A study on Jonas Akerlund and his work

1. Jonas Akerlund
Auteur Study

2. Bio
Name: Jonas Akerlund
DOB: November 10, 1965
Nationality: Swedish
Has had an exhibition named “A Jonas
Akerlund Experience” in Frankfurt, Seoul
and Stockholm. Has also won a host of
awards for both his music videos and
other projects.

3. Awards
2010 - MVA Awards - Lady Gaga feat Beyoncé " Telephone" Best
collaboration.
2009 – MVPA Awards – Lady Gaga “Paparazzi”
2008 – MVPA Awards – James Blunt “Same mistake”
2008 – Grammy – Madonna’s NBC Special “The Confessions Tour”
2008 – Silver Addy – Dell “Work it Out”
2007 – MVPA Hall of Fame – Prodigy “Smack My Bitch Up”
2006 – Cannes Grand Prix 2006 – “GTI Campaign” Volswagen
2006 – Cannes Gold Lions – “Pimp my Auto” Volkswagen
2004 – MVPA Awards – Robbie Williams “Come Undone”
1998 – Grammy – Madonna ”Ray of Light”
1998 – The Swedish Grammy Jury’s special award
1997/1998 – several MTV, Video Music Awards – Madonna “Ray of
Light” (including Best Video, Best Director)
1997/1998 – several MTV, Video Music Awards – Prodigy “Smack
My Bitch Up”

4. Work
Akerlund first burst into the public eye with the highly
controversial video for The Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up”
which showed drug use, violence and nudity – all of which
have become iconic to some extent of Akerlund’s work. The
following year, he worked with Madonna on “Ray of Light”,
leading to work with artists such as Lady Gaga, Maroon 5,
U2, Blink 182, Rammstein, and Britney Spears; this shows
how versatile he is genre-wise.
His first film, “Spun” debuted in 2002 and he also made a
short film entitled “Try” which stemmed from his work with
The Smashing Pumpkins on “Try Try Try”. He also directed
Madonna’s documentary film “I’m Going To Tell You A
Secret” strengthening his long-time relationship with the
queen of Pop.

5. Controversy
“Smack My Bitch Up” was universally banned from television
with some channels even refusing to show the name of the
song. However, massive demand from the public forced
MTV to show the video but only ever after midnight and an
official MTV News warning. Even with all this, the video still
won Best Dance Video and Breakthrough Video at the MTV
Video Music Awards. In 2010, the song was voted the Most
Controversial Of All Time in a survey run by PRS for Music.
Recently, his video for Rammstein’s “Pussy” sparked massive
controversy due to the fact that by the end of the video, it
is essentially explicit pornography. Some level of voyeurism
is always apparent in most music videos, but here Akerlund
takes it to the extreme going so far as to depict male
ejaculation right at the end of the video.

6. Style
Many of Akerlund’s videos take the form of
mini films, normally with a strong
narrative and a striking visual style (like in
Lady Gaga’s Telephone). He uses a lot of
taboo subjects in his videos such as
lesbianism (Telephone), drug use (Smack
My Bitch Up) and sexual explicitness
(Pussy).

7. Things we can learn from him
- Be daring: Whilst “Smack My Bitch Up” was highly
controversial, it is now a milestone in music video
production. We shouldn’t limit ourselves to conventions and
rules.
- Be resourceful: A lot of Akerlund’s work is very low-scale
but visually striking to look at. We need to focus more on
the aesthetics and clever use of editing than we do on
going wild with impressive locations. Photography and shot
composition pay an important role as well as semiotics and
the connotations of each shot.
- Be different: We shouldn’t restrict ourselves to the run-of-
the-mill camera shots or editing techniques.
Experimentation is key.