giandujakiss | New Vid: "A Charming Man" (Supernatural)

This vid was remastered on October 19, 2009 with shinier footage.

Vid Title: A Charming Man
Song: The Wondersmith and His Sons by Astronautalis
Fandom: Supernatural

Summary: Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Characters: Castiel, vaguely Dean/Castiel

Sizes: 36.7 MB (540 x 360 .avi), 16 MB (420 x 280 .wmv)
Length: 3:20

Download: Monsters from the Vids

Streaming: Blip, or embedded:

Password: wings

Thanks so much to my betas

kiki_miserychic,

loligo,

rivkat, and

yhlee. And thank you to

halcyon_shift for introducing me to Astronautalis with her awesome T:SCC vid, Lost at Sea.

Comments would be very appreciated.

(Crossposted to LJ)

Threaded | Flat

From:

eisen

Okay I haven't even finished the vid yet but can I just say I don't think I've seen an SPN vid ever that made me jump out of my seat with the shivers as effectively as this one did with the slow grrrroooowwwl into the lightning strike on "hah!" and I just wanted you to know that was well played, goddamn.

eeep.

(And it sets the tone for what I suspect the rest of the vid's going to be doing really well, too.)

From:

darkemeralds

Holy...

God! That's just...

I'm still stuck for words. They're all good, and stunned, but I can't find 'em. I'm going buh-buh-buh. Wow! I'm never very articulate about vids anyway, but this one is one of the clearest, most exciting, most storytelling ones I've ever seen.

*downloading to watch over and over*

From: (Anonymous)

*gapes* OMG hon!!!! I've watched literally hundreds of SPN vids, and there are some brilliant ones out there, but yours just took top honors!!! Holy crap dude! I have never seen such a brilliant use of lyrics to clips - EVER! It was incredibly fast-paced, yet never lost coherency or flow to the story. Each word and scene packed a punch, without becoming an overwhelming jumble. I am a multi-media specialist, and I gladly bow to your brilliance as a storyteller. Talk about tight editing, and hours spent pouring over source clips! You rock beyond the telling of it!!! Thank you for sharing your talent with us. I only hope Kripke sees this!!!!

From:

gnatkip

Oh, really nice. Very pretty circling movements with Crossroads Demon / Dean / Castiel. "They hand me the key," "you know my family," ungh, his creepiness really comes through. Unghh.

And great song choice. I'd never heard of this guy.

(Also: "obsessively clean." Hee!)

From:

imbir

My knowledge of Supernatural comes from the fannish cheat sheet, but it doesn't matter; this vid is clearly and accessibly fantastic. There's no part that doesn't impress me, but I particularly like linking the first and last "is rendering his heavy hand obsolete" with lights (I'm not sure if they're halogen lights but either way, the pun's still there) and the whole "the brother's born a wondersmith, we started as a team" verse is beautifully cut. Also, the song is not only apt but really enjoyable.

From:

dodificus

That was amazing. I love how menacing and ambiguous Castiel appeared for much of this. I loved the cuts back and forth between the demons and angels.

From:

not_sally

Dude.
This vid was amazing. I love fast paced editing, and I think I'll need to rewatch it a billion times before I get every detail, but that was simply superb.
The song is just wonderful, and I love how you made it fit the vid.
I'm still in awe, but I loved it beyond reason.

From:

nataliadarimini

OHMYGOD.

This vid is absolutely amazing. I am downloading the song right now to go on my SPN playlist. I am in utter awe of your skills.

From:

aeria

Awesome, awesome video XD And the song matched the mood so perfectly. *loves*

From:

nam_jai

I watched this on

nataliadarimini's rec, and then downloaded it, and then went to iTunes to buy the song, which I listened to on repeat, four times in a row, all the way on my drive to work this morning. Enough to formulate a thought, anyway, and that's how the narrator of the song seems so much more self-aware of the destruction he can cause than Castiel generally is, and that makes for an interesting contrast in your vid.

Aside from that, it's just a joy to watch, the way your editing captures the rhythm of the song.

From:

sqbr

This vid is so awesome it made (made!) me start watching season four even though I gave up on the show in disgust mid season 2.

I really, really like the idea of all the angels and demons being one big family of con artists.

I made my husband (who is a fan of the show, but usually doesn't like vids or slash) watch it and he really liked it too, though he did note the lack of Sam :D

From:

fiercelydreamed

I can't recall if I replied at the LJ crosspost back when I first found this, so I'm replying at this one. I only recently caught up on S4 and S5, and this vid captures everything about the last season that's sucked me in. You have the sharp-edged noir, the violence, the crisply beautiful cinematography, the byzantine mytharc, the betrayals, and oh yes, the profound moral grayness. Now that I'm familiar with the sources you used, what I really love about this vid -- the thing that had me mouthing yes, yes, yes -- was the equivalence you create between the angels and the demons. Exchanging Castiel and the crossroads demon in visual sleight-of-hand, interspersing the ranks of Heaven and Hell over "You know my family." It's exactly the thing that's made the current mytharc so compelling to me: that the angels are no better than the demons, and that Castiel himself is thoroughly complicit.

Really. Bravo.

From:

yakbite.livejournal.com

"THEN THERE WAS ME"

I can't get over this vid. It's everything I love about Supernatural chopped up and strung together so precisely. Of course, it also reinforces the extreme white dude aesthetic of the show, which is very good to be reminded of.
The focused urgency of this vid was truly awesome.

From:

everysecondtuesday

I am terrible at reviewing lately, but I wanted to say that this vid is amazing. I've come back to sit several times, and it only manages to suck me in more with each repeat viewing. The timing is phenomenal and the entire tone of the vid matches the song, then brings something more. I can't say enough good things about it.

From:

stultiloquentia

I just rewatched this and realized I'd been parsing, "Too much grease can break down a machine," as, "Too much grace." Which, considering the subject matter, is actually quite a fascinating reading! (Howdy!)

From:

variance

Ok, so I'm coming way late to the party here, but WOW, this vid is amazing! Wonderful job!

Great music choice, and I really feel you've nailed the avenging angels aspect of the show perfectly!

From:

aithine

I misheard the same line others have commented on (grace for grease) exactly the same way the first time I watched this vid, too. *vbg*

The clips you chose and how you handled the editing make the whole thing work scarily beautifully--excellent job!

From: (Anonymous)

Great vid and excellent song choice. :)

~Dlasta

From:

be_themoon

I could have sworn I'd replied to this at some point. D:

I've loved this vid for a while now. It's really, really well done - the cutting is awesome, the story is chill-inspiring and thoughtful, the imagery is gorgeous. The whole thing is wonderful (and I've watched it a truly ridiculous amount of times).

And now I'm ashamed to admit that I would never have realized I hadn't dropped a review on it if I hadn't wanted to ask for something - there's a vid I want to make (mostly for myself) using this song, and you cut out exactly the verse that really doesn't fit for the canon I'm vidding for. And I suck at music editing. (Seriously, so much.) I was wondering if you would be all right with uploading your edit of the song for me?