Among all of Michel Gondry's work, Protection stands out as his most natural-feeling creation. Its flow is smooth; its story simple. Yet as a one-take, 6.5-minute video, its production was decidedly complex. "I was trying to push further the concept of the one shot video," Gondry says in RES.
The video is a study of an apartment building and its tenants. It begins (and ends) in the rainy, evening streets of a city. The camera enters the building and follows a man and his daughter in an elevator. From there, the camera 'breaks' through the wall, and into a hallway that's created by a slanted mirror. Here one notices two things: the man and his daughter walking down the hallway, implying a shift in time, and Tracy Thorn (of Everything But the Girl) approaching her door.
Casually the camera flies out of the window, exposing the video's terra firma: the apartment building. Massive Attack's beat and atmospherics shimmer as the camera tracks about the building, examining the lives in each window. One of the first residents we happen upon is Thorn, singing amidst the night: "This girl I know needs some shelter / she don't believe anyone can help her." Passing over, around, and through the windows, each apartment reveals as much information about the character as their own actions. Most characters are honest. Others mysteriously defy the laws of nature, thanks to the construction of the set.
Upon first glance, the building appears quite tall and quite real. But a few of Gondry's tricks betray the fact that the structure, instead of being six stories tall, is actually six stories flat. To accomplish the video, the set was constructed on the floor of an expansive soundstage. Tracy Thorn isn't standing, she's lying on her back. A few mirrors and a few screen projections were used to produce long hallways and bustling outdoor traffic. Much less noticeable are the removable parts of the building, which allowed the camera to travel between rooms 'inside' the building. (With close inspection, you can see the steps move at the very end of the video.)
Protection is one of the most relaxing, sedate videos ever made. Yet Gondry's imagination leaves the senses heightened, even at the end as the car drives along a (rear-projected) boulevard.
Protection was referenced in Marc Klasfeld's one-take video for Jay-Z's Girls, Girls, Girls, which you can watch here.
