In space, no one can hear you preen

[gwyn]

I just posted a new Battlestar Galactica vid, this one for a character I don't even like because of all the terrible suffering he's responsible for: Gaius Baltar. It's kind of freeing in a way to vid someone you despise, because to tell a story, you have to learn to love the characters you're telling about; you see different things in them than just fannish objects of affection. And it forced me to see all these things about Baltar I'd never really seen before.

Digging in the Dirt
Artist: Peter Gabriel
File: Divx avi, 37MB (I recommend VLC media player, which you can find a link for at the site)
Dr. Gaius Baltar, scientist, narcissist, wackjob: It really is all about him.

Thanks for feochadn for the halftime beta; I hope the rest of it lives up to your standards.

Comments

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

I need to sit down and write proper commentary but I love it and you really nail Baltar. The (sees himself as) little boy scientist who keeps “digging the dirt” because it’s what he does, what he's rewarded for doing and he can’t resist knowing. The little boy who can never quite accept that things are for real and that he’s responsible, not the voices in his head. The good/bad mother duo of Roslin/Six. More people should vid people they hate if this is the result.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I really did enjoy this, which I never expected to -- I might just start vidding people I hate all the time!

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Oh, this was really fascinating. Despite so much that has changed, Balter's egotism has remained. I like what you did to capture the uncertain state of his mind. Definitely a vid that I will need to watch some more to determine all the details of what I think about it.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and let me know. I love hearing anything from anyone, but it's always especially lovely to hear from people whose own work I really admire.

[sol-se.livejournal.com]

Wow, that was just brilliant. I loved it! I'll have to try to write some more detailed feedback later, but I thought it was just wonderful. I loved how subtle the editing was. For example, I loved how disjointed it felt, with an image flashing softly over another for a split second. I thought it really reflected his psyche/conscience, but it wasn't heavy-handed. I don't know how much sense that just made, but basically I really, really loved it. yay, Baltar

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Coolness! It was a lot of fun to figure out ways to try to get that sense of disjointedness that I assume he must have going on inside that weird brain of his. I'm not good with effects and they don't come naturally to me in a lot of ways, but I found this one more fun than anything I've tried before.

[jo-lasalle.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this! To say I'm not a Baltar person would be an understatement, but this is such an intriguing look at him. I love it visually; that shaky layers thing (sorry!) works really well for the song. And Baltar as the pawn on the way to the presidency -- that section is my favourite part. Thanks for posting this!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it in spite of the Baltar thing -- believe me, no one could have been more surprised than me at wanting to do it. I kept hearing snippets of the song, a longtime fave, on these ads on FX, and I thought, that would make a great Baltar vid... and then I just couldn't get it out of my head no matter how much I didn't like him. I feel like I learned a lot about how he views the world, though.

Open up the places I got hurt

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Very cool effect with the back and forth and the overlays. At first I thought it was an odd music choice, but as I watched I realized how great and perfect it really is. The structure and narrative is well designed. The pacing is wonderful and works with the clips and editing to make something special that’s more than just about Gaius, even though it is all about him.

Re: Open up the places I got hurt

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thank you for such lovely comments! (Don't you think Dexter would totally see through Baltar, and kick his ass?)

Re: Open up the places I got hurt

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

Dexter would probably tape him to a table and slice him up a bit. :) Then Baltar would try to come on to him to get out of it, but Dexter would have no idea what was going on.

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

I think you did a great job of capturing the visual feel of the Bones titles, and the song choice seems to have had a great reception. Congrats hon!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I think in the end it ended up being more like "inspired by the Bones titles" rather than being like them -- I found I couldn't do half the things I wanted to without being able to keyframe filters, and the idea of copying all those clips to fake it just... bleh. So I just stuck with the superimpositions and a couple of places where the superimpositions of closeups transitioned to the next full clip... Someday maybe i'll be able to use more of those effects they do.

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

Oh man. You can kick my arse all the way to next Sunday, as was promised. I completely lost track of time and now there's a new vid on top of all the ones I'm yet to send feedback on. I don't think I'm ever going to get around to them unless I start now and work backwards, so this one first. :)

I loved the "fractured consciousness" style of this, the ghosting and the rapid flashes, the great subtle editing in general. It's an amazing study into the essence of the character, a mixture of regret and, more importantly, his cowardliness and failure to take responsibility for anything. The song choice is just inspired. Wonderful work.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow, thank you -- that really means a lot to me, coming from you. The stuff you do with editing and effects is superb, and so it's a very high compliment that you think the editing techniques worked. It's something I still strugge with all the time, and battle with my old VCR-editing brain.

[alchemise]

Wow, this was a really fascinating and complex look at Baltar, and his relationships with the various incarnations of Six. I've enjoyed watching Baltar on the show, but more for his interactions with Six than for the character himself. But your vid really brought everything together in a way that I think gives me a better handle on who he really is. If that made any sense. *g*

And fantastic song choice too.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thank you, thank you... I'm so glad that others are enjoying it. I ended up being happier with this than I think I've been with any other vid in a very very long time, and it means a lot to me to know that other people are getting something out of it - especially in that I think I saw things in the character I had never seen before, and it's so cool to think that others are seeing the same things.

[voleuse.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is awesome. Very complex, and the song is nicely matched. Thanks for sharing this!

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you! And such an appropriate icon -- I need to get more BSG ones than just poor Chief if I'm going to keep vidding in this fandom!

[soundingsea.livejournal.com]

I like the superimposition of one scene upon another; the transitions are very effective.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!

[sdwolfpup.livejournal.com]

Wow, I thought I had commented on this when it first came out but apparently I didn't. I'm sorry! I'm glad I came back and checked.

Anyway, I really liked this vid! The song is fantastic for Gaius, and I love how off-putting the quick flashes and echoing effects are, which are perfect for the crazy scientist. And the "I told you"s are great, really intense and gripping. And I love Six throwing him around on "don't talk back" (and the chilling realization of "just drive the car")! Hah. Good job, Six. What's also interesting is how when Gabriel's voice gets softer, you change to Gaius' POV, but it works really well. I didn't get confused.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Well, here I am replying like a month later! Thank you so much -- I never would hve thought in a million yearsI'd want to do a vid for Gaius, but I couldn't seem to stop myself. I just loved that the song encompassed all the facets of his life, from inside and out.

[dualbunny.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this. There's a great contrast between watching Gaius himself through a microscope and the intimate sense of what's going on inside his head. Makes for wonderful tension in the vid, and those flashes of different scenes accent that edgy feeling very nicely. :}

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I think your icon says a lot about what was presented in the vid -- what he thinks of himself, what others think of him, and how the divergence would pretty much make anyone nuts. It was a really interesting concept to look at it, to work on.

[kat-lair.livejournal.com]

Oh Baltar. The crazier he gets, the sexier he looks. Loved the vid, captured nicely the slow fracturing of his mind and the kind of slow, inevitable descend into darkness. One of my favourite things about the character is how he never really believes he's past the point of no return, how he still thinks he can redeem himself. And this is something I get very clearly from this vid. Stunning work.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! That is a great point about him not believing he's too far gone for redemption -- I admit that before the vid, I might not have seen that, but I totally do now. Spending that much time with him, I started to really see so many different things in his character.

[nicole-anell.livejournal.com]

FYI, as someone always fascinated by Baltar, I love this vid. I recced you on bsgvidrecs here (http://community.livejournal.com/bsgvidrecs/29964.html). I think it's an excellent vid for him, maybe because you approached it from a place of not really liking the guy? XD

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad. It really is weirdly freeing to vid someone you don't like -- you end up going into it without any preconceptions about showing how cool/hot/great they are, and in the end, it shows you how interesting they are and all these things you never thought you'd see.