Protège Moi

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Vid
Title: Protège Moi
Creator: Charmax
Date: 2006
Format: Digital
Length: 1:22
Music: Placebo - Protège Moi
Genre: Slash
vidlet
Fandom: Supernatural
Footage: Season 1 of Supernatural
URL: Livejournal Vid Announcement
YouTube
Archive of Our Own
The opening still of Protège Moi, featuring a sleeping Dean in monochrome, the comforter picked out in dark red.

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Protège Moi is a 2006 Supernatural vid by Charmax, featuring the Wincest pairing. It became notable in the Supernatural and vidding communities for its use of color grading for artistic effect: the vid is colored black and white, with select objects highlighted in red. At the time of release, this technique was not common in vidding. Charmax has cited the film Sin City as inspiration, which had been released the year before in 2005. The vid has been used as an example at vidding conventions to demonstrate referential color effects.[1]

Protège Moi was originally posted to imeem. Charmax also posted a vid announcement on Livejournal, entitled 'astartexx made me do it and it was fun'. Upon its release, the vid was widely praised and shared; sdwolfpup, a notable vidder, described it as "stunning visually and powerful emotionally".[2] The vid announcement on Livejournal received more than 160 comments, with many commenters praising the choice of song, technical editing skills, use of colour and the emotional impact of the vid.[3]

The vid premiered at Vividcon 2007.[4] It was later uploaded to YouTube in 2008, with an AO3 work created in 2011.

Vid Information

Summary

From the LiveJournal announcement post:

what's black and white and red all over?

Youtube summary:

Supernatural fanvid

Vidder's 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.[5]

Gallery

Images from the vid showing the technique of using the red referential color effect on black and white film to highlight objects.

  • Sam and Dean exiting the Impala, the balloons in the background highlighted

    Sam and Dean exiting the Impala, the balloons in the background highlighted

  • The cross on the praying woman's pendant highlighted

    The cross on the praying woman's pendant highlighted

  • The motel sign highlighted

    The motel sign highlighted

  • Parts of the stain glass window highlighted

    Parts of the stain glass window highlighted

Recs and Reviews

I'm leaving this one out of cut tags because I want to recommend that even the non-Supernatural fans check it out, just for the technique. This is ... I'm not even sure what to call it. A sort-of-kind-of constructed-reality neo-noir vision of Supernatural, in which Dean wants Sam and death in equal measure. It's all in black and white except for the occasional lurid red (blankets vacancy signs stained glass flickering candles), and it's even more shocking where you expect to see red and don't (blood blood blood).[6]

No effects/style rec list would be complete without this vid inspired by film noir/Sin City. It’s classic S1, it’s stunning, and (I’m really pretty sure) it was the first SPN vid to use color in this way.[7]

I've liked this vid since I first saw it on imeem, but regarding my last comment I have to add just recently I read a rec that cited that Dean was asking Sam to protect him from his own deathwish, which I hadn't considered but makes a lot of sense. Love it even more now that I can see it that way as well as the slash. Brilliant use of the red flashes, I'm still amazed everytime I watch it.[8]

Everything. It's an emotional punch to the gut and takes my breath away every time I watch it. The clip choices, movement, and timing are pitch perfect. I love the grim black, white and red noir look. And I love the intelligence with which the vid conveys its' "message". One of my top five favorite vids of all time. If you haven't seen this vid - or don't have it on your hard drive - go now![9]

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".[5]

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.[5]

GOD THIS IS ANCIENT BUT I STILL LOVE IT. It’s slightly Wincesty which I was a DeanCas person for the ten seconds I was in SPN but WHO CARES this video is so dense with style and some honest to fucking god Baroque-looking moments, it’s still amazing. Only a touch over a minute long, entire in black and white and red, the way shadow and light move together is to this day incredible.[10]

Wow, the colouring on that is so well done, like I don't know their process, but the only way I would know how to that, is to make it black and white, which isn't hard, but then you'd have go into each frame and paint back in the red, which is painstaking, especially with editing software from 12 years ago![11]

Go – Download – Join the puddle of melted fangirl brains on the deep side of the pool and after you recovered enough to be lucid again be awed into gushing over the style, editing and shire brilliance that sparkles in every frame of this vidlet![12]

Probably one of the best vids I've ever seen! It's amazing, dark, sad and loving! Perfect! [12]

It's either about Sam and Dean's incredibly angsty UST or Dean's deathwish - both interpretations work well and the video is awesome besides.[13]

The coloring is so cool in this! I really like the grimness of this video. Like, a lot, and I'm usually all for 'fluffy with a little angst' with my Wincest.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Vividcon III". Archived from the original on 2022-09-06.
  2. ^ Protege Moi on Imeem (archived link), contains several comments from fans, including sdwolfpup.
  3. ^ astartexx made me do it and it was fun, a LJ vid announcement post by Charmax, Oct 3 2006
  4. ^ Vidivcon Vid Database
  5. ^ a b c "Comment on astartexx made me do it and it was fun (Vid LiveJournal Post)". Archived from the original on 2021-02-13.
  6. ^ "Brief notes on Supernatural vids". Archived from the original on 2022-09-06.
  7. ^ Interesting Effects, Unique Style, a rec list posted at LJ comm spnvidrecs, 2010
  8. ^ YouTube comment
  9. ^ "Vid rec: Protège Moi by charmax, post at spnvidrecs". Archived from the original on 2021-02-13.
  10. ^ "Old Vid Recs (2002-2012)". Archived from the original on 2021-02-13.
  11. ^ Comment on more red (Supernatural vid!)
  12. ^ a b "Comment on vidder promo post on supernaturalvid, Oct 3, 2006". Archived from the original on 2022-02-17.
  13. ^ "Comment on community gathering, July 29, 2012 Livejournal post on hoodietime". Archived from the original on 2022-09-06.
  14. ^ "vidrec 10/18/2009". Archived from the original on 2022-09-06.
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