BSG Vid: Dolled-up in Straps (Baltar/HeadSix)

[beccatoria]

I'm not entirely sure whether this one counts as a 'shipper vid... o_O

Title: Dolled-up in Straps
Video: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Audio: All dolled-up in straps // The National
Summary: Gaius Baltar is a love letter to no one. (Baltar/HeadSix, Sixes)
Editor's Notes: As usual, my thanks to my beta cyborganize.

Direct download available here. RightClickSaveAs. 50 megs approx.

Password: vidses

Watch on Vimeo

Cross-posted to galactica_vids and vidding

Other vids available here

(In case you were wondering, yes, this does mark the beginning of my vidding obsession with The National; expect another vid and a vidlet hopefully before 4.5 starts. You know; it'll be nice to have my life back, BSG. :/ Maybe one day I'll even learn to vid things that aren't you...)

Comments

[cyborganize.livejournal.com]

congratulations on posting!!! I love it and am very interested to see what others think.

p.s. your link is broken.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

DAMN you're fast!

And yes, I just noticed and fixed the link (I assume you meant the link at the bottom to the vid site rather than the link to the actual vid which I think/hope is working fine...).

I'm so glad you like it! XD

[daybreak777.livejournal.com]

Yay! Head!Six. I missed her. And I like the line, "All Dolled Up in Straps" for a vid with her in it. She is that and much more than that. But she is that too. :-)

The vid was mostly about her for me. And just me watching the evolution of her and Baltar's relationship. It's still hard for me to believe that was Caprica in the mini and in some ways it wasn't. I liked Head!Six. Whatever she was, she made Baltar answer the hard questions, and I wish the other Cylons were more like her. Heh. Maybe Cavil is.

I love the glowy thing you are doing on fades! Is that a WMM add-on? I'm so curious about it! Hee, I haven't vidded in months. But that doesn't mean I don't have vid embryos. They are frozen at the moment, but soon!

I'm sure others will say more elaborate things, other than just "Yay! Head!Six." But I really do miss her. And, I like that you put Raven-haired!Six in there too. Baltar and death and these Sixes. Not really articulate about it at the moment, but there is something there.

Thanks for sharing it!

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Yes, the glowy thing is a WMM add-on, not any clever shenanigans on my part. ;)

It's WMM Vista only, but if you run Vista, you can get it (and many others) here:

http://movies.blainesville.com/search/label/custom

I miss Head!Six too! Or rather, I miss her before Caprica came along (not that I regret that; I like Caprica more). I miss her when she was a person. After that she was less 'real' somehow because we, and the writers, and Baltar knew, whoever she was, she wasn't the woman he was with on Caprica.

It's interesting that you say this vid is all about her for you. For me, it's definitely a Baltar vid, but I kind of felt like the only way I could really get at Baltar was through HeadSix, so yes; this vid hinges on her. I suppose the vid is all about how Baltar is all about her.

I think what fascinates me about Caprica and HeadSix is the ways in which I can see their common origin. HeadSix took Six's anger, her absolute certainty and conviction and then magnified it through Baltar's subconscious. Caprica lost those things because of her experiences after her first death. It's amazing how different that makes them.

Anyway, thank you so much for your feedback! I'm really glad you enjoyed it and hooray for Raven!Haired Six!

[thelibraniniquity]

Really enjoyed this. Snappy editing, loved some of the cuts and fades, and the contrasts between HeadSix and all of the other Sixes Baltar has... touched was very well done. Thanks for sharing :)

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm really glad you liked it. It's also gratifying to know that the editing worked; I was trying for something a little...deliberately messy (though obviously not so far as to be poorly timed) and my major concern for this vid was that it'd come out looking just plain old messy!

So thank you again for taking the time to let me know it worked for you!

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

Wonderful, as all of your BSG vids are. A really inspired choice of song. Keep up the good work. :)

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! :D

[emmiere.livejournal.com]

This vid is absolutely gorgeous to watch. Beautiful editing, I loved the effects you used in the fades and just the flow of it.

Gina at "all colored in" is a little heartbreaking. They sort of all are.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's so good to hear when a vid worked for other people; thank you for taking the time to say so.

The two images that stuck in my head immediately when I was storyboarding this song were the "I thought I heard you singing," clip and the image of Gina on "all coloured in". To the point I almost tried to start with her rather than be chronological because I was worried that Shelley first might steal away the power of the lyric. But...I think I'm glad I stuck with it this way.

[nicole-anell.livejournal.com]

THIS.

YOU.

now, love, where have you been?

[nicole-anell.livejournal.com]

Okay, lol, I have more.

Brilliant editing and clip choice. This is an amazing companion to 'Ghosts' in a way -- Baltar doesn't have the problem Caprica does of being overlooked and invisible a lot, but at the same time... this vid sort of made me feel like he does? I don't see much about Baltar/HeadSix from a serious angle.

And I love that it WAS all about HeadSix, angel and abuser and crutch for his guilt. The contrast of Gina and the other Sixes was especially awesome.

"I think I heard you singing" - that clip just rocked my socks off, and the cut from that to the Gina force-kissing clip right after.

I love the effects and what you did from 2:25 to 2:52. Actually, as a supporter of all fucked-up things between Gaius and HeadSix, that scene in the cell is like their Quintessential Moment for me so I loved how you used it.

Eeeeeee this just made me so happy. I mean, in a weird, sad, crazy way. I don't need anything else for Christmas now. :p

[chaila.livejournal.com]

Oh this is very interesting! This one may need multiple viewings but on the first one, I totally agree with nicole_anell that this reads as an awesome companion to "Ghosts," but whereas that vid made me sad for the fact that no one really sees Caprica, this one makes me angry at Baltar for his inability to really see anyone else, including Caprica and Gina, but especially himself. The only person he can acknowledge the truth or his own guilt to, even in a roundabout way, (the one who knows he's not really going to hang himself even while acknowledging that maybe he should. . . ) the only person he can really love is this person who doesn't even exist. And yeah, I suppose if she's supposed to be some part of his subconscious or whatever, maybe there's an argument that deep down he really does grasp the enormity of all the things he's done, but if you have to project it all onto an entirely separate imaginary person, your supposed self-awareness totally doesn't count. I like how this is all about Head!Six to others, but to me Head!Six is all about Baltar and his neediness, his selfishness, his weakness, his inability to face truth head on and his need for an enabler and a smokescreen for himself. So. . . yeah. Even though I know anger at Baltar and his weakness is a fruitless endeavor. Still. Great vid though! It just makes me want to punch Baltar. Hard.

In case you were wondering, yes, this does mark the beginning of my vidding obsession with The National

WHEE! I cannot even tell you how highly I approve of this and how much I can't wait to see the rest! :D

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

YES! That's EXACTLY how I feel! This is the vid I made because I wanted to punch him. I kind of go into this a bit in my reply to nicole_anell above, but it's fascinating to me the different responses people are having and how so many of them think of it as more about Six when I always, always thought of it as a Baltar vid about how he was completely unable to cope with reality as expressed by HeadSix's existence and his preference for her over anything real.

I mean, I don't mind the different responses. I like them. It's awesome. It's just that your reaction is perhaps closest to mine.

I completely and totally agree with your point about Baltar's guilt not counting because dude, he invented a WHOLE NOTHER PERSON to project it onto. And even if she really is something more than a manifestation of his subconscious, she's still not "just a cylon"; she's something that was put there capable of manipulating him in the exact way he responds to being manipulated so all those points about how frakked that makes him are still accurate.

I mean, on the flip side, HeadSix is awesome. And on the flip side I think one of the most brilliant character ideas they ever had for Baltar was (at least up until 4.0) to keep him sympathetic via his comedy relief and just utter out-of-his-depthness. But...he's a human horror show.

I think a lot of my beta-vented angst (many emails were exchanged with me worrying the vid was unclear) was because I am so...messy re: my feelings about him, which is probably why I approached him through Six.

I think that what really happened is that The Hub destroyed my sympathy for Baltar to the point that he wounded me. Like I didn't just want to walk away from the character I was hurt by him, like Laura was hurt by him. So to me, this is an epic, angsty love-story with creepy, creepy, punch-worthy undertones. But that's specific to my reaction to Baltar. And for people who haven't reached that point with him, I imagine that the terror, the naivety, the fear of Baltar still shine through. Because...that's the thing; those are part of Baltar too. He's not tidy.

And now I'm babbling and haven't even said, THANK YOU for the great feedback and for saying what I wanted to say in the vid so much more articulately than I managed. ;)

HOORAY FOR THE NATIONAL! (It's all totally your fault for introducing me to them, btw...)

[nightxade.livejournal.com]

I am so happy to finally have a good computer so that I can watch all of the awesome.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Yay! I hope you enjoy it!

[sabaceanbabe.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty much stuck at *guh* here. OMG. OMFG.

*guh*

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

XD

Thank you! I'll definitely take GUH! ;)

[callmeonetrack.livejournal.com]

Really nice Becka. Such wonderful editing and the fades are amazing in this. I wish I was a little more into Baltar/Caprica so I could go deeper but I'm really not (although I am liking him again in S4), so I'll just say this was lovely and well done.

I have to say too that the show has given so many truly beautiful shots of this duo, it must be really nice to have such pleasing aesthetic shots to work with. (Love my Kara, but the scenes she's in aren't quite as artistic.)

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm really glad you like it. And don't worry; I know how it is when watching things that you aren't really "into". It's a different sort of appreciation, and thanks again for taking the time to leave me feedback.

And yes, you're right. There are some truly beautiful shots of Gaius and HeadSix in this show and it was fun to work with them.

[0mindthegap0.livejournal.com]

I really loved this. Especially the disclaimer about whether or not you could even call it a shipper vid. : D BSG's never really made me want to ship any of the characters, but it is so much fun to watch the incredibly fucked up relationships like Six/Balter or, say, Leoben and Kara.

Your vid really shows how much Head!Six has been able to shape Gaius for her own purposes. Through him she has an astounding amount of influence in the fleet for someone who isn't even, you know, corporeal. And you just might feel sympathy for Baltar, but he's just so weak and perverse enough to perceive this as love that it's just kind of pathetic and sad.

And yet it's all still so horribly, perversely, romantic. : D

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Yay! It's always so nice to hear that people enjoyed a vid. Thanks for taking the time to let me know.

I agree with you about BSG not being a shippy show for me. There have been a few characters I've 'shipped I suppose, but those have never been canon ships and they certainly weren't a reason that I would watch, they were just another series of interesting intercharacter relationships that were interesting, like the characters themselves or the plot. Usually I'm a die-hard romantic, so I'm certainly the first to be surprised at expressing sentiments that sound snobbish about shipping (nor do I think it's an invalid reason to enjoy the show), but for me the show just feels...bigger than that somehow?

Also: HEE! I'd totally never thought about how much proxy influence she had even though she doesn't exist! I should have thought of it in those terms, but hadn't. How marvelous! XD

I'm also glad that you kind of get my ambivalence about Baltar. Like you say, his situation is both sympathetic and pathetic. I'm sad for him and disgusted at the same time. :/

[txlsplash.livejournal.com]

This is amazing! The song is beautiful and fits with Baltar/Six in a way I haven't seen before. I love it!

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And thank you for taking the time to let me know. I'm really pleased you connected with it and that it showed you something new; that's a very high compliment. Thank you!

[frolicndetour.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, this is amazing. You made me feel such sympathy for Baltar - which, now that I've read through some of the comments, maybe wasn't quite what you were going for, which is funny because I'm not much of a Baltar-fan. But I thought this really got at the ways in which he's controlled by his own illusions - self-created though they may be. I can't really single out a favorite part, because it's all so perfectly chilling - oh wait, the very end with the slow clap as he bleeds out would have to be it. :D Brilliant work!

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's been fascainting watching the different responses to this. Certainly a lot of this vid was due to my anger at Baltar in S4.5 but at the same time, there is sympathy for him. That's the irritating genius of the show/character. They made their villain into a guy in a really pathetic and sympathy-inducing situation, played against the fact that...how much sympathy can we have if it's his fault he's in that situation?

And now I'm rambling which is to say, thank you for your feedback. I'm not sure what I make of Baltar these days either which is probably why the vid brings out such mixed responses. ;)

[dualbunny.livejournal.com]

Really really really enjoyed this! :D Everything moved so fluidly through his history with the Sixes, as well as purely on a visual level. I really adored the look of the transitions you used, and they created so many new visual combinations.

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Great to hear it worked on a visual as well as a thematic level - I really wanted some of the sections in the vid to look beautiful, like...deceptively smooth and pretty kind of like Six herself, so I'm glad you enjoyed it on that level.

Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback; I really appreciate it!

[lexlemon.livejournal.com]

Great song choice! You've really fit the clips well to the feel of the music. And great timing! Excellent job =)

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad that the song choice and clips worked for you! I really appreciate your taking the time to leave feedback. :)

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

I found this amazing and brilliant and very intense!

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! :D

[ywii.livejournal.com]

Totally loving it!

[snoopypez.livejournal.com]

hi! I figured since I am about to rec this vid, I should maybe leave a comment saying how much I loved it.

I loved it. ;D

Seriously, the SONG. I've never heard the song before, and by the time it got to the "oh poor sky, don't cry on me" bit, I was head over heels. It's gorgeous and haunting and just.. sets the tone of the vid SO PERFECTLY.

I read the other comments, and your own thoughts on making it and all, and I just wanted it to be out there that I, an unapologetic Gaius-lover (he's my fave), do not wish to punch him. which, you know, really I SHOULD, because.. oh, Gaius. but I love him in all of his (and his/Sixes') fucked up beyond repair glory, and this video, FOR ME, is viewed as a sort of love story for said fucked-up-iness. I get that that wasn't exactly the intention, though. hee.

um, so yes. I love it. <3

[sunshine-queen.livejournal.com]

sabaceanbabe just recommended this to me and oh, it is amazing! Excellent work. (Like always, your vids are fantastic.)