Tony Vid: Double Feature

[purplefringe]

Idiotheque

edited by purplefringe
fandom: Iron Man & Avengers
characters: Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Tony Stark. And a few guest appearances.
music: Idiotheque - Radiohead cover by Vienna Teng & Alex Wong
summary: everything all of the time
content notes: Spoilers for all three films

notes: Greetings Fandom - Team PURPLE HEIGHTS are proud to present: A TONY STARK DOUBLE FEATURE! We are delighted to invite you (somewhat accidentally) to come see Tony Stark in all his multifaceted everything-all-of-the-time-(this-includes-friends-and-sexual-partners)-ridiculousness. Suggested viewing order is Idiotheque followed bysuch_heights joyous vid of joy, Call Me Maybe (AKA 'My Little Tony: Friendship Is Magic'), but that is really up to you. Either way, emotional confusion may follow.

Thank you, as ever, to such_heights, for patiently watching approx. fifty million drafts of this vid, and explaining to me how to make it better. And how to put it in the right aspect ratio.....


download: 49MB @ mediafire

password: stark

stream:

Idiotheque from Phoebe on Vimeo.

Lyrics

Who's in a bunker, who's in a bunker?
Women and children first
And the children first
And the children -
I laugh until my head comes off
I swallow till I burst
Until I burst
Until I -

Who's in a bunker, who's in a bunker
I have seen too much
You haven't seen enough
You haven't seen -
Oh I laugh until my head comes off
Women and children first
The children first
The children -

Here I'm allowed everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed everything all of the time

Ice age coming, ice age coming
Let me hear both sides
Let me hear both sides
Let me hear both -

Ice age coming, ice age coming
Throw him on the fire
Throw him on the fire
Throw him on the -

We're not scaremongering
This is really happening, happening
Oh no we're not scaremongering
This is really happening, happening

Mobiles quirking
Mobiles chirping
Take the money and run
Take the money and run
Take the money -

Here I'm allowed everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed everything all of the time
Here I'm allowed everything all of the time...

Comments

[purplefringe]

I.....think this may be the best comment I have ever received. Ever. I am REALLY enjoying you stalking my vids, please feel free to continue!

There are so many incredible vids about Tony. Probably because he's troubled and complex and his films are so VERY shiny. Even when the actual plots are bad *coughIronMan2cough* the source itself is so pretty. There are lots of super-talented people making Tony vids, about him as a scientist/engineer, him as a self-created superhero, him as a broken man with serious issues , (or, in the case of Call Me Maybe, him as everybody's boyfriend! heeeeee)....I sometimes felt a bit like this vid couldn't decide where it wanted to sit amongst all of those, and so it ended up being nothing very interesting, and not having anything new to say. But you have picked out all the things I was trying to say when I started, and a lot of things I didn't even realise I was saying but are TOTALLY in tune with how I see Tony, so make all the sense in the world. There's a reason he can't stop engineering himself better and better armour. <33333

The section near the start with the cutting between visually similar scenes was one of the very first things I laid on the timeline, and stayed almost completely untouched from then on throughout all the editing. I think that, and the getting up again near the end, are at the heart of this vid. That and Tony's calming relationship with SCIENCE.

[theoret]

/o\ Thank you! Whenever I post detailed feedback I always immediately start worrying I have 100% misinterpreted whatever I'm commenting on and at best the recipient of my feedback will think I'm an idiot and at worst I'll make them feel like their work wasn't saying what they wanted it to, so it is VERY COMFORTING to hear you say that.

I am kind of amazed that you could think this vid didn't have anything new to say, because how can you communicate so powerfully without knowing it? But maybe when you have a very strong sense of a character then that can come across in ways you don't consciously notice.

Tony's calming relationship with SCIENCE. Yesss. Give Tony any problem and he will try to engineer his way out of it. So one of the impressions I got from this vid was that it was an illustration of what it's like being inside Tony's head (the flashbacks at 0:31 and the first person shots between 0:36 and 0:39 is what most took me there, I think (also the armour mechanics coupled with the ticking sounds at 0:20 sort of take my mind to a 'cogs turning in Tony's head' place, but I suspect that's just me)) and he's so smart that there's almost always lots and lots of stuff going on in his head at once - which matches all of that fast cutting.

And I guess there's the impression that having that much in your head at once, being pulled in all those directions at once, is overwhelming and difficult. But when Tony's doing science he can fill his head with stuff that makes sense. He can be thinking about several different things at once but they'll all fit together into a logical and predictable system, which makes having so much going on at once feel manageable rather than too much. It's cool how in the 'Tony does calming science' section between 1:05 and 1:20, you've still got lots going on at once, but it's flowy soothing overlays that give the 'lots of stuff at once' impression, rather than choppy cutting in the sections which are less sciencey/calm.

Rewatching, the other section where Tony is not at least slightly stressed looking is the flying section between 2:04 and 2:20, what's kind of interesting there is that the clips are longer than in the rest of the vid and you haven't used overlays like in the calming science section (possibly partially because there was less need for added motion, but), so there really is less going on at once at that point. And if you're reading the vid as 'what is happening in Tony's head' then you can kind of take that as when Tony calms himself with science there is lots going on in his head but it's manageable, but when Tony calms himself with flying he has found a chemical solution to the problem, and is using the adrenaline rush to literally make less stuff happen in his mind at once. (I think it's kind of cool that you show Tony trying to resort to another chemical solution to his overactive mind at 0:50, where he tries to block out flashbacks by drinking, but in that case he fails.)

(Also I have only seen one of the three other vids you mentioned, so EEE, RECS! Thanks! Although I'm going to be sensible and watch them tomorrow rather than at quarter to one in the morning. YES SELF. YOU ARE GOING TO BE SENSIBLE.)

[purplefringe]

Um, you may leave ALL the detailed feedback you like! (This properly made my evening yesterday!) I just....your whole analysis of the science and flying sections is AMAZING, and completely perfect and right. But most of that was not conscious on my part! The flowing overlays indicating 'all the stuff going on on Tony's head but in a manageable and soothing kind of way' yes, that was deliberate.....but I love your interpretation of the flying section! You're right in saying that is mostly the way it is visually because it is so pretty and there was no need for added motion...

Also the 'cogs turning in Tony's head' - I hadn't thought of that! But it definitely works. I was thinking more along the lines of 'Tony trying to put himself together', but in a disparate and disconnected sort of way. An introverted, keep-other-people-out sort of a way. Yes, the armour protects him and makes him fly, and yes it all fits together like a well-oiled dream, but it (like him) can still malfunction. It sort of contrasts with the section near the end, when Bruce and Steve and Rhodey and Pepper and Yinsen catch him and put him back together themselves. Tony Stark may not 'play well with others', and may be a fine superhero in his own right, but he is a better person when he lets others help him out. And by the end we see him building things again, putting his superhero self together, but in a calmer, more measured way; not hitting things and blowing things up, but planning and thinking and taking responsibility.

how can you communicate so powerfully without knowing it? But maybe when you have a very strong sense of a character then that can come across in ways you don't consciously notice.

I think that's true - I have a very strong sense of how I see Tony, and there are key moments in his life/development that I tried to put into the vid, without always thinking about them from every angle. And I put in the clips and spend so long editing and editing and looking at the vid in terms of flow and pace and movement that I sometimes forget why I even chose certain clips! And then someone like you comes along, who also has a very clear idea of how you see Tony, but are approaching the vid from a completely clean slate, and it's easier to see things. Just because someone hasn't put something in a piece of art deliberately, doesn't mean it's not there! (That was the main thing I took away from my literature-based degree! And is also something I have *really* enjoyed about Doctor Who over the last few years....I spend a significant proportion of my free time reading very detailed Doctor Who meta, about things that are almost certainly not intentional, but are unequivocally there.

I hope you enjoy the other vids! Those are probably my FAVOURITE Tony vids (and it's hard to choose!)