Vid Outline

[sisabet]

I'm at work - and I am bored. Bored bored bored and I want to be home and vidding and since I can't do that - I have done something I rarely do nowadays.

I've outlined my vid. And I decided to post it because - well other vidders might be as interested in process as I am.

Now what I do want to note here is that:

1. Please don't comment on the vid idea, clip idea or any of that itself. I have a beta and will figure it out and the questions in the outline are there for *me* to answer. It will bug me if anyone else tries to answer them without me contacting them and actually *asking* the question.

I'm not up for discussing this vid - that will kill the vid before I can even get more than 30 seconds laid.

2. renenet do not read behind the cut. I'll bookmark and you can read later after you rightfully tear this down.

What is up for discussion is process, process, process --- I normally don't write these things down, but this *is* how I do generally think about a vid when I first go into it.



Fandom: Battlestar Galactica 2003; Starbuck Character Study
Song: When I Paint My Masterpiece, Emmylou Harris

Oh, the streets of Rome are filled with rubble,
Ancient footprints are everywhere.
You can almost think that you're seein' double
On a cold, dark night on the Spanish Stairs.

Will fill and vid last -- making notes of things to introduce. Can use Arrow of Apollo to frame, beware Caprica/Rome over literalization, but it might be nice hook - will see.

 

NOTES: state to establish Kara as pilot, establish her place in Adama family, Also need to count my masterpiece moments cause becoming own person - independent of views of self and Adamas is where she is headed.

Got to hurry on back to my hotel room,
Where I've got me a date with a pretty young boy from Greece.
He promised that he'd be right there with me
When I paint my masterpiece.

have to see how this affects her even now -- the longing mixed with the pain and hit hard at the grave -- face language hints at absolute horror of the moment -- go lightly at lyrics and highlight "promised" and "masterpiece"

Musical - steel guitars -- this didn't kill her and she is still Kara, don't curl up and die -- show Apollo here

 

Oh, the hours We've spent inside the Coliseum,

Jail? Hose? Go light here? How in love with Starbuck is the audience by now? Could go dark, but will go dark on next line so lighten up here so it sticks. Fun Kara! POKER AND HOSE! Intro Gaius if possible.

Dodging lions and wastin' time.

Tigh - does he fit? Is he a lion? How much does she dodge him? It will work. I know it will work - why will it work? She *does* dodge him, he is what she doesn't want to be! OMG! YES - She is afraid of being him, she is terrified of being him and this is why she freaking apologizes to Apollo and how the hell do I show that she is dodging fate? DAMMIT. 

Wasting time with Apollo - figure this out. Make it work but don't overthink it. It isn't wasting time because she can't have him - that isn't the point. She can't really have anyone - she isn't ready. Why is it wasting time? She is putting off the inevitable? No, she isn't. Denial of feelings? Not much of that. He distracts her. Yep. Caring about him isn't a waste of time but constantly battling him is. Use standup to CAG and dissolve into laughter scene here.

The guitar does that pluck, bling bling thing there. Close in on scene. Cutaway or juxtapose - do *something*

Oh, those mighty kings of the jungle, I could hardly stand to see 'em

Has to be Adama. Has to be Adama. HUGS! Oh - where he holds her shoulders -- post funeral -- GOOD STARBUCK FACE HAS TO GO HERE. This is key to setting up her coca cola, so hit this hard hard hard. She confesses and he rejects her -- worst fear -- she hero worships him and only partly because of Zack. DADDYVIBE.

Yes, it sure has been a long, hard climb.

Allowed to go literal here if I need to do so but not allowed to use actual climb on crashdown planet. Can use PT footage but that might be throwaway emotionally. Better to go with laughing. Laughing Starbuck is better than even strutting Starbuck. Emmylou hits *been* nicely - good note - pay attention. Vid the emotion here - not the action. Laugh before you cry and then laugh because you cry. Starbuck.

Train wheels runnin' through the back of my memory,

You are not allowed to go literal here - you are allowed to use Apollo and Gauis here. Hee!! GLEE! VID THIS WITH GLEE.

When I ran on the hilltop following a pack of wild geese.

No idea - what does this sound like? Use it to connect the next part - figure out how they fit and the piece that fits is about this line. Trust me.

Someday, everything will sound like a rhapsody
When I paint my masterpiece.

Bringing in the cat - obviously - that part has to go here, it has to go and if renenet says cut it, come up with something else to do elsewhere to keep this part. She has to bring in the cat and hear nothing but the rain. Has to. If you have her land at the end of the paint my masterpiece line then you have the steel guitar bit at the next portion to set her up with the cylon fighter.

NOTE -- REDO EARLIER PORTION TO INTRODUCE STARBUCK AS PILOT.

 

Sailin' 'round the world in a dirty gondola.

Has to be cylon. Have to see "Starbuck" written on wings. Kill the Source.

Oh, to be back in the land of Coca-Cola!

NOTE: IF RENENET DOES NOT LIKE THIS, BE PREPARED TO SACRIFICE ALL OTHER POINTS IN VID.

Have to hit hard - Starbuck in bed - use face shot from later in scene where she asks for cigar - hand clasp - Adama kiss -- at *coca cola* show her face crumble and this is the Emotional Moment here and hit it hard. At the bit before the transition into the next stanza,  show her and Apollo's wings wiggle at each other cause sooo sweet. Her family.

NOTE: NEED ADAMAS/STARBUCK 3-SHOT EARLY IN VID AS WELL.

 

I left Rome and landed in Brussels,
On a plane ride so bumpy that I almost cried.

Will vid when I come to it. Want to use sex but it might not work with next bit so hold off cause next bit is more important.

NOTES: Torture and planning - Adama trusts her - he needs her brain even sidelined as a pilot -- strategist. Might not fit here and running out of Masterpieces but integral to theme.

 

Clergymen in uniform and young girls pullin' muscles,

RayKCylon and hand to hand and then sucked out thru airlock. Would like to use torture stuff as well - in character, absolutely - vid prev stanza after this. Torture stuff will work for almost cried - esp where she connects/fears cylon.

Everyone was there to greet me when I stepped inside.

Use her gods here - the ones she has wrapped up and tucked away. She prays here.

 

Newspapermen eating candy
Had to be held down by big police.

Disillusionment over Adama - DADDY! Break-way  to go to Caprica

Someday, everything is gonna be diff'rent
When I paint my masterpiece.

Will know when you see this. Chill.

Comments

::is frightened::

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

This is *exactly* what my vid notes look like. I use a spreadsheet, but other than that -- my process looks *just* like this.

[elz.livejournal.com]

Oooh, fascinating.

(And: Eeee! Starbuck! Eeeeeee!)

going crazy

[retired-mom.livejournal.com]

read my journal entry and tell me if I have really lost it....love, mom

Re: going crazy

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

::read::

::dies::

Mom, that is so you.

Re: ::is frightened::

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Hee! PROCESS!!

Actually - now that I have it all written down and concrete and OMG, out there, I am doing my absolute best to forget what I said up there. I am so neurotic about this entire thing, I shouldn't be allowed in public. But I want to make this vid so badly and I really want this feeling of wanting to make this vid last for the entire time I am making this vid and I am beginning to suspect that unless I am electrocuting or killing a BSO, it is very difficult for me to sustain that level of interest for an entire project.

[swanswan.livejournal.com]

That is eerie, because it bears so much resemblance to my fic-writing plans. So strange that something in a different media can share so much of the creation process. Where you have "go light here" I have something like "add in the twisty sentence with white/black parallel," and we both have the random sentences that start with "something should happen there OH MY GOD I KNOW I'll have her SISTER turn up and SLAP HIM!"

It's nice to see the patterns. Like realizing that the sand ripples look the same as the ones in the clouds.

Re: ::is frightened::

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. I'm glad electrocutions aren't a necessary part of my creative process!

And yes, I use the word "process" a lot. It's one of the drawbacks of a degree in Theater Arts.

I know what you mean about the neurosis, though. It is so welcome when the Vid Farr takes you over and you just go go go all excited and driven and it feels right and you know the vid is rocking. I can almost never sustain that through the two or three months it usually takes me to complete a vid, although I'm more successful at it with some vids than with others. I find that the longer I keep a vid in the "just in my head" stage, the more easily it pours out of me and the more fun I have making it once I finally *do* get it out of my head and into the timeline.

I still wish I had ripping and clipping minions, though. I swear, that part of the vidding experience will take the fire out of all but the most exciting projects. You know, the ones with electrocutions in them.

[sdwolfpup.livejournal.com]

Thank you for doing this. I've been struggling with an idea and looking at the way you outline your projects inspired me to look at this idea differently and it totally blew it open and now I'm just incredibly enthused and want to be vidding.

Re: ::is frightened::

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

taking notes and learning, learning :-)

thanks for making the process visible...it really helps me "see" better!

[dualbunny.livejournal.com]

I am rolling this information around in my head. It's an awful lot like rolling around the next part of a vid until the right response to it comes around.

I definitely see some similarities in the way that I approach the major themes of a vid. I feel the need to talk myself through all of the motivations I'm chosing to make statements on. And to lay out the instances where I might be inserting my own opinion, not necessarily a motivation I can guarantee the character has.

I also set aside sections where I'm waiting for the right image to jump out at me. Most of my written notes tend to be about visual things I want to see, transitions, effects, timing. And any comparisons, etc, that I'm afraid I might forget.

I like seeing how much your process involves emotions and "invisible" content. The comments about literalness feel a little familiar too, although I've probably stayed more literal at this point.

Do you get caught up in the flow of one clip to another? Visually, mostly, but also contextually. That regularly seems to stop me when I'm being less literal. Then I have to leave it, roll it in the head for a while (showers are great for that for some reason--also before falling asleep) and then move forward again. I'm often wondering how vidders focus on those aspects. Only so much of that can be planned out in your head. Most of it seems to become a reality for me only when it's on the timeline.

[kimera.livejournal.com]

Very cool. I do the mapping out possible clips and motivations for using them... but then, a lot of the time my finished project barely resembles my beginning notes ("Feelin' Alright"? Was supposed to be about the Trio. But somehow the Thunders and Cam snuck in there. Bastards.)

I've gotta know if I'm not alone in doing this, though- when making clips, I always have some that I *know* I want to use, but don't know *where* yet, so I throw them on the timeline anyway, on a track at the bottom, just so that it's there when I do decide to use it.

Also, I use multiple takes a lot, because often I'll be like "well, this could work here, but so could this"... so I stick them both there, and then fill in everything around them, and then see which works better.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

You do this for stories? For real? How? I am fascinated by this because the vid outline has a structure that is predetermined by the song, how do you determine structure all by yourself? Is that something you know immediately or does it sometimes just happen?

::crawls inside big writer-y brain::

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

GO! Be vidding! We should all be vidding - it'll be fantastic!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

And to lay out the instances where I might be inserting my own opinion, not necessarily a motivation I can guarantee the character has.

Ah, but see that is one of the most fantastic things about vidding, IMO. Your opinion *is* the character's opinion as long as the source will back it up. You have all sorts of Power, muahahahaha. Not that I would *ever* abuse that power.

I like seeing how much your process involves emotions and "invisible" content. The comments about literalness feel a little familiar too, although I've probably stayed more literal at this point.

I generally vid from the gut - I know what I want to feel at a certain point or what I should be feeling or what something should look like, and then I look to the source to see where this occurs. This is why, to me, a song can often be vidded and done quite well when you initially think the song *can't* be vidded because it is all about the emotions of the music. While certain songs may tell certain specific stories, the emotional stories are by far more universal and that is where you can find your *in* -- if the feelings match up, then everything else will work out.


Do you get caught up in the flow of one clip to another? Visually, mostly, but also contextually... Only so much of that can be planned out in your head. Most of it seems to become a reality for me only when it's on the timeline.

Oh absolutely -- because you have to make it match the next bit and flow and sometimes the clip looks totally different than the emotion and you throw it out and sometimes it is just too GOOD to not use in a totally different way.

Now that I have written this outline - I am avoiding it like the plague as I vid because if I am married too much to a specific idea, then that narrows down what I will do and that also narrows down the potential effectiveness of my vid. Like - there is not one mention of Roslyn in that outline at all and last night I realized she is an important transitioning character for Kara as she moves away from Adama. So now I have all sorts of Laura stuff to insert into the vid.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Yeah, one of the reasons I tend to *not* write down total vid outlines/ideas (other than I usually have finished telling the story to myself and lose interest. Note how carefully I did not finish telling the story to myself in the outline I just did. That is wisdom, baby!) is that it becomes confining and you tend to stop doing a lot of the heavy thinking while vidding - it is more looking at the notes and then plugging in the clips as indicated.

And figuring out where to go next and how to tie it all together is my favorite thing about vidding and possibly the heaviest mental workout I get in any given year. So, I am now absolutely not reading this outline until I have a full draft of the vid.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Sustaining Vid Farr through several months is not impossible, yet very rare and again, for me; tends to involve electrocutions or dying. My poor, poor Heroes. I wouldn't love them as much if they didn't suffer so prettily.

I find that the longer I keep a vid in the "just in my head" stage, the more easily it pours out of me and the more fun I have making it once I finally *do* get it out of my head and into the timeline.

I have had this backfire -- I think like milk, a vid in your head can just expire. I don't know, yet, what the time limit is cause the Iman vid I did for Escapade (and that was also a case of not so much 3 months of sustained vid farr as it was my not letting the vid farr out of my greedy tiny grasp) was in my head for over a year, constantly in my head. But then I've had Angel vids intently plotted out and when time came to clip - I just sat there.

Damn the elusive vid farr.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

It's a sneaky bugger, isn't it?

[swanswan.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see what you mean. You have a start and an end, and you have three minutes to tell everything in between. That is different, I suppose. Or... not.

With a story, I need to do a fair bit of work before I can actually start writing the first line. Because I'm a character-driven writer, I need to find the story arc for the character I've chosen to be emotionally realistic. And that's what determines the length of the story, bar some frilly verbosity in the middle. When I have a structure (which is based not so much on, say, explosion -> yelling -> kissing as... who is clark now? and how did he get here? and where will he go when I make this event happen? - when I have that, then that's my 'song,' if you like. Then I get the inspiration, the play with words, and I start to see where a paragraph needs to be long, where dialogue has to be brusque, where you need narrative and atmospheric calm before a storm. That's all putting the flesh on the bones, as it were. In practice, it's a little less organized than that - I can change the plot a little if my words want to go elsewhere - and that's where the two differ, coz you can't change the chords of a song. But it's fascinating to me how similar they are, because although I'm very affected by visual arts (i often look at vids when i'm stuck on a story), I have no real acuity there, and am all about the words. It's strange and lovely that the two types of creation have so much in common.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

It is wonderful when creative forces collide. I am almost the opposite - I am a very visual person and I *know* what it is I want to get across about a particular character or situation and often I do a terrible job explaining it. Verbally, I lack the words or the skill or the ability to say it so that other people can understand what I mean -- but visually I can show them.