beccatoria | BSG Vidlet: Manifesto.

Here is my fourth vidlet response to

thearchive2's challenges!

Title: Manifesto
Video: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Audio: Mario Savio - December 2nd 1964
Spoilers: 4x01 - 4x10
Summary: Natalie and Tyrol and Starbuck have a manifesto.
Editor's Notes: As you'll see when you watch it, this one was far more time-consuming and crazy a project than its thirty-second length suggests. My thanks to

cyborganize for even more insane beta-work than usual: without her this wouldn't have worked. This is in response to the fourth

thearchive2 challenge: manifesto.

Direct download available here. 6 megs approx. RightClickSaveAs!

Password: vidses

Watch on Vimeo

Cross-posted to

tharchive2,

vidding and

galactica_vids

Other vids available here.

Current Mood: thirsty

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

heyiya.livejournal.com

Oh. My. GOD(S).

I think I just watched that... eight times? Once to see what it was, once for each manifesto, and then every other time for picking up on the interactions and mirrorings between them (Hi Laura!). I feel like I'm too intellectually exhausted by acawork to leave the feedback you deserve for all your utterly amazing vids recently, but this... I am stirred, and moved, and motivated, and many good things.

Love and adoration, even more than usual. And did you make this in WMM?

From:

beccatoria.livejournal.com

Wow, thank you! And that was awesome feedback! I'm really glad you enjoyed it.

I only made this partially in WMM because, alas, my plan to run the vidlets concurrently isn't something WMM can do. So I made the original vidlets in WMM, then I made the one with all three overlayed in Pinnacle (I could have done that in WMM with a custom installed effect

kiki_miserychic gave me, but it would have been hella fiddly). Then I also used the Pinnacle Picture-in-Picture effect on a blank background to build up the four vids, adding one each time I rendered.

I'm still cranky and don't like actually editing in Pinnacle, but I'm glad I could use it to get the effects I wanted in this case because, yeah. It's fun, right?

The idea to use all of the vidlets overlayed as a fourth vidlet was

cyborganize's because I couldn't come up with a fourth character that would fit and three vids in a row (my original idea) just wasn't...right? Also a lot of the links between the different vidlets work as well as they do thanks to her bullying me into swapping clips and stuff. She's always a great beta but this vid owes her a lot.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback - I'm really glad you enjoyed it!

From:

heyiya.livejournal.com

I have to confess if you had got me in for beta I would have argued against the layer window! Only because I didn't notice the first time through and then was a bit disappointed when I did. At first when I saw the same images I thought you were using them to go to someone else's POV, like Tigh or Tory. But it *does* work -- and the overall effect is utterly fabulous. <3

From:

beccatoria.livejournal.com

I can see your point. To be honest, in general I'm against layering because I find it confusing, and so I only like it if there's a really strong reason to use it. But in this instance I decided I liked it. I'm kind of attached to the way different images sort of...surface out of the murk at different times.

I actually made a really accidentally gorgeous overlayered version of Natalie's final vidlet and an early draft of the Chief's: I was so shocked at how pretty it was I kept it.

I did consider doing Tigh or Tory very briefly. The reason I didn't is that 1) I liked the symmetry of one human, one cylon, one final five cylon, and 2) I felt that Tory's storyline crossed too much with the Chief's (though you're right that could have been awesome) and that neither hers nor Tigh's really...pinged for me as this rageful manifesto of refusal to conform to expectations/society. Of the three, Tyrol's is probably the least ragefully noncomformist, but at the same time, his amazing screaming fit with his gun was what put me onto this along with the fact that it was Chief, in the S2 finale, who quasi-quoted Savio to start with. So he needed to be in there just for that.

/long-rambly-commentary!

From:

daybreak777.livejournal.com

Goodness, I have to watch this about fifty-billion more times. I like just watching each screen, then the overlaps, then watch it diagonally . . . it's hypnotic.

It hit for me on the word 'apparatus' just a ping, OMG, the machines! Never say die my BSG characters, even when they do die! Love Chief with the gun. Hybrid with the blood. Natalie!

This was one intense vidlet. And you are like tech queen. The things you do with WMM. Even though you used Pinnacle too, still. Okay, I have to stop commenting and watch it again. :-)

From:

beccatoria.livejournal.com

I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

And omg, yes, "apparatus" is just such a perfect word for this whole show, right?

Thanks for your compliments on my technical skill - to be honest, my WMM 1337 skillz weren't really in force for this because all I did was make three vidlets with entirely standard transitions and clips and nearly no effects - Pinnacle did all the techy stuff. The Book of Kara is probably my most technically accomplished WMM work. Perhaps Tricks too with all the time stops when I could only double or halve the speed. Not sure.

Anyway, thanks for the feedback!

From:

daybreak777.livejournal.com

Well, okay! Mostly I don't understand some of what you just said (thus, proving my point, ahem), but okay! If those vidlets were all standard, then I don't know what the heck, I'm making!

It's the idea too, though. The rebels, the uncompromising, the speech and how it rises to a crescendo. You put that all together!

Now I gotta go watch this and Book of Kara. Again. :-)

From:

nicole-anell.livejournal.com

WHOA, that is something else. I watched it the first time with my eyes darting around wildly, and all I could pick up on was Laura in multiple boxes on "the ones who own it" (awesome). And then of course I had the smart idea to watch each piece individually, and it came into focus.

I think I like Natalie's the most, but there's also something hypnotic about that lower right corner where they all blend together with surprising clarity. (And it adds so much when you look at them simultaneously, because there are certain moments -- e.g. the Centurions shooting the Cylons, Tyrol walking away from Tory in the airlock -- where that one image takes over visually and creates a criss-cross effect or splitscreen. If that makes sense.)

Really creative work.

From:

beccatoria.livejournal.com

I'm glad you like it! I'll be honest, I was (am) worried about the crazy impression it'll give the first time around, but I figured it was short enough people would sit through it and then rewatch if they wanted to see the individual vidlets? Either way, really glad to get confirmation that it worked for you!

Natalie's was actually the first vidlet I made and the one I had to fiddle with least to get it "right". I think she's the one whose story fits the speech best, so it's nice to hear that my instincts are reflected in your reaction.

And yes - I understand what you mean about the "criss-cross" effect! :)

Thank you again for the feedback!

From:

kiki-miserychic.livejournal.com

The through line of each character is amazing both narratively and visually. These three characters are so alike in their differences. A human, a cylon, and a final five that are connected through their refusal to conform, which is culminated in the final box. I love the layering in the final box because it creates a visual dance within the vid. Certain clips stand out against the others, which creates a whole new level. I'm a layer whore, so I completely adore it because it's an amazing example of the things layering can achieve. The editing choices are crisp within all the boxes, while still never going to hard and overtaking the vid.

From:

beccatoria.livejournal.com

Thank you!

I'm especially glad the layers work for you since I know you use them a lot so I trust your opinion. It's something new for me and something I didn't imagine myself wanting to use, but like you, I find myself fascinated by the way certain images rise up and dominate the layered box at different times.

I'm really pleased that it works as a triptych of characters and that the narrative arcs work well. As I mentioned above, I really owe

cyborganize a lot for pushing me to match up as much of the visuals between the characters as possible and not just leave them as more independent stories that were only narratively and thematically similar.

Thank you!