the 1982 American experimental film Koyaanisqatsi, which showed time-lapse footage of cities. Madonna's scenes were shot from March 25-26, 1998 at MTV/VH1 studios in Los Angeles. Background scenes were shot in various cities such as Los Angeles, New York, London, Las Vegas, and Stockholm. Test shots taken in Stockholm were presented to Madonna, for conveying the idea behind the clip, but they were deemed good enough to be used in the final product. Filming and production During filming Åkerlund was accompanied by three of his Swedish employees, photographer Henrik Halvarsson, production designer Mattias Lindgren, and editor Max Vitali. Madonna's daughter Lourdes was also present on set. Åkerlund remembered that one day after the filming he got a call from Mick Jagger for directing the new music video for The Rolling Stones, however he had to decline since "Ray of Light" consumed all his time. They filmed for over 14 days, during which he fit the crew in one car, found an angle for the 35 mm camera and just waited as the shots were taken one by one. He had to carry a diagram in his pocket for the whole time, which had all the plans for every frame they shot. Every ten seconds they captured one frame and continued for half-an-hour to get around five seconds of footage, resulting in "Ray of Light" being the longest shoot ever for a music video for Åkerlund. They also mounted the camera on a bus and rode around New York capturing the scenes. Madonna insisted that the video should be edited in Los Angeles, since during the "Frozen" video she had a number of back and forth with director Chris Cunningham (who was in London editing), a process she did not want to repeat. This meant that Åkerlund and his team had to live in the United States for the whole duration. They lived in a hotel, ate take-away Chinese food and finished the clip. All the footage ended up in the actual video, since every scene was sped up and the song was long. Release and reception The music video premiered on MTV Live on May 12, 1998. The clip starts with the rising of the sun and a man opening the curtains in his house, until it progresses into the Koyaanisqatsi inspired section, featuring time-lapse images of daily life, from people riding a subway, ordering food, bowling, and children in