Ray of Light

United States

1998

5 Min

Color

English

Currently 2.6/5 Stars.
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Ray of Light is noted for its Koyaanisqatsi-esque music video, featuring time-lapse images of daily life, from people riding a subway, ordering food, bowling, and children in a classroom to sped-up city-scapes and freeways at night. It should be noted that in almost every scene with people in it, such as in the club or classroom, one person is staring directly at the camera, while everyone else goes on with their daily lives.

The video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund, with Madonna’s scenes being shot on March 25–26, 1998 at Raleigh Studios and at a nightclub in downtown Los Angeles. The images of various cities include Los Angeles, New York, London, Las Vegas and Stockholm, Sweden. It also features a couple of clips from the Swedish television game show Bingolotto, which is broadcast from Gothenburg, Sweden. Alternate remix versions, set to Sasha’s Ultraviolet Mix and Victor Calderone’s Club Mix of the track feature additional footage of both Madonna and of the environment. Footage from the making of this video was also used for the Screen Projection of Runaway Lover during the Music Promo Tour. —Wikipedia

Director

Jonas Åkerlund

Jonas Åkerlund (born November 10, 1965) is a Swedish film and music video director. He is best known for his stylish music videos, which are often mock forms of movie trailers and short films. His video for Madonna’s song “Ray of Light” won a Grammy for Best Music Video, Short Form, and a record seven awards at 1998 MTV Video Music Awards, including the Video of the Year.

Åkerlund was a member of the Swedish black metal band Bathory from 1983 through 1984. He first found fame as main video director for Swedish pop act Roxette. In 1998 he worked with Madonna for the song “Ray of Light”, he has since worked with superstars such as Metallica, Christina Aguilera, U2, Blink-182, P!nk and Lady Gaga. He directed the music video for the Smashing Pumpkins’ single Try, Try, Try, from which a short film Try was spawned. He also turned his hand to designer and photographer for the Roxette album Room Service in 2001. In 2002 his first full length movie, Spun debuted. He directed recent adverts… read more