IJVP #6: "The Perfect Drug" (Battlestar Galactica - 2003)

[dualbunny]

Previous IJVP vids here.

Wow, where did those two weeks go? :P Now I can spend all of tomorrow sitting in front of the TV finishing my painting for this year's Women's Perspective show. I am a bee with the busy-making, I tell you. But not a European honeybee living in Japan. Because they get massacred by the biggest fucking scariest damn

Comments

[deathisyourart]

The end gave me fits. NIN? That's a really frustrating way to end a song. No cookie.

*gasp*
Blasphemy!
*pets Trent*
Don't worry Trent; I won't let the big bad bunny say such things about you.

I am extremely impressed with how you cut the audio for this vid; it is a really difficult song to cut down. Also, I think focusing on Giaus' eyes was a brilliant idea! My favorite shot is of the light reflected through his eye at 0:39.

Because of my obsession with NIN and the original music video, it took me a couple of viewings to get used to this vid, but since it improves upon closer inspection, I don't consider that a bad thing! :)

[dualbunny]

Heh. I completely understand the difficulty in getting past strong previous associations. And with that in mind I'm so glad you thought I cut it down alright. :D Gerry was aghast that I was cutting out almost the whole middle synthizer/drum bridge, so you aren't the first to comment on the sacrilege that is screwing with the song. ;D

I've never seen the original video--how did they end that?

[deathisyourart]

I've never seen the original video

How about we correct that? The video is inspired by sketches by Edward Gorey, and it is possibly my favorite music video of all time.

You can watch it on this page: http://www.nin.com/visuals/index.html

And can I just say that I am very happy that you posted another vid; I was beginning to worry that you had decided not to continue.

[dualbunny]

Ok, that was cool--thank you muchly for the link. :D Am I right that one of the things in the edit that trips you up is the removal of the second chorus? Just curious. I wanted to keep it, because I think it goes somewhere a little different than the first chorus, but transitioning from the end of it was much more problematic.

And heh, yeah, I was getting worried too. ;D I need to start doing them faster, not slower--and the more panic that set in, the slower I worked. :P

[nicole_anell]

Okay, apologies: I have been horrible about leaving IJVP feedback for anyone, including the people who finished in January. So, like, I should've been running into your journal, like, five times now to be like "Weevil + Grease 2 = love" and "OMG I never saw Spitfire Grill but that was AWESOME!" But I didn't, because I suck.

I am currently snowed in, and I'm downloading this right now, so I will be *right back*.

[nicole_anell]

*happy sigh* That was great. I'm so glad you did this one. Hot and creepy and everything.

A few more specific things:

*The cutting is perfect. Something I always like about your vids is there are perfect cuts to the beat of the song, but without feeling forced or jumpy, you know?

*I love the little flash at 0:17 and the whole choice of the miniseries pre-imaginary-friend clips at the opening of the vid.

*You found such a great shot for "when I'm all stupid-eyed" that is not at all goofy-looking. (because WORD that Gaius occasionally, in clips not chosen here, looks like he's about to have a stroke)

*a couple of fake "Battlestar Galactica" jumpy camera pans/zooms to bump up the clips at 1:15 and 1:28 -- I actually had to go back and look at that, because it mirrored the style of the show so well, I just thought that's what it always looked like. Subtle and very cool.

*Legs!

*1:43-1:47. Omgsopretty yes. XD

So... yeah. I love it. And I assure you, Gaius is an attractive man.

[dualbunny]

Awww, you don't suck at all. It's been a ridiculously huge number of vids to keep up with. I'm glad you've been enjoying some of the other ones from my project. :}

And of course even gladder that you liked this one! :D

And I assure you, Gaius is an attractive man.

Heh. Good to hear. ;}

[missmurchison]

Oh, this is a great Gaius POV vid. This must be what it's like inside his head, and gives me a teeny bit more sympathy for the woobly egoist. I love the end, because it underlines his confusion and the fact that he really doesn't know what's going on, and feels he has no choice but to cling to 9.

Also, 9 has never been hotter.

[missmurchison]

Uh, Six, not Nine, of course. (Has Doctor Who moved into my brain, or what?)

I just went back and read your comments, which I didn't want to do before watching the vid. It is definitely okay to find this Gaius hot. Doing it from his POV makes it compelling, because he has no idea he is sleazy. That's one of the things that makes me want to smack him--but not in this vid.

[dualbunny]

Hee! Well, when it was still on, I was always hearing about how hot Nine was on Star Trek. It's an understandable mistake. ;D Though Six is way hotter.

It is definitely okay to find this Gaius hot. Doing it from his POV makes it compelling, because he has no idea he is sleazy.

Yes, that's it! He really doesn't. And I think that's why I felt sort of dishonest in presenting him like this to some extent. Which is just too funny now that I'm looking at it like that. Thank you. :D

[f1renze]

Whoa. The hotness, it is overwhelming. The cuts are mind-bogglingly gorgeous -- they're so clean and just the *perfect* amount of sensory experience. And I don't even need to mention your movement because it OWNS me, forever and always. :D

I thought your layering process was a great approach. The vid has a smooth, planned-out feel to it, which I love.

I also cut much more slowly than I pictured in my head when I first started rolling the song around in my head.

I think I know what you mean, but you made the right decision. Because you didn't just ignore these more intense parts of the song, you instead used it a in different way, for example by using Gaius's intense expressions, eye close-ups, Gaius/Six buildups... Together, they made me *feel* for Gaius, who is someone I don't have strong feelings for on the show. So thank you -- I'd take this approach over plain-old beat-whoring any day

[dualbunny]

::squeezes you back::

I appreciate your comments so much. :} I was curious how this would play for someone that wasn't all that attached to him on the show, so thank you for mentioning that! And I'm relieved you thought I made ok choices with the pacing. It was really fun to play with the source in little ways in this one. The show lends itself to that really well.

And I was really caught up on the "stupid eyed" lyric, so I love that you liked that one. Heh, and the "reaching, dragging, shaking me". I felt I was very restrained in not using scenes when she was either reaching, dragging, or shaking him, heh. ;D I see them in my head, so I figured I could use the chance to be subtle instead.

jumbled thoughts in my grey matter

[kiki_miserychic]

The pacing and flow is amazing. You really get into Gauis' head space. The clips you used when and where were perfect. It really is all about Gauis' eyes and Six' legs. The effects work well and didn't take me out of a vid, like they sometimes can. They work here because there's reasoning and rational behind them. Leaving the "goofy" behind was a smart idea because sometimes when I watch Gauis in a vid it becomes watching James Callis be awesome. So yeah, basically this is frighteningly beautiful.

Re: jumbled thoughts in my grey matter

[dualbunny]

So glad you liked it! Thank you so much for the wonderful comments--very happy the version of Gaius I tried to build up worked for you. :D

Re: jumbled thoughts in my grey matter

[kiki_miserychic]

It certainly worked. And I must give icon love.