Cosy Prisons

Vid
Title:	Cosy Prisons
Creator:	P.R. Zed
Date:	2006, 2007
Format:	QT
Length:	24MB
Music:	"Cosy Prisons: by A-Ha
Genre:
Fandom:	The Professionals
Footage:	original source material
URL:	*streaming and download at the Internet Archive *Download Link at The Circuit Archive *Vidder's website (password required)]
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"Cosy Prisons" is a The Professionals vid by P.R. Zed. It was first posted for the livejournal Discovered in the Mistletoe Challenge on December 3, 2006. Its con premiere was at Escapade in 2007.

Vidder's Notes

Vidder's Notes: "Though I'm probably most attracted—in every sense of the word—to Doyle, it was Bodie who was responsible for this vid. I had a vague sense of wanting to vid this song, but no clear cut idea of how to structure it. When I finally sat down to go through the lyrics and song structure, these were the lines that struck me:

The sun must never touch your skin

It could express the dark within

You're paranoid about the paranoia

Bodie! I thought immediately, hiding the darkness of his character and experiences, sometimes with a silence, sometimes with a smile. Never entirely letting anyone see all he is except, perhaps, Doyle.

Those lines cracked, I didn't want to restrict myself to just Bodie's POV. I wanted to work through each man's struggle with their job, their conscience, their fear, their relationships with others and, ultimately, their relationship with each other. So the first verse is Doyle's, the second Bodie's, and then begins an ever quickening weaving between both of their experiences until we arrive at the two of them together, a mobile ghetto of two. The ending, while hopeful, is not meant to be without ambiguity and struggle. Bodie and Doyle are difficult men—they wouldn't be nearly so interesting if they weren't—and any relationship between them, whether professional or very personal, cannot help but be difficult as well."

Reactions/Reviews

• "Lordy. Is it any wonder why I ask this woman to please beta all my work? This is an amazing vid. Note, if you will, her split second time, her wonderful choice of clips, the story arc of her piece, how she handles the frighteningly problematic "Trans-Atlantic Shopping Spree" section (that alone would have scared me off tackling this song). She picks interesting music (love the piano line in this) and the way the vid builds is just tremendous. I could watch this one over and over. And do."
• "Love it! There's a lot to be said for sombre when it's done right. It's amazing how even the most unlikely songs can turn out to apply perfectly to Pros in the hands of someone with the imagination to make the connections. Thank you!"
• "One does not have to understand the words, the music itself connected with the vid is very convincing about the bit desperate and hopeless mood. In the end, when I looked up the lyrics the exact references, I was glad that at first I had been able to turn on my language mode "I don't understand" and enjoy the vid without any notice of something unfitting about the song like some others mentioned above. But of course, I was able to understand the lyrics when I decided to:-) I liked especially the beginning and the very end."
• "Oh, that's marvelous! Sombre, yes, but...I guess I like sombre. I loved the line Every perfect moment is a hidden warning, and the images that you put to that. Wow. This is definitely a vid for inspiring stories! Oh, the poor lads.... *g* Thank you! "