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!

[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 :)

[emily-shore.livejournal.com]

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

[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.

[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, 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!

[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!

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! :D

[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.

Re: now, love, where have you been?

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

OMG I'M SO RELIEVED YOU LIKE IT. YOU ARE LIKE THE QUEEN OF BALTAR/HEADSIX. (Which while I judge mercilessly because it can often make Gaius such a fucktard and so angry-makingly oblivious to Caprica; I do simultaneously love the fucked-up dynamics. Because dude. HeadSix.)

I find your comparison to Ghosts fascinating because, obviously, the parallels are there. My beta suggested I mirror the two with the tag line and I went with that because it was such a good idea.

We even briefly discussed trying to minimise HeadSix's visual involvement the way I did Gaius' in Ghosts but ultimately I'm glad I didn't go with that idea and stuck to my original inversion-plan for the vids. Which is basically that Caprica is in love with someone who can't see her, but that person is real so let's make him non-existant in the vid. Whereas Baltar's in love with someone who's not real, so let's make as much of her as possible?

I don't think it's so much that the show overlooks Baltar so much as maybe this vid does? Weirdly? I know he's in it all the time, but he's in it as HeadSix's flunkie. The way you put it, "angel and abuser and crutch for his guilt." That's just perfect. But I think the point is that Gaius did this to himself. Either he invented HeadSix or something tailored her to his exact needs, so either way that's pretty fucked up.

I mean (see forthcoming comment below to chaila43) in a lot of ways, this vid is about how much I want to punch Gaius for not being able to see what's in front of him and instead running off with some impossible and selfish fantasy. Because that's what happens when I have to look at HeadSix/Gaius from a serious angle. And somehow it lost the innocence (bizarre though that may sound) of season one.

Bah...I don't know. I'm so completely unable to articulate my exact standpoint on Baltar in this vid that it's ridiculous since I made it. (As my beta can attest there was much, "But what am I trying to SAY?!" flailing). But I think maybe that's why I wanted to make it. Cus I couldn't work out how to say it.

That you and chaila43 below have kind of divergent responses is fascinating to me. I think I'll be self-congratulatory and chalk that up as a success. :p

Also thank you for noting the parts you felt really worked well. I was really happy with the overall effect of using the Quintessential Moment too. It really is the iconic "Fuck pretending to be superior, I am your whipping boy, now save me from myself," moment which is the core dynamic of that relationship, I think?

And "I though I heard you singing," was literally one of the first clips I thought of so it's great of you to mention that!

Eeeeeee this just made me so happy. I mean, in a weird, sad, crazy way.

YAY! :D

P.S. Your icon? AWESOME.

[daybreak777.livejournal.com]

No, not Vista!!! I refuse to put Vista on my computer until I'm forced to. And I know it seems to cause bitmapping in others' vids in WMM which seems like a nightmare. Farewell, glowy thing. :-( I had such plans for the glows too.

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.
I miss Head!Six's righteous anger. Gina had a bit of it but only wanted to use it to kill or to die. And Natalie was so very righteous but her anger was . . . tempered. She had that certainty,though. Head!Six was about unapologetic rage.

I don't know where Caprica is now in her anger or what is going on with her and Tigh.

What I see in the vid too is the Six's pain. They all have it running through them and it makes them sympathetic. Even Head!Six, sometimes Baltar hurt her so. And he doesn't seem to realize that. It's all very fascinating to watch in your vid.

You're very welcome. I'm going to have to search for something similar to the glowy thing in Windows XP. Hmm . . .

Re: now, love, where have you been?

[nicole-anell.livejournal.com]

Which is basically that Caprica is in love with someone who can't see her, but that person is real so let's make him non-existant in the vid. Whereas Baltar's in love with someone who's not real, so let's make as much of her as possible?
*nod nod* And that really really works, for each of them. Because I think it shows exactly what's inverted, and yet I think the common factor in both vids is that they come off quite isolated. Which is something I find totally tragic in Caprica because it's not her choice, it's her never having somewhere there for her. But with Gaius it's that... she's *always* there, and she's always something he made up so he doesn't have to deal with everything else.

And I do see the punch-worthiness of that, believe me. XD It's a blind, selfish, useless way to be, and I hate that he's incapable of dealing with people who DON'T live in his brain and exist to fill all his needs, especially if they look like Six. So it's not like I'm totally shocked there were mixed feelings involved in this. *g*

Yet this vid elicited sympathy from me, the way Gaius' delusional self always does for some reason. The footage of the attack repeating and the scenes in TAB on "my head plays it over and over" is the kind of thing that gets me, because I'm always thinking, where DO you go from there besides bugfuck insane? If you don't turn the guilt off, there's not enough room in the world for it.

(Oh, I forgot to say -- the last image, I had to watch it three or four times before it hit me, and I love it.)

That you and chaila43 below have kind of divergent responses is fascinating to me. I think I'll be self-congratulatory and chalk that up as a success. :p
This totally happened with the reactions to my Cally vid, I can attest to it being an interesting and cool feeling. :p FEEL FREE TO CONSIDER IT A MARK OF VIDDING SUCCESS.

It really is the iconic "Fuck pretending to be superior, I am your whipping boy, now save me from myself," moment which is the core dynamic of that relationship, I think?
Yes, very. Hee.

P.S. Your icon? AWESOME.
ASDKDFFFJDNNDDK I KNOW. *loves*

[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...)

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

I've never had a lot of trouble with Vista, but I know too many bad stories to believe that's an accurate assessment for most people. I mean, I do have trouble with it, just not more than I have with all the rest of windows...

Then again, I'm had Vista since a few months after it came out so maybe I just don't notice by now. I'm not so familiar with custom effects available for XP for that reason, but google it and I'm sure you'll find loads; I'd be surprised if you didn't find some sort of glowy thing!

Well, we've seen so little of Caprica this season *shakes fist*

But remember when she decked Tigh in the S3 finale after he decked her for bringing up Ellen? That was frakking awesome right there.

And she certainly has her righteousness. Sort of. I mean, the whole beating the shit out of Tigh in some jubilant state of religious ecstacy was hella creepy/awesome...

And he doesn't seem to realize that.

Totally. I think that's a good chunk of what I was trying to say in the vid. Gaius can't cope with reality; can't understand anything that's more than half a centimeter from himself except in terms of how it relates to himself.

The vid's about how he chooses HeadSix over the inadequate realworld Sixes, but truthfully, HeadSix is, well, him, or at least a woman manufactured solely for him which is equally icky. So the vid is about how Baltar doesn't really love or perhaps even care about anyone except himself?

Re: now, love, where have you been?

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

YES. Gaius is isolated. Like...from reality. But it's fascinating because that isolation is represented by this whole other sekrit person. Which is exactly the same thing that HeadGaius does for Caprica except, as you say, it's tragic with her because it's not what she wants and she's always trying to reach out and connect with the world and the world keeps beating the shit out of her.

I actually agree with you that the whole "my head plays it over and over" section with the attacks was sympathetic. I mean, even I find it sympathetic and I worried at the time, that I was making Baltar too sympathetic since I think it plays too easily as "look how tortured he is, he feels so bad!" rather than "look at the lengths he'll go to to deny this." But it would have felt disingenuous not to use it because it is part of his narrative. Even if he isn't aware his head is playing it over and over.

I had surprisingly consistant and startling sympathy for Baltar pretty much until season four and even then until The Hub. Because you have such a good point, that bugfuck insane is one of his only options. I think the point where I stopped being sad for him and his inability to be a decent human being and started being horrified by it was his confession to Laura in 4x09. Which is why the vid ends there. Where I wasn't mad at him for turning the guilt off, but for...not learning anything. For not even saying sorry. I don't know. I rambled about this insanely at the time and I'll run out of comment space if I don't stop now. But the point is, I think that was his most despicable moment.

And I think it emotionally affected me more than I could really articulate. The disappointment in him. I thought I knew him and the depths of his weaselling. But now he's not even weaselling. So I lost my sympathy for him, but I didn't lose my sympathy for him earlier in the story, and that's hard to process?

*dons Obi-Wan mask*

GAIUS, YOU WERE MY BROTHER CRAZY-EYED ACCIDENTAL ARCHITECT OF GENOCIDE, I LOVED YOU! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SAVE US FROM THE SITH CREEPY RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISTS, NOT JOIN THEM!

Ahem.

I'm so glad you like the last image! I'd be totally interested to know what it means to you. My goal was basically sarcastic clapping. Like, lovely Gaius. Now look where you've ended up, fucktard. But...well, with all the layers Tricia Helfer gives absolutely everything including sarcastic clapping.

Finally, OMG THE CALLYVID! I still love that. And still come down on the side of it being about - as someone else put it - Cally's tragic lack of fabulousness rather than OMGPOORCALLY even though it was tragic all the crap that happened to her. But yeah. I can see what you mean about the split reactions and it's totally amazing that you managed to vid an idea that frakking complex. It's still one of my favourite vids.

I have this idea that at the end of BSG I'll make a vid-rec list. Like, here are all the vids that summarise BSG for me. Different characters/storylines/themes. If I get around to it, Jolene will totally be on it.

[chaila.livejournal.com]

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.

Oh I totally know what you mean. I just lost sympathy for him really early (and to make this All About Laura Roslin and Her Long Inescapable Shadow, he's a perfect foil for her, because I find him rather despicable for all the places he's lacking where she's Really Fucking Awesome, which is maybe not the fairest standard--and is totally colored by my own The National vid HOORAY FOR THEM--but it's totally true). This is the sympathy I haven't had for Baltar since he ran for president. Maybe before that I did, but I can't remember. I mean on one hand, yeah they did a really fantastic job keeping him rather sympathetic (um, well, for others) because he's sad and weak and scared and in so far over his head and they do such a good job of making him PASSIVE in all the atrocities he causes/somewhat unwittingly facilitates, but in such circumstances the polite thing to do for the good of humanity is to, I don't know, go to Cloud Nine and whittle away the days with booze and women. But instead, the selfish fucktard runs for fucking president because Laura hurt his ego, and then attributes that selfish power and status seeking desire to his imaginary angel of god telling him it was god's will and fate (which basically means that if any of that turns out to be true, BSG and I are going to Have Words). Somewhere in the back of my head, I did always kind of want Baltar to step up and just say he was SORRY, for you know the nuclear attacks but also for New Caprica, so what The Hub did for me was make me realize the depth of how weak and kind of awful he actually is and that that was never, ever going to happen. And while I actually think that's kind of awesome from a characterization standpoint--of COURSE Gaius Baltar would create AN ENTIRELY NEW RELIGION to justify his own actions and existence and to avoid taking any responsibility for ANYTHING, EVER--and actually give props to BSG for letting him just wallow in his pathetic human-ness and frailty, and rather expect that's going to be important to the end of the story, I just haven't been able to let that excuse him even a little for a long time. But it's very, very much my subjective reaction to Baltar, just because everything that makes me love Laura beyond all rational thought is everything that Baltar lacks, so obviously I'm not going to find much to like in him.

It's also really, really hard for me to appreciate HeadSix, which I feel kind of guilty admitting, just because she's such a manifestation of everything I find to be actually pretty repulsive about Baltar. It's next to impossible for me to separate her from him, I suppose, which kinda sucks.

Re: now, love, where have you been?

[nicole-anell.livejournal.com]

(God, now I'm just killing your inbox. I didn't realize I replied to the wrong comment!)

Darlin', I remember your "Hub" post because you put into words *exactly* what I was feeling, except I guess I've softened back to liking him again since. (Either from the Baltar/Roslin scene in "Revelations" or the hiatus, I don't know.) I mean, everybody was giving me all this sympathy for the Baltar Almost Died Trauma that episode put me through, but really the part that upset me was "You fuckers are not allowed to kill Baltar at the ALL-TIME HEIGHT OF HIM BEING HATE-ABLE." I was upset to hate him so much. There are only two points in the entire series where I've actually been furious with Baltar: one was right before Gaeta stabbed him, and the other was that scene.

I'm so glad you like the last image! I'd be totally interested to know what it means to you.
The more times I watched it (and remembering as an afterthought how you reacted to "The Hub"!) I started to get the significance of ending the vid on the confession scene, in all its crazy-eyed, lack-of-remorse glory. And it's like... that's the end goal of HeadSix existing. Exactly that horrifying level of denial. I found the slow-clap not sarcastic as much as, I don't know, chilling? At this most frakked-up moment, he is still feeling like the genuine hero of his own story, and there's HeadSix going "Yes, hon, you're doing just awesome!" Because one of the most important things HeadSix gives him (whether it's out of his own mind or supernaturally tailored to him or whatever) is the assurance of how wonderful he is. Applause on his deathbed. For me it sums up the huge gulf between Gaiusland and reality.

Of course the meta-sarcastic layer of WTFG, BALTAR is there too. *g*

And *blush* you're too nice. An epic end-of-BSG list of vid recs sounds like a great idea. I may have to steal it. :)

[millari.livejournal.com]

Wow, I don't know that I've ever heard a more perfect summary of the Head!Six/Caprica Six connection. Nor have I seen a vid that more precisely captures what fascinates me about the Head!Six/Baltar relationship. You caught exactly the moments in that brig scene from "Six Degrees" where he is most afraid and psychologically broken, much like "deprogammers" do to people taken away from cults.

In that episode, Head!Six's mission seems to have been to break Baltar down psychologically until he was so desperate that he lost all his arrogance, all his confidence, his atheism, all his defense mechanisms that had been helping him not think about the magnitude of what he'd unleashed in the Miniseries. As soon as he truly gave up all his coping mechanisms in that cell, Head!Six started to build his identity back up in her own mold and has been slowly doing so along the way, with many detours and bumps along the way, but her ultimately objective (whatever that is exactly) is slowly being realized. Your vid really understands all that.

I really like how you show that the first time all these elements really came together in the show is in that brig scene, and how you use clips from much later episodes in conjunction with that brig scene to really show the essence of Baltar's psychological and spiritual journey, filtered through his obsession with the Six model in all their forms.

In other words, great job. :)

[nightxade.livejournal.com]

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

[sabaceanbabe.livejournal.com]

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

*guh*

[nicole-anell.livejournal.com]

Jumping in here just to say aaaaah thank you for putting the brig scene meta into words. It's like you can pinpoint the exact minute where the Stockholm Syndrome kicked in.