the car used in it. The yellow truck used in this video was learnt to Lady Gaga and Jonas Akerlund for the video by Quentin Tarantino as it was the exact same truck used in the film "Kill Bill". With the use of the truck in the video it gave it a more Hollywood style and effect.
Lady Gaga's video "Paparazzi" was also directed by Jonas Akerlund and follows a narrative storyline. This is shown where Lady Gaga's boyfriend attempts to murder her but before he does this she gets her revenge and poisons him. The video focuses on the artist Lady Gaga a lot and is very stylized. One thing i like about this video is the use of narrative throughout, Jonas has great ideas for storylines which has worked so well in this video with the artist and the song. Due to Jonas focusing on the artist a lot he shows this by using close ups of her throughout the video. Also the use of pre production editing that's shown with the black and white spiral and the newspapers in the video. The costumes used in the video goes with the personality of the artist. It shows that the artist had a lot of input into the costumes as well.
The reasons why i chose to study Jonas Akerlund is due to his use of storyline throughout the videos for Lady Gaga- "Telephone" and "Paparazzi". I love how he uses a storyline to draw the audience in and it gives them something to follow. Throughout the artists he has used he is so versatile and doesn't just stick to one style or what he knows. He is capable of producing a wide range of different videos, styles for different artists.
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