BSG Vid: Sammy: 2,029 Years

[beccatoria]

Yay! Finally I can post this! It was made for the extremely fun twelvecolonies vid challenge. Also, I won! Eeeee!

Title: Sammy: 2,029 Years
Video: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Audio: Slow Show // The National
Summary: Sam dreamed about you for 29 years before he saw you.
Editor's Notes: Made for the twelvecolonies vidding challenge. Thanks you guys. :)

Direct download available here. RightClickSaveAs. 24 megs approx.

Password: vidses

Watch on Vimeo

Cross-posted to galactica_vids and vidding

Other vids available here.

Comments

[meiou-set.livejournal.com]

So haunting! I love your inclusion of the piano scenes. The editing was superb.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D

I'm really glad you enjoyed the piano scenes. I wanted an excuse to use them in a vid and this seemed appropriate given the mythological connection between Kara and Sam.

[colls]

I commented over at twelvecolonies but wanted to comment here, too. Fabulous job and congratulations!! :)

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm so glad you liked it and thanks for coming all the way over to my LJ to comments. :)

[emmiere.livejournal.com]

EEE! I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE THIS POSTED!

'Cause, you know, I can now snag this to play on repeat instead of scrolling through entries at twelvecolonies. ;)

And because it's just gorgeous and to steal from the commenter above me, haunting, apart from hitting a bunch of my personal character and show buttons. :) I absolutely love the visual combination of Kara exploding with the mandala and the reach for the datastream that closes the Eight's eyes at 1:08. Also, how the Hybrid isn't so much "OMG, foreshadowing!" of something he's going to be, but sort of the consciousness he's already tapping into.

Congrats! Robots FTW!

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

EEEE! Thank you I'm so glad you're excited! :D

Thanks for letting me know the parts you enjoyed; I was really pleased with how the mandala overlay turned out too and was hoping someone would notice the datastream/dead eight juxtaposition.

Also, how the Hybrid isn't so much "OMG, foreshadowing!" of something he's going to be, but sort of the consciousness he's already tapping into.

<3 you. Because yes. I mean, it's not like I hate hybrid Anders with the fire of a thousand suns, unlike large tracts of later 4.5, but...it just...I never felt it was as satisfying as No Exit promised it should be? And you put it perfectly; he was already like that. The cool part of it was the hybrid consciousness, the idea that he was tapping into something so epic and far-reaching and mythic. That's what I love and what I want to keep?

In conclusion, thank you so much, and robots FTW!

[ivanolix.livejournal.com]

I love the pacing of this vid, the way the past and the present are melded in the flashes, giving the impression that this is at the speed of thought for Sam—that he's thinking about all of this, reflecting on his life. It fits very well with who he is. And that moment when you match the timing of the piano notes with Kara's flashback...amazing!

It's got such an epic concept, taken right from canon and portrayed wonderfully, but the music and the clips have such grit and heart to them. It always affects me to see Sam grieving for Kara, and the moment when he finds out he's a cylon and he's overwhelmed.

Lastly, I love how you make the hybridity aspect intriguing, an integral part of everything else. I'm working on a hybrid!Sam fic, and even though the concept annoyed me on the show at first, I'm coming to interesting terms with it. There's so much mythology there...

Great work!

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for such a detailed and thoughtful comment. I'm so glad that the speed-of-thought-everything-at-once thing - that's exactly what I was going for. Everything in his life leading up to this moment, and now, all the pieces - the whole 29 years - falling into place?

Like you, the hybrid concept was...not something I was originally overly enamored with. As you say, there's so much amazing mythology there, but I also mourned the loss of, well, the character in many ways. He stopped being Sam and became a hybrid, which is why I think I rooted this so strongly in No Exit, one of my favourite episodes ever, because it was all so perfect there. This amazing, epic tale and Sam stood in the middle of it, like we never thought he would be, but still a perfect fit? /pretentions. ;)

Also thank you so much for noticing the timing of the piano playing! :D That was a little tricky. Actually the section at 1:26 which I thought was going to be hellish turned out reasonably easy, it was the section at 1:34 that was tricksy - I had to slow that way down and fiddle with the timing to get it to synch. ;)

Thanks again. :)

[rose-griffes.livejournal.com]

Guh, this is preeeeeeeetty.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D

[daybreak777.livejournal.com]

You made a non-shippy Sam vid! Yay! You had been wanting to make one for ages! Aww, Sammy. Poor guy. I liked this. I think my favorite part was when he thought about Ellen. I'm really a bit fascinated with the Final Four's experiences in the time before. It also made me sad for Sam, it's like his whole life flashed before my eyes in this vid, and in a way I was excited for him too. He finally found his thing. I love that 'wonder of physics' quote.

Nice! What was the challenge? And yay, for winning!

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

I did! I mean, it's actually kinda shippy with all the mythology, but, um, *hides* :p

It's not even the Sam vid I wanted to make, so I may make that one too some day.

I really like the Ellen clip too, but it's almost in there by accident, to be truthful. While I constructed the later montages from scratch, the earlier ones are made using bits and pieces from Sam's flashbacks at the start of No Exit and Ellen's in one of those, but, I agree, the effect of her there is quite arresting and I'm glad I ended up using it. Reminds me of Sam's talking about the beach and how Ellen loved the water.

Plus yes, <3 the physics quote. I may be somewhat obsessed with it. ;)

The challenge was just a general BSG vidding challenge; totally open-ended as long as it was for BSG.

[sabaceanbabe.livejournal.com]

I LOVE IT! Oh, Sammy. You make it so clear that he's so much older and more entwined with everything and with Kara's destiny and his own destiny than anyone had ever thought and it's heartbreaking and haunting and just plain beautiful. Of course you won. :)

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Awww, thank you so much. <3 your comment and I'm so glad I managed to make it expansive and about everything in his ancient history in a short amount of time.

[bionic.livejournal.com]

Ohhh that was beautiful and haunting. I got chills! Wonderful video.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. I'm really glad you enjoyed it!

[boom-queen.livejournal.com]

This is so lovely! So many great visual parallels (I particularly loved Sam with his post-apocalyptic guitar vs Kara with the arrow of apollo) and gorgeous incorporation of the piano scenes. Awesome job :D

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

\o/ Thank you! And special squee for noticing the arrow/guitar parallel - I was worried it wouldn't come across clearly. I've been waiting for an excuse to use those piano scenes for a long time, but I didn't want to...overuse them in a cliche way? But this song and topic really felt like it really needed it so I'm glad to see people like it. :)

Also your icon? AHAHAHAHAA! Brilliant!

[pellucid.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I love that! Great song choice (I love that song anyway, but it seems particularly appropriate in this case), and I love the overlap between Kara and revelation/his true Cylon nature/etc. as the thing dreamed about (once more, one of those things that the show should have followed through on in a much better way than it did).

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm so glad you like it! The song really called out for a vid like this. It was a strange situation in that I had to come up with an idea for the challenge pretty quickly so I was just listening to some of my favourite tracks and seeing what I thought of, and this was the strongest idea by far, so...I'm glad it holds up still.

One of the things that really sole me on Sam as a character was the way the revelation of his cylon nature affected the character and his position in the show's mythology, etc., and also how smoothly it tied into and retrospectively gave this whole other level to his love for Kara. It became this one coherent storyline and that was kind of awesome, so I'm glad I managed to capture it even if, as you say, ultimately we ended up disappointed. :(

[sasha-feather.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is beautiful and heartbreaking.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you - I'm so glad you enjoyed it and thanks for letting me know. :)

[frolicndetour.livejournal.com]

Guh. I love this so much, and I guessed it was yours! Like boom_queen, the connection between Sam and the guitar and Kara and the Arrow really jumped out at me (mythological connections = bullet-proof kink), but all of the images are beautiful. Superb.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know! I'm so glad you like it.

And yeah, I did kind of feel, on submitting it, that my identity would be UTTERLY TRANSPARENT to anyone who knew me like AT ALL, but eh, I'd rather vid stuff I love even if it's kind of predictable than, I dunno, turn in a schmoopy A/R vid to trick people (and destroy my own braaaaaaain!)

As I said above, I'm so glad people are picking up on the Arrow of Apollo/Nuked Guitar parallel - I was worried it wasn't clear; it's so gratifying to know people like it. (Mythological connections = bullet-proof kink FTW dude!)

Thanks again for taking the time to comment.

[chaila.livejournal.com]

Aww Sam. I really like the hybrid-y feel of this, all these disparate things coming together to make sense. And all the things he dreams of: Kara, the Final Five, Earth(s). I particularly love all the mirroring here, as others have said, the Arrow of Apollo and Sam's magical radioactive guitar, but especially him reaching towards the datastream then closing the Eight's eyes. And speeded up piano FTW!

i missed you for, for 29 years

[kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com]

I adore this vid. I want to take it home with me and cuddle with it on the couch. It's so incredibly sad and beautiful. Sam's smiling face and excitement becomes so depressing, especially the shot of him and Tyrol. The editing and framing are amazing too. I love how things are framed, like at :51. Wow. I've seen these clips in countless other vids, but they seem fresh in this vid. Maybe it's because I abandoned BSG and I'm just now starting to not hate it, but I think it's because of how you weaved them together with such skill and love of Sam.

The piano playing is so frakking cool and well done.