Jonas Åkerlund was born November 10th 1965 and he is a Swedish film and music video director, best known for his early work with Madonna, particularly her 1998 video 'Ray of Light' which won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video. In 1998 he won a record 7 awards at the MTV Video Music Awards including Video of the Year for 'Ray of Light'. He is best known for his stylish music videos, which are often mock forms of movie trailers and short films. Recently, he has directed Lady Gaga's video 'Telephone' and Rhianna and David Guetta's 'Who's that Chick?' (both Day and Night versions)
Rhianna's 'Who's That Chick?' according to Andrew Goodwin's theory:
- A relationship between the lyrics and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the lyrics. The visuals on screen contain text that matches what Rhianna is singing eg. 'Remedy' flashes up as she sings the same word, so there is a sort of amplifying effect between the lyrics and visuals. However, the rest of the video is mainly a performance-based piece, so the relationship between that and the lyrics is possibly more illustrative, as she sings about 'Who's that Chick', which could relate to people wondering who she is as she dances.
- A relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music. The music and the visuals have a sort of illustrating relationship, as the beat of the song follows roughly the editing of the video.
- Genre-related style and iconography present. Rhianna is a predominantly R and B artist, and the conventional thing to see in an Rn'B video is a female dancing, which is what is happening in this (or maybe these) videos.
- Multiple close-ups of the main artist or vocalist. Close ups of Rhianna are shown throughout.
- Voyeurism often plays a major part, especially in relation to females. Rhianna is seen dancing in a seductive manner, and it could be seen as voyeuristic in the 'Night' version when she is wearing suspenders, typically seen as underwear.
- Intertextual references to other media texts may be present. There are no obvious references to other works, however, this song is advertised through Doritos as having 'augmented reality' which could be an intertextual reference to society and the audience in general (in a roundabout, postmodern sort of way)
- A relationship between the music and the visuals, with the visuals illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the music. The music and the visuals have a sort of illustrating relationship, as the beat of the song follows roughly the editing of the video.
- Genre-related style and iconography present. Rhianna is a predominantly R and B artist, and the conventional thing to see in an Rn'B video is a female dancing, which is what is happening in this (or maybe these) videos.
- Multiple close-ups of the main artist or vocalist. Close ups of Rhianna are shown throughout.
- Voyeurism often plays a major part, especially in relation to females. Rhianna is seen dancing in a seductive manner, and it could be seen as voyeuristic in the 'Night' version when she is wearing suspenders, typically seen as underwear.
- Intertextual references to other media texts may be present. There are no obvious references to other works, however, this song is advertised through Doritos as having 'augmented reality' which could be an intertextual reference to society and the audience in general (in a roundabout, postmodern sort of way)
'Ray of Light' was Madonna's second single from the album of the same name. It reached the top 5 in the UK, USA, Canada, Finland and Italy. What is immediately notable about the video is it's use of time-lapse footage and it's Koyaanisqatsi-esque theme. It shows people going about their everyday lives, from people riding on a subway, to children in a classroom. However, at least one person in each shot tends to be looking directly at the camera whilst everyone else goes about their business unaware. This video received a total of 8 VMA nominations, becoming Madonna's second most nominated video at the show, after 'Vogue'.
These videos are typical of Åkerlund's more modern style of a short film. The first video could be seen as a comment on our postmodern society, obsessed with the cult of the celebrity (the Lady Gaga money - she is only a celebrity in the video too, not the Queen) and constantly observing her - taking pictures of her when she falls off the balcony rather than helping her. The public also remain fickle about their opinion of her - the newspapers saying 'We love Gaga' followed by 'Gaga hits rock bottom' and finally 'We love Gaga again'. It could also be mentioned that when Gaga could really use public support- when she falls off the balcony - the public turns against her, and yet when she kills someone, the public love her again. There is also a lack of distinction between society and popular culture, as in the video, Lady Gaga plays herself. The theme of the video carries on into 'Telephone' as she is now in a women's prison for killing her boyfriend. There is plenty of intertextuality within the video, from the blatant product placement of the dating website and Virgin mobile, to the links to other media texts, such as the 'Pussy Wagon' from Kill Bill and Beyonce's name 'Honey Bee' which can be seen as a derivative of Honey Bunny from Pulp Fiction. What I like about both videos is how they are short films within themselves, and I also love the theatricality of Lady Gaga's costumes, and of the videos in general.
No comments:
Post a Comment