astartexx made me do it and it was fun.

[charmax]

Video Title: Protège Moi
Song Title/Artist: Protège Moi - Placebo
Show: Supernatural
Summary: What's black and white and red all over?
Length/Format: 1.22, (Xvid)
Notes: This is the first part of a vidlet challenge that I've got going with astartexx. The style is inspired by film noir/Sin City.

Download Xvid (720x400 - 16MB)
stream at imeem
stream at youtube

Comments

[martoufmarty.livejournal.com]

Oooh, that was cool. Did I see it hint at Sam/Dean a lot?

I love the black and white and the hints of red.

Oh, that was so cool.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thanks Steph.

Yep Astarte wanted wincest so that's what she got.

[jezdenly.livejournal.com]

Oh. Oh. OH MY GOD!
I have an obscene amount of love for this video.
Just wow. The song is perfect - I loooove Placebo and the lyrics just fit like they should in every vid.
Plus the effect you used is the coolest thing I've ever seen. My mind just kept repeating "red like sin, red like sin, red like sin".
I can't wait for the next vid you make, now I'm gonna be your stalker!

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for the feedback. I'm glad the lyrics were a good match because honestly my French is apalling and I just guessed from the words I did recognise that the lyrics were similar to the English version. I also suspect Babelfish was lying to me when it told me it had something to do with Malaysians!:D

[astartexx.livejournal.com]

And astartexx is immensely proud that she made her do it and now wants a motel room to take care of the two brothers and Dean’s death wish!

AWWWWWWWWWWWW! RAWWWRR!

Sorry, my coherency isn’t back yet after watching this babe twenty-five times on repeat, I get back to you in two hours or so… Because DAMN! And FUCK ME! And H-O-T! Oh and teh pretty! But overall? RAWR!

[charmax.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you like it. I think making the vid has converted me to Wincest (just a little bit). Seriously, who looks at their semi-naked brother like that!

[killabeez.livejournal.com]

Oh, my god. That is possibly the hottest thing that ever was hot. I. Have no brain. *is melted*

I'm going to watch this an obscene number of times, and it is going to make me so very happy every single time. You know I'm your hugest fan, right? *tries to look non-scary and non-stalkery*

Thank you for this.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

It is hot isn't it? It didn't start out that way. It was originally just Dean getting thrown around a lot then I realised that was hot in itself and from then on the vid just seemed to have a mind of it's own.

[glitterdemon.livejournal.com]

i love this so much. and i haff recced it in my journal, here (http://glitterdemon.livejournal.com/545223.html).

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thanks for commenting and thanks for the rec.

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

OMG! Protège Moi!Wincest! My heart just exploded and hey, I haven't even started downloading yet. :P

*downloads*

Fookin' hell, woman. You really outdid yourself on this one. Oh my god! Everything is just... perfect! The internal motion is out of this world. Look at the pan on the intro! That light at 0:04! The head movement at 0:05! The hand at 0:13, the eyes at 0:14, that incredible shot through the blinds at 0:16, the fact that the car door would slam on the beat at 0:18 even though you don't see it, the "visage gris" lyric match, the light on the "maison" sequence. Given my inadequate knowledge of source, the whole "maison" segment lyric match also seems really on-point.

I love the way the light flares on 0:38, the way the flashlight moves at 0:40, that double shot of on-beat movement around 0:47, that beautiful brightness at 0:53, the wink at 0:59, and generally how the crossfades really took centre stage toward the endgame there. The religious iconography! The ending! WHEEEE!!!

Oh, and the colour effects. Just as an afterthought. ;) It's seriously beautiful. Brain-picking time again, if you don't mind sharing your secrets. :D You and Astarte are really upping your game tech-wise and I'm incredibly envious and awed.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Why have you not jumped on the SPN bandwagon yet? *wags finger*

It means a lot that you like it especially as you don't know the source that well. I'm glad you picked out a couple of the things with lights. Lighting was really important to this vid and I abused the lighting effect tool in premiere pro 2 remorselessly to make the shots as moody as possible.

The colour effects were done a couple of different ways. A number of them were done using the Leave Color tool which I think was an After effects tool that I plonked into the premiere plug-ins folder (I did that with a bunch of stuff ages ago so I could be wrong) I did try premiere's color pass tool but-oh the ugliness.
The bed, hat and hotel sign were done by exporting them as a sequence of stills and selecting the red by hand in photoshop. The woman with the cross was done by changing the colour, then color passing, then keyframing a light on it. All in all it was a huge pain in the arse and definitely not something I would want to do for a 4 minute vid.

[thedothatgirl.livejournal.com]

I really want to watch this but I am only ep5 into S1 and I don't want to be spoiled - but you can bet I'll be back for it very soon.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Very few people seem to be immune to SPN so I don't think it will take you long to watch all the eps!

[hope]

Awesome!! I love the colour :) I am totally putting this on my SPN recs list :D

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thank you it is always nice to get a rec.

[bradcpu.livejournal.com]

Wow. I've never seen a single episode of the show, but that was just beautiful.

*watching again*

Beyond the tech skills and motiony goodness (which abounds and is so obvious I feel like I'm pointing out that the sky is blue for even mentioning it), the clip selection here is brilliant. The mirror at :08, the blinds at :15, the old man at :18... it just goes on and on. The flashing police lights, the scamper down the steps, the wink, the crossfades on the pained expressions, the candles, the airplane, the gun... it's all so evocative, and all so expressive of the music.

Just so beautiful in so many ways. This is truly a wonderful video. I mean - just look at it!

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much. I'm pleased that you were able to read it so well even though you don't know the source. A number of shots are looking through things which makes it seem voyeuristic plus those sort of shots all add to the noir thing I was aiming for so it means a lot that you felt it worked well.

[lostandalone22.livejournal.com]

Love the coloring you do in the video, and the message in the song is nice. Love the video.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your kind words.

[nanakomatsu.livejournal.com]

whoa, really great job :D I loved it, loved the song, loved the scenes, loved the colors and the effects you used. Amazing :)
Thanks for sharing!

[charmax.livejournal.com]

I'm so pleased that you liked the vid so much. It is good to know the vid has been well received.

[scatterheart.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I LOVED this. How it has more than one way of looking at it, with the wincesty aspect of "want him, but can't have him" and with Sam protecting Dean from himself*. How they so very angsty. How the whole "Watch out for Sammy" gets turned around, because really, Sam watches out for Dean just as much. How it is so pretty with the black/white/red. How the song is perfect. How the pacing is great. How the choice of clips is lovely. How it sort of managed to make me incoherent in less than two minutes.

Shutting up now.

*

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thanks for commenting on the double meaning. I wanted to show how Sam protects Dean and how reckless Dean is with his own safety whilst being so determined to protect Sam. So it is partly about Dean's deathwish with the reason for it being strongly hinted at and it having nothing to do with mom burning on the ceiling.

I'm glad you liked it so much.

[nightchik.livejournal.com]

This is amazingly gorgeous. I might have more to say if I hadn't just broken my all my video programs, thus making me unable to watch this more than once. *boggles*

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thanks for commenting and I'm sorry to hear about your computer woes.

[messyjessie58.livejournal.com]

woah.

that was likewoah.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Cheers!

[proofpudding.livejournal.com]

Wow. This is completely stunning! Loved loved loved the effect. And the song. You are awesome.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thank you for taking the time to comment. I'm glad you liked it.

[super-geekygirl.livejournal.com]

So great! You made a supernatural video!!! :D So awsome!

[charmax.livejournal.com]

I made a Supernatural vidlet the popularity of which I am finding rather baffling but hugely pleasing. *grin*

[zeronephilim.livejournal.com]

This vid is so awesome : ) My only problem is that I wish that there was more haha. But I imagine it works better as a mini-vid, and I'm thinking that even that must have been a lot of work to do. Your techniques are really impressive.

Sin City is one of my favourite movies and I think you did a great job of creating that same kind of feel. I love the moodiness of the black and white, and the boldness of the red looks amazing, it's such a sexy video.

The Wincest was also hot. I thought that it came through in quite a subtle way, which is perfect for this vid

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Oh dear God just the thought of doing that for a full vid I think I would have lost the will to live.

Thanks so much for the compliments Adam.

[michaela3105.livejournal.com]

Like I said at the video community. It's one of the best vids I've ever seen. It's sad, dark and loving at the same time and the music choice is perfect! After a little research I found more videos of you and I have to admit you're a fucking genius ;-)

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thanks for commenting and I am pleased you have enjoyed some of my vids. I'm so not a genius but I thank you for the compliment.

[bitter-crimson.livejournal.com]

Oh man, SO DAMNED AWESOME. First SPN vid I've seen that has inspired me to a) actually comment and b) want to keep it on my hard drive. Heh. BRILLIANT. And. Well. Okay, I haven't vidded in a while, but ...do you know of any guides for doing an effect similar to yours, with getting rid of all the colors save red? Heh. (I use Premiere, but don't know it very well at all. *sniff*) Because that effect is fucking AMAZING.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it so much. There are a number of great vids in this fandom so I am rather flattered that you would say that about my vid.

As for a guide: My first port of call was wriglyvideo.com which does have a video tut for something similar but to be honest I couldn't get it to work very well and it ended up being trial and error on each of the sections.

[lidi.livejournal.com]

this video is simply ingenius.
it makes SNL so much better than it actually is. and I mean in the nicest way possible.
all the hidden metaphors (especially the main one - of red color being the color of life and yet of death. of devil and of power. "protect me from I want" turns into "and deliver me from evil").

the technical part it beyond awesome. after seeing this video 10-15 times, I finally realiazed how much work was put into it (the final staw was seeing the red sigh "vacant" at the very end. not talking about spilling blood, all bedspreads - including the one in the hotel, not only with Dean alone, but also when he's with Sam, necklace (or whatever this thingy in girl hands is), baloons, flames of fire, car's lights and even plane's bits and glass's drawing in the church! mindblowing!)

and now about the plot of that video - as said above - it's really hot. yet it's really tragic. and for me it looked even more serious than SNL cares to show us. you made it more meaningful. bravo! really!

this vid is so dark and so moody in adult's fashion - it's amazing. it's like we finally see it through Dean's eyes. dissapointed, selfless, cruel and in someway quite unkind.
it's amazing that one can actually write poems (in this case - fiction) after seeing 1:22 of brilliant video. it contains so much interesting ideas, that twist and change in different point of views.

(I'm very stupid at 2 am. I lost the train of my thoughts all the time. oh)

I wanted to tell about small detals - well, first of all - the sexiest of all is at 0:57-0:58, followed by 0:41-0:44 with a tense Dean and innocent Sam.
winking at 0:58 (or 59) is interesting too (oh my, I'm writing in such official terms. it's bad. I shouldn't be that sleepy). and the way we see Dean turning a bit, as if sensing something behind...
and I love comparison of Dean and Sean's stares (looks?) at 1:05-1:06. you can see such a difference between them. amazing work.

to sum it up a bit (because I'm not able to think at all now) - it's a brilliant video with amazing ideas, that are actually much, much better (for my taste) than original.
so thank you very-very much for creating this wonderful video.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Wow thanks for such amazing praise. I'm so pleased that you liked it.

I wouldn't say it was better than the original but thanks for the compliment. I just went with the idea of dark Wincest and just went where it took me. I noticed how often red shows up on the show and thatwas when the idea for the effect came to me. Then it was a matter of figuring out how the heck to do it.
You're right there is definitely a feeling in this vid that Dean knows something Sam doesn't.

[millylicious.livejournal.com]

I think I just had a vid-gasm. No, seriously. I *love* this.

And if you had no idea what the french say, well, damn girl, you're psychic or something. The french lyrics (I translated them over at Astarte's lj, if you're interested) work perfectly for SPN... It's just amazing.

I *really* love it *plays on loop*

[charmax.livejournal.com]

A vid-gasm! Excellent!

It is so good to finally have an accurate translation of the lyrics. I did wonder about asking you for a translation before I started but decided against it because I quite fancied being a bit more free with lyrical interpretation so I just went with the tone and the few words I did recognise.

[little-sparks.livejournal.com]

Hey Charmax,

Not sure if you remember me, I emailed you a month or so ago regarding a peice of your art I thought was stolen lol.

Just thought I'd add you, is that ok?

Love the new video btw. The red-on-black is so Vibrant especially during the scene where you can just see the neon-red sign through the doorway. Looks awsome.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Hey! Of course I remember you. Not just from a couple of weeks ago either... I've added you back - you make some great icons and we seem to have quite a few shared interests.

It's good to hear you enjoyed the vid, thanks very much for the compliments. Much appreciated. :)

[seewhoiam.livejournal.com]

Just.Amazing.
Really loved it, and I had never heard that song before but wow it was beautiful, and the lyrics fit perfectly.
Now if you´ll excuse me, I´m gonna go watch it another hundred times :P:P

[charmax.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have thought of the song as being that suitable for Supernatural if it wasn't for astartexx. But, I got stuck in and it worked. It is a beautiful song and I love Placebo generally. I'm glad it worked for you too. :)

Cheers for the feedback.

[appledoodle.livejournal.com]

Ooh, very nice! I love the red coloring and the music. I'd love to see your other videos :)

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thanks!
My other vids can be found at http://bronze-ambition.net if you're interested. :)

[mara-sho.livejournal.com]

Wow. Just... wow. This is just amazing!

I've been kinda fannishly stalking you for a while thanks to recs from thedothatgirl and astartexx - do you mind if I friend you?

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Heee thank you! :D

Sure, you can friend me. astartexx and thedothatgirl are love. I will add you back.