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

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

I wasn't too confused because I have a basic idea of BSG via fannish osmosis. I also constructed a story where future!John failed to beat back the robot apocalypse, future generations militarized up and tried to escape in space, but the robots catch up to them. And much later on, the robots are more interested in studying humanity as an endangered species, while the humans are caught in a self-destructive violent loop. The only thing that confuses me is the last few shots: baby, robot helping someone out of a bath?, and the dead blonde.

Thanks! It's from Terry Pratchett's Discworld. It's oddly appropriate for TSCC. I also loved what you did with the turtle in the vid. I loved how the robots were devils, snakes, apples (knowledge), and then was followed by them holding the turtle (symbol of compassion in TSCC). I also liked what you did with the skulls.

[charmax.livejournal.com]

Well, there's definitely something to be said for filling in the blanks with your own narrative. Nobody had mentioned the robots studying/experimenting on humanity up til now and it's probably my favourite section of the vid. The last few shots are all cylons or in the case of the baby half cylon, thus it's the robots developing more compassion as the humans spiral downward committing more and more acts of violence. The dead blonde represents the machines becoming mortal and thus taking over from humans altogether.

The Galapagos Tortoises are such an iconic part of Darwin's research that I couldn't resist using the TSCC ones to show not only compassion but also the way in which the evolutionary baton is passing from humanity to robots. The Snakes and apples were specifically meant to call to mind the garden of Eden and starts with Weaver and a snake (she even has a moray eel in her office) representing the serpent in Eden and then switches to Cameron with the apple (temptation, Eve) then to Roslin and the snakes(humans are now the serpents.)