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

[secretlytodream.livejournal.com]

I already told you how much I loved this vid, no matter what ♥

[amnisias.livejournal.com]

I just had my brain blown out - by a vid! So excuse my incoherence...
This is so dense and multi-layered, I'll have to re-watch it like a few hundred times because it'll all click, but first impression: it's gorgeous. It's great to see somebody vidding Castiel/Jimmy as the complex, multidimensional character he is in the show rather than just use him as a foil or object of desire in a slash vid. I love the visuals and colours, and the well thought out way you use cut-aways to infuse the close ups with meaning and context. Great job! Now I need to go and watch it again....

Also, belated Happy B-Day, the whole time-zone thing tripped me up, so I didn't get it in on time.

[greyowl88.livejournal.com]

First of all: *hugs yourlibrarian* for giving you this song.

And a deep bow to you for the miracle you worked with it! *bows* (After Castiel had been nothing to you but a glitch in Sam and Dean’s relationship…*g*)

I love the intro with Castiel walking in with the music. It so makes clear: Here comes an angel! *adores*
And all the wonderful eye communication. *melts *
And the action! Always spot on with the song. *is glued to the screen*
And the lyric interpretation….

Perfection! Perfection! Perfection! ♥

I had planned to point out single parts I love most but it all flows so wonderful and each scene connects so perfectly with the next. The subtle but powerful editing just lifts this vid into heavenly spaces. \o/

But there are some things I do want to mention:
° When the music starts picking up and then that action scene comes, I can feel myself getting carried away and at 3:38 I’m just holding on for dear life… (lol).

° And I so love the ending with that image (Castiel unfolding his wings) flashing up until it stays while he is walking away from Dean. Such an apt way to show his reinstatement as a full angel. *sighs deeply*

°The „only in you I’m complete“ with Anna filling up with her grace again and Cas watching and then the memory of Jimmy sets in….*dies*

This really is Castiel’s story from the inside. From all the wonderful and impressive vids you have created this is my personal favorite!! ^_^ *nods vigorously*
(And I’m not saying any of this because you have been so nice about my last vid!!)

*watches over and over*
♥

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much honey! I really appreciate it! <333

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me. Something I wanted to do more than anything is present a multidimensional character. And "dense and multi-layered" is a wonderful compliment. Thank you! <3

And thanks so much for the birthday wishes too! :D
xx

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Oh wow honey! This feedback is amazing and truly appreciated. Thank you so much. <33

I'm so thrilled you enjoyed this one. You know I've been angsting over it. Your earlier feedback helped me feel more positive about it. <33

Thanks again *reads comment over and over*

*heffa smish*

[greyowl88.livejournal.com]

♥

[greyowl88.livejournal.com]

Dang, that heart looks a bit lonely there...so lets not be stingy..

♥♥♥♥♥♥

[ash48.livejournal.com]

I did mean to say:

First of all: *hugs yourlibrarian* for giving you this song.

Yes. I was very lucky with the song choice. It ended up being great to work with. Though I admit (rather embarrassingly) that I never knew how religious this song was until I investigated it.

and also:

After Castiel had been nothing to you but a glitch in Sam and Dean’s relationship…*g*)

Hee! You see right through me! <3

[debbiel66.livejournal.com]

It was absolutely wonderful. Loved all the flashes of wings at the end, reminding us just who Castiel really is. It's a favorite song of mine, and you made it that much more favorite... thank you so much!

[greyowl88.livejournal.com]

Though I admit (rather embarrassingly) that I never knew how religious this song was until I investigated it.

I actually had only a faint memory of this song...

Hee! You see right through me!

Haha....*wink*

[yourlibrarian]

I heart your author notes, and, of course, the vid :)

[yourlibrarian]

This really is Castiel’s story from the inside.

Butting in to say that I like this observation so much. That was exactly my motivation in wanting this and I would be sorry about how it made ash wibble to do it, except that she's obviously perfectly capable of it!

[davincis-girl.livejournal.com]

Excellent job!

[greyowl88.livejournal.com]

Ash has qualities she doesn't know about...You brought the best out in her by wanting this vid! I'm so glad you did. ^_^

[mara-snh.livejournal.com]

This is terrific work -- not surprising, but always a wonderful treat. Any ten seconds of this vid would make a good audition tape for Misha!

[bowtrunckle.livejournal.com]

Lovely vid. The song was great! In my non-expert opinion, it seems like the long bridge would be challenging with all the long notes superimposed over such a fast beat (which beats to pick?).

I liked your clip choice during the first two choruses ... very fitting. And the flash of angel statues/figurines before Jimmy was given his Grace was very clever. Bookending the vid with winged Cas was also really effective and satisfying from a viewer's perspective.

Also, I just friended you as I don't want to miss any more vids like this in the future. :)

[ancastar.livejournal.com]

Wonderfully done! I'm not the biggest Cas fan in the world. But I thought this beautifully captured his power and his vulnerabilities. Nice character retrospective, hon.

[ash48.livejournal.com]

*hugs* thank you hun. In fact it was during the back and forth process with yourlibrarian that the wings at the end came about. She mentioned it and I loved the idea so gave it a go. :)

Thanks so much for taking the time to watch and comment. I appreciate it. :)

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Thanks hun! (*g* I angst over the notes as well!)

xx

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much. :D And yes - Misha has been doing a fine job of Castiel - not an easy task considering the constraints he has on him as an angel.

Thanks so much for watching. :D

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Hey hun! Thank you so much.

it seems like the long bridge would be challenging with all the long notes superimposed over such a fast beat (which beats to pick?).

Oh yes indeed. In fact when I first heard the song I thought "well that bit's out". I even edited the song right down until I realised I needed it all to really flesh out Cas's journey. The tempo change caused all sorts of issues and as you say, picking out the beats to use.

Thank you for your very thoughtful notes. I really appreciate it. :D

(and friending back!)
xx

[ash48.livejournal.com]

Yay, you watched it. Thanks hon. I know you're not into Cas (and well, me neither really..) so thanks for taking the time to check it out. I suppose my biggest hope is that I did him justice.

*huggles*

[dotfic.livejournal.com]

Ash, this is beautiful. It's great to have something exploring Castiel's arc this way. You seem to have outlined his redemption arc, the way he grew and changed over two seasons and I think you captured the doubts and the wavering and the conviction and the discovery of BAMFness.

The way you used the photograph really got to me, it was a turn, and the start of the momentum of the last section of the vid. He lost his angel family, accepted his human one, and then he's off like a firecracker, and at the end goes home again. I think yourlibrarian may be right that his arc didn't have enough clarity on the show. You've sharpened and teased it out here.

It makes me feel so much better about where things landed in the finale because I felt like they rushed his resolution, and undid his emotional development in some ways, but looking at your vid, I can also see it as a triumphant arc and how he's grown and changed in addition to it landing full circle. (As a Dean/Castiel shipper it's fascinating to me that you ended it on Castiel walking away from Dean. I really liked that, actually, it's like he's standing on his own and the character needs that).