Review - Iron Man - My Shit's Fucked Up
Title: My Shit's Fucked Up
Vidder: marinarusalka
Music & Artist: "My Shit's Fucked Up" by Warren Zevon
Fandom: Iron Man movie
Download link: http://marinarusalka.livejournal.com/418051.html
Overall impression: An enjoyable, though somewhat technically unpolished, look at Tony Stark.
Titles: Simple white on black scroll at the end. The comic sans font looked out of place given the slightly dark tone of the vid.
Music choice: I wouldn't have immediately associated the song with the film version of the character, but the vidder certainly makes it work. The bluegrass twang might initially seem strange for vidding a billionaire playboy, but it in fact enhances the vid's sense of lament and angst.
Narration, Tone and Movement: The vid does not simply retell the film's story in a linear fashion, which is commendable. Instead, the vid explores the darker side of Tony Stark. He feels a certain amount of regret over his previous lifestyle, which eventually drives him to adopt the Iron Man persona. The regret, be it over his past as a defense contractor or his actions with Pepper, certainly comes through in the vid. The role that plays in his becoming Iron Man, however, isn't quite as clear. Viewers with fandom knowledge should be able to make the connection but to an outside viewer that particular point might be hard to grasp.
The vid displays a decent grasp of movement and mostly avoids overly static shots. It was, however, a bit heavy on talky-face, especially in the beginning.
Cuts, Transitions, Effects & Colouring/Coloring: Mostly simple hard cuts and cross-fades, which works well, especially given the acoustic nature of the music. The only obvious effect is the occasional use of slow motion, which didn't really work for me. More on that in the timestamped portion of the review.
Specific vid & music notes:
0:01 - The opening montage does a good job of establishing Tony's playboy lifestyle.
0:10 - First example of slow motion. IMO the clip is played far too slowly and the woman pursing her lips ends up looking very strange. It also clashes with the more rapid movement in the next clip.
0:26 - These two clips are the only places in which I felt the talky-face worked. The arm movement over "Let me break it to you son" and the doctor's head movement over "Your shit's fucked up" make it seem like the characters could actually be speaking the lyrics, even without lip-sync.
1:21 - The idea of placing a time-toggle here is nice and certainly meshes well with the music. As was the case before, however, I feel like the clip was slowed down too much.
1:37 - I like this montage covering the creation of Iron Man. Intercutting it with an earlier angsty Tony shot does help a little in making the connection between Tony's lament and the adoption of a superhero persona.
2:14 - I really like the visual parallels that start here, be it spinning out of control in the air, crashing to the ground, or dragging himself up.
Final notes: This is a more than respectable effort for a newbie and the vidder should feel proud. There are some nice instincts for pacing, narrative, and tone on display here. My suggestion for future vids would be to avoid talky-face and to go easy on the slow motion.
Vidder: marinarusalka
Music & Artist: "My Shit's Fucked Up" by Warren Zevon
Fandom: Iron Man movie
Download link: http://marinarusalka.livejournal.com/418051.html
Overall impression: An enjoyable, though somewhat technically unpolished, look at Tony Stark.
Titles: Simple white on black scroll at the end. The comic sans font looked out of place given the slightly dark tone of the vid.
Music choice: I wouldn't have immediately associated the song with the film version of the character, but the vidder certainly makes it work. The bluegrass twang might initially seem strange for vidding a billionaire playboy, but it in fact enhances the vid's sense of lament and angst.
Narration, Tone and Movement: The vid does not simply retell the film's story in a linear fashion, which is commendable. Instead, the vid explores the darker side of Tony Stark. He feels a certain amount of regret over his previous lifestyle, which eventually drives him to adopt the Iron Man persona. The regret, be it over his past as a defense contractor or his actions with Pepper, certainly comes through in the vid. The role that plays in his becoming Iron Man, however, isn't quite as clear. Viewers with fandom knowledge should be able to make the connection but to an outside viewer that particular point might be hard to grasp.
The vid displays a decent grasp of movement and mostly avoids overly static shots. It was, however, a bit heavy on talky-face, especially in the beginning.
Cuts, Transitions, Effects & Colouring/Coloring: Mostly simple hard cuts and cross-fades, which works well, especially given the acoustic nature of the music. The only obvious effect is the occasional use of slow motion, which didn't really work for me. More on that in the timestamped portion of the review.
Specific vid & music notes:
0:01 - The opening montage does a good job of establishing Tony's playboy lifestyle.
0:10 - First example of slow motion. IMO the clip is played far too slowly and the woman pursing her lips ends up looking very strange. It also clashes with the more rapid movement in the next clip.
0:26 - These two clips are the only places in which I felt the talky-face worked. The arm movement over "Let me break it to you son" and the doctor's head movement over "Your shit's fucked up" make it seem like the characters could actually be speaking the lyrics, even without lip-sync.
1:21 - The idea of placing a time-toggle here is nice and certainly meshes well with the music. As was the case before, however, I feel like the clip was slowed down too much.
1:37 - I like this montage covering the creation of Iron Man. Intercutting it with an earlier angsty Tony shot does help a little in making the connection between Tony's lament and the adoption of a superhero persona.
2:14 - I really like the visual parallels that start here, be it spinning out of control in the air, crashing to the ground, or dragging himself up.
Final notes: This is a more than respectable effort for a newbie and the vidder should feel proud. There are some nice instincts for pacing, narrative, and tone on display here. My suggestion for future vids would be to avoid talky-face and to go easy on the slow motion.