New vid: In Te Domine

[ash48]

This is my ao3vidders auction vid. It's for my winning bidder yourlibrarian


Banner by secretlytodream *smish*

Title: In Te Domine
Vidder: ash48
Music: Gloria, U2
Characters Castiel and ensemble
Category: Character study, meta
Length: 4 min
Size: 44mb

Stream: You Tube
Download: Sendspace (.dixv) OR 4Shared (.avi)

This also fills a vid_the_grid prompt secondary characters \o/



Thanks
First off, HUGE thanks to yourlibrarian not only for her bid, but for her detailed brief and valuable input while I was working on this. I truly hope this is close to what you envisioned for this song hun. Many thanks again. <3

To my wonderful beta _sharvie_ who came back on-line just when I needed her most. *smishes* as always honey. And to greyowl88 for some much needed hand holding. <33

Notes

The idea:

I admit to freaking out just a bit when yourlibrarian sent me the song and her ideas for it. Mostly because I've never really given Castiel a lot of thought and didn't really have the first idea where to begin. She said she wanted Castiel to be given a "clearer arc", than what we saw on the show, especially in his search for God. We agreed that even though he never found God as such, his journey helped him discover more about who he was. I decided to basically start at the beginning and work through his journey over the 2 seasons. My main focus is his connection to Heaven, the other Angels and to Sam and Dean. I wanted to draw out his sacrifices (his and Jimmy's), his betrayals, his loyalties, his doubts and his convictions.

Something we both discovered in the making of this was how much of what he experienced in season 4 made him what he was in season 5 and that is more aggressive, self assured, and determined. (BAMF as we discovered). I've tried to draw that difference out in the vid. I also discovered, to my surprise actually, that the Castiel that we started with - arriving with power and conviction, is the Castiel we ended with. So, full circle.

Lyric Interpretation: (found by _sharvie_ on the U2 site)

What does "In Te Domine" mean in the song "Gloria"?

It is a Latin phrase meaning "In You, Lord". In = In, Te = You, Domine = Lord. Also of note is that "Gloria", the title of the song, is the Latin word for "Glory". [AC]

In Latin, the beginning of Psalm 31 is "In te Domine speravi..." "In you, O Lord; I take refuge." As for the other Latin bits in "Gloria," "exultate" and "miserere" -- these are the beginnings of Psalms 33 and 51, respectively: "Exultate iusti in Domino..." "Exult, you just, in the Lord." And "Miserere mei Deus..." is "Have mercy on me, O God..." Source

In many ways this guided me in some of my choices. I wanted to play with the idea of the angelic experience, for both Jimmy and Castiel, as one that is not particularly merciful. It's fraught with pain, indecision and heartache. It also requires sacrifices.

It's been an interesting and challenging vid to make. Also a first for me (working with someone else's song choice and idea) but I loved doing it.




All comments are appreciated and cherished and if you want to meta Cas to me GO FOR IT! I dare you! I'm soooo up on Castiel now!

Comments

[boom-queen.livejournal.com]

No need to be nervous--this vid is AMAZING. Your visual meta and character insights are so superb, and the editing is just flawless. This may be my favorite Castiel vid ever!

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Wow, thank you hun. That is high praise indeed. :D I really appreciate you letting me know that it worked for you. :D

*hugs*

[boom-queen.livejournal.com]

Hi! This was rec'd at crack_impala here :D

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Yay! Thanks so much! <333

[celtic-forest.livejournal.com]

Wow. I'm not a Castiel person (though I enjoy Misha at cons etc. very much), but this got through to me. His story on its own, not wedged into the cracks between Sam and Dean, is very powerful.
Loved it!

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Hi, Thanks so very much. I gotta say, I'm not a Cas person myself but it was interesting discovering his character arc. I'm so glad it worked for you.

<3

[jimandblair.livejournal.com]

I just came over from crack impala's friday art/vid rec.

This is an excellent multi-layered fic *g*. I like vids which tell a story. I'll be downloading this vid and putting it in my keepie file for rewatching ad infinitum.

Cheers.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for popping in. :D

Hee! This will be the closest I ever get to "writing" fic, something I most definitely cannot do.

I'm glad it worked for you - thanks so much for letting me know.:)

[greyowl88.livejournal.com]

I've come back to take a look at Loki's banner. Very nice!! I love the way the wings appear like a shadow and than again not. Shows Castiel being an angel and a man. *nods*

<3

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Isn't is gorgeous? I am about to make a post referring to it. It was a shame her computer went down just as I was posting this. These things happen I suppose.
:)

[lapillus]

Very nicely done :)

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much! :D

[deangirlxoxo.livejournal.com]

Hey girl :D ... I waited a while to watch this one, because your vids are a box of chocolates to me (and I'm very disciplined at savoring each one rather than gobbling them all down in one fell swoop!) I also had a feeling this one would be a departure for you, something very different, and I was right.

I'm *gobsmacked* into stunned awe ... holy jensen christ you have got some skills girlfriend. And you say you aren't a Cas fan??? This IS Cas ... all of him ... in all of his angelic glory and not-so-angelic flaws ... his wretchedness, his loneliness, his determination, his hope. Gah! The timing is gorgeous, and that *music* - I never would have thought of this song, but it works on so many levels. Bravo!!! ::claps hands:: ::bows down::

The intensity of the shared looks between Cas and Dean have been used to support many slash vids, but to see them used here in their original context makes me weep. Especially during 2:27-2:30 where Cas is so ashamed by the angels and his part in it he cannot even meet Dean's penetrating stare. LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT. :D :D :D

[deangirlxoxo.livejournal.com]

.... and another thing ;D ;D... I love that you treat this as a completed story arc, that really does come full circle, but in so many ways, who Cas is at the end of the video is so far away from the Angel we first meet in "Lazarus Rising". Cas's futile search for God, his crushing doubts along the way (his surrendering of Dean's amulet), his journey to love humans, to fight along side them no matter what, all of this profoundly changes him. He is an Angel, but something so much more by the time we get to Swan Song. Heaven knows, Dean and Sam have each wrestled with their demons, well certainly so has Cas. If the boys chose family -- and that was the whole point -- I think Cas choosing humans was his test, and he passed too.

What a video to inspire such deep thinking ... I think you broke my brain! :D :D :D :D and I love you for it!

[ash48.livejournal.com]

WOW! This is such an amazing comment I can't even..

Thank you so much.

Hee! And I'm not really a Cas fan, but when yourlibrarian gave me the brief for this vid I had to become very familiar with him. The whole idea here was to try and tell his whole story. His journey from when he arrived to when he's returned to being a fully fledged angel at the send of S5.

Thank you so much for your very thoughtful and detail comment. I was very nervous about this one. It was a real challenge, making a vid for someone else. Especially as she had such a clear idea of what she wanted (which was good as it helped a lot).

*smish*

[nalynn-jd.livejournal.com]

Great video and editing. <3

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)