Vid: Unnatural Selection - Battlestar Galactica/Terminator: Sarah Connor

[charmax]

kiki_miserychic & zombiep0rn were the inspiration behind the vid.


Video Title: Unnatural Selection
Song Title/Artist: Pussycats Gone To Heaven (Pixies vs Pussycat Dolls) - DJ Lobsterdust
Shows/Source: Battlestar Galactica, Terminator: Sarah Connor, Terminator movies.
Summary: That body was made to look like a person. We were made in God's image.
***Images of apocalypse and violence that some may find disturbing.***
Length/Format: 3.36, (Xvid, Stream)
Notes:
OK so first off this is so far outside my comfort zone as to be in another continent. This vid is one big experiment designed to help me evolve (geddit?) as a Vidder. Everything from the song (first time using a mashup) to the physical editing process (storyboarded in Premiere but mostly edited in AE) to the tone and themes (my dark side, let me show you it.)

The inspiration for the vid came from the fact that this year marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of "The Origin of Species" and the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth. I've always been struck by the similarities between T:SCC and BSG and I tried to show some of that here. As humanity teeters on the edge of extinction they slide down the evolutionary tree of life whilst the machines evolve into better beings.

kiki_miserychic has written an insightful commentary for this vid over at vid_commentary. A little more of my choices is discussed in the comments.

Unnatural Selection - Battlestar Galactica/Terminator: Sarah Connor - Charmax

Links: Download Xvid (720x400 - 40MB) | Download Xvid (416x240 - 20MB) | Stream@Imeem | Stream@Youtube

Comments

[beerbad.livejournal.com]

Freaking awesome. Catherine+Savannah FTW!

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Strange how Catherine and Savannah are creepy and sweet at the same time.

[obsessive24.livejournal.com]

This is just unbelievably gorgeous. I love the religious bit so much I want to have its babies.

You are, as always, the master.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Everyone wants to have babies with this vid, it keeps getting propositioned!

Thanks, Nicky.

[amalthia]

I loved your vid, the clip choices, the song, and the editing were spot on.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Kind of you to say so. Many thanks.

[such_heights]

OH MY GOD ROBOTS. :D

Um, I mean. This is so incredibly well done, it doesn't feel like anything I've ever seen before. It's so creepy and brilliantly edited and WONDERFUL, I love it.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

YES ROBOTS! Thank you, particularly for saying it felt different, that was definitely one of my main aims.

[serrico.livejournal.com]

That is AWESOME. The editing is razor-fine and *perfect*, the content is thought-provoking and *smart*. The splicing up of humanity and Cylons and Terminators and *Darwin*, the recombination of them all, all the questions these shows raise and all the potential answers they suggest, I just--awesome.

AWESOME. :D

[charmax.livejournal.com]

I'm so pleased you enjoyed it and that you thought it was smart, I was a little anxious that it wouldn't make sense to anyone else.

[pharis.livejournal.com]

Incredible -- engaging and thoughtful and chilling. Accessible enough that I got it on first watching, but there's so much there that I want to watch it many more times to get the full impact. Wow.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

It's good to know that you found it accessible and chilling is most definitely what I was aiming for.

Thanks!

[0mindthegap0.livejournal.com]

This vid is EATING MY BRAIN so much right now, OMG. Going to have to watch some more times.

And it still looks so beautiful and shiny on the surface, and wow, the different sources all feel completely seamless together. Loving this so, so much.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It's always great to know a vid has rewatch value. I tried but I just couldn't bring myself to uglify the source so I settled for pretty, shiny apocalypses.

[amathela.livejournal.com]

Wow. This was amazing - from the music, to the editing, to the themes you used and what you drew out of them. Just ... I loved it, absolutely.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I consider this my second "meta" vid whereas previous works have been much more fannish. It's good to work on a grander scale now and again.

[sdwolfpup.livejournal.com]

Holy shit, that was incredible. The whole thing made my insides all tensed up and oogy in the best way - it was a totally visceral reaction. Stunning.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Ouch, sounds painful but in a good way. So very happy that you felt it.

[cryptoxin.livejournal.com]

WOW. This vid is so very, very awesome. I've always loved your work, but this is my new favorite vid of yours.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for this comment, the rec and the people you've brought along with it. :D

And for this to be your new favourite of mine? Awesome!

[tearful-eye.livejournal.com]

wow, this is really very cool -
& of course, darwin!quotes ftw!

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[etrangere.livejournal.com]

came by via cryptoxin's rec, and WOW this is awesome. Really powerful!

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it!

[sabaceanbabe.livejournal.com]

I love this vid. So many great parallels between my 2 favorite shows and you've melded them together beautifully. Thank you!

[charmax.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you felt I got the balance right. I was a bit concerned that BSG might overwhelm the vid because there's just so much more footage to choose from.

Thanks for commenting.

[grimorie.livejournal.com]

wow. this is... wow. absolutely amazing.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

:D Cheers!

[hollywoodgrrl.livejournal.com]

HOLY GAIUS!!! That was BEYOND INCRDIBLE! I can't flail enough at the closing!!!! That was one of my favorite BSG moments ever, so powerful. This was a RIDONKULOUSLY AMAZING VIDEO! (And it had wee bb turtles!) *prostrates self before thee*

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Haha, where would an evolution vid be without tortoises? The fact that they're ickle baby ones so much the better. The ending is one of my favourite scenes from BSG as well it carries so much meaning and I just love that it is sad and yet uplifting.

[nickdemus.livejournal.com]

Just frakking brilliant.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[anatsuno.livejournal.com]

Whoa! Very awesome! You did a fantastic job there. !!

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

I really loved this--the stunning visuals, the additional titles and dialogue, the sly joke of "the Devil is Six"--everything just worked perfectly.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Adding dialogue is always a risky thing in a vid. I'm so happy that that (and the other elements) worked for you.

[vicodissimus.livejournal.com]

Geez! This is absolutely stunning... crawls right under the skin. So very well done... thanks for this masterpiece!

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Wow! That is such a lovely thing to say. Thank you!

[beccatoria.livejournal.com]

I've already said as much but it deserves to be said repeatedly and loudly: OMFG I LOVE THIS.

It's one of the most beautiful vids I've ever seen. DARWIN. EVOLUTION. I just...I want to say many deep and meaningful things about this video and the arguments it makes and the amazing ways it makes them, but I do not have the words. So instead I will just watch it again in awe.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

You're too kind. I've just seen your rec as well and I'm speechless. It's just so fantastic to know that it has struck a chord.

[rez-lo.livejournal.com]

What a gorgeous, brilliantly put-together piece. I'm going to be rewatching this one for quite a while. (via cryptoxin)

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I hope you find the rewatching rewarding.

[lian-li.livejournal.com]

That... was very disturbing. Which it wouldn't be if it weren't so spectacularly good. I need to watch it a few more times to pierce at least a few of the layers but...I'm a bit scared ^^;

But I always get this little thrill when form & content match so well, -- it's like a little bastard monster vid bred from BSG&Terminator&Darwin&x, slicing, recombining, adapting! using a mashup, awesome! as well as your referencing of multiple media *within* the vid.
(but it's still SCARY!)

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Well, it was certainly meant to be disturbing, hopefully not too scary though. *g*

I love the description of it as the bastard child of those shows adapting into something else. I wish I'd thought of that for my summary.

Thanks for commenting.

[function75.livejournal.com]

oh i'm so not worthy, but never mind.
your vid comes up like a really good drug - that's the only way i can think right now to describe it. it's *exhilarating* to see just what can be done with this stuff xxx

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Never say no to vid drugs they're the best kind.

[huntress1013.livejournal.com]

That was absolutley amazing Charmax! Amazing editing as always :looks at own vid from this week and stumbles away in shame:

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Cheers! I'm so pleased you enjoyed it but please don't abandon your vid baby!

[xandra-ptv.livejournal.com]

Wow, wonderful and kinda dark, i like that. Plus it got me trying to crossover Terminator/Battlestar to crossover in a coherent story.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Hey you! I know, me and dark, who'd have thunk it. I need to catch up with my vid watching now and I see that includes a remaster by you, rubs hands in anticipation.

As for getting the shows to crossover coherently; good luck with that. BSG in particular seems kind of rudderless these days. I was a bit worried that the Ellen/Sam Tag Team of Exposition Doom might strangle the vid at birth but fortunately for me it only muddied the waters even more.