Title: "Vogue: Strike a Pose!"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "Vogue," by Madonna
Length: 3:04
Size: 5.1 MB
Completed: 10/00

This was my very first collaborative music video, made with VegettoEX. You can find his description for this video here.

I had just started my sophomore year in college when I made this video, and I just met Mike. Only two months after our meeting, we made our first video. While technically I did all the editing in this video, Mike helped greatly in finding footage to use. Basically, this was me teaching him about music videos, and how I made them.

The video features those wacky DB peeps striking poses (more than one would normally think), dancing, and having all sorts of crazy fun! A good portion of this video is actually timed, but halfway though it, we sorta ran out of ideas/footage and just started using random shots. ;_;

Despite the visual roughness of this video (I mean in terms of clip usage, not visual quality), this would be the video to start a long-lasting relationship of collaborative videos between me and Mike.

Title: "It's A Sin"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "It's A Sin," by Pet Shop Boys
Length: 3:44
Size: 6.7 MB
Completed: 9/28/00

Of all the videos I made in 2000, this very well may have been my only real attempt at making a drama video. The inspiration for this video game from the Evangelion "It's A Sin" music video I saw back on the Otakon 1998 music video contest tape. I felt that the song not only fit the relationship between Gendo and Shinji perfectly, but it could also apply to Vegeta and Trunks.

I think the way these two characters interact is far more interesting than anyone really gives credit to. Trunks is constantly being ignored by daddy dearest, is never good enough for him, gets beat by him constantly, and tries his hardest to even get noticed by Vegeta, to no avail. I wanted to expose this sad relationship with this video. I think it turned out OK. Maybe I'll even remake it some day, now that all of the footage is nearly out on DVD. :)

This video starts off with a neatly-timed intro, which is something I don't think I've done since the "I Want Someone to Love" video. We then see shots of Vegeta standing alone, by himself, with Trunks trying to reach out to him from afar. The rest of the video progresses with the abuse Trunks takes from his father, and other interactions between the two.

For the time that I made this, I think this is a decent effort into the dramatic-video realm. There's a story to it (which is something I had been doing poorly at during mid-2000), and almost good timing, making this a somewhat viewable music video.

Title: "Open Road Song (Version 2.0)"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "Open Road Song," by Eve 6
Length: 3:18
Size: 5.5 MB
Completed: 9/14/00

Version 2 of the music video dedicated to the hilarious Goku and Piccolo driving episode.  The video quality of this one is much better than the original!

When I was big into Eve6 *shudder*, I really fell for this song, and realized it fit perfectly with this one very humorous episode of DBZ when Goku and Piccolo are forced to get their drivers licenses by Chi-Chi. Well, fitting perfectly may be a bit untrue, since a few lyrics really have nothing to do with the scenes I used. But hey, it's the thought that counts!

One thing that this video does have going for it (other than the use of silly looking scenes), are my initial attempts at timing certain actions to the beats. Wow, I was starting to learn back then (albiet, very VERY slowly).

All in all, a cute video, and one of my early favorites.

Title: "I've Got The Power: DBZ Video Game Remix"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "I've Got the Power," by Snap
Length: 3:38
Size: 4 MB
Completed: 9/9/00

Wheee, my first and only video game (kinda) music video!

I made this video right after I met Mike "VegettoEX" LaBrie at college. I discovered he had a loverly Playstation: something I never owned. He also had a plethora of DBZ video games for the system, which I knew contained some fairly cool full-motion-video intros. I figured, "hey, he's got these games with this footage, and I wanna make a stupid action video using it!"

So, borrowing my new friend's Playstation and having fun with my capture card, I took the intro footage from Dragonball: Final Bout and Ultimate Battle 22, edited them together, and set it to a classic AMV action song of days gone by, Snap's "I've Got the Power."

The concept of this video: show as many characters as possible posing and struttin' their powerful stuff... all to the music! In terms of edited, there are surprisingly a bunch of neat edits going on. This video marks almost the end of my crapp-video-making years, and almost is the beginning of the phase where I really got serious about this stuff.

In a way, this is also a tribute video. Back when I simply watched music videos online, and didn't make them, I remember seeing a DBZ Movie 1 music video set to "I've Got the Power," and thought it was the coolest thing since sliced bread. I had always wanted to make an action video using that song, and with this random footage I had captured from video games, I finally had the chance to do it.

So, mad props to Mike for letting me borrow his Playstation and video games to make this video, and to whoever made the original DBZ "I've Got the Power" video. :)

**not available, see Version 2**
Title: "He's So Shy!: THESE Are The Men of DBZ?"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "He's So Shy," by the Pointer Sisters
Length: 2:10
Size: 3.8 MB
Completed: 9/6/00

This is another one of those music videos I made to make DBZ look like a sappy romance series in which all of the male characters are really silly romantics at heart. Hey, I at least get credit for trying right?

In this video, I wanted to show the unsung softer sides of our manly heroes, and the female characters that make them that way. It's somewhat in the vein of my "I Want Someone To Love" video, but not nearly as sexy. Rather, this one is entirely more light, and kind of pokes fun at the characters themselves.

The couples I focues on were Bulma / Yamcha, Krillin / 18 / Marron, Vegeta / Bulma, and Gohan / Videl. It's like a big DB doujinshi or something!

Title: "All Mixed Up!"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "All Mixed Up," by 311
Length: 3:02
Size: 5 MB
Completed: 8/29/00

Major thanks go out to Ore wa Densetsu no Baka for coming up with the concept for this video!  The origin behind this video is a weird one. Back in the day, I used to churn out music video once a week, or every two weeks. I think the horrible quality of the videos help to demonstrate how quickly I put out these things. Anyway, back on my old message board for my site, I asked some friends "give me an idea that you'd like to see for a music video, and I'll make it." Someone suggested 311's "All Mixed Up" to the story of the errors of Fusion, particularly in the case of Gotenks, when he first fuses into a fat man, and then into an old wrinkly man.

While the concept itself sounds initially cute, once I started working on the video I realized that the lyrics really had nothing to do with my idea. But I worked at it anyway.

In the end, it's basically a one-line joke video based on simply the chorus of the song. We get to see different versions of Gotenks, ending the video with da (little) man himself. :P Overall, this is just a lighthearted video I whipped up even faster than some of my other old ones.

Title: "Smack My Bitch Up: Vegeta vs. #18"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "Smack My Bitch Up," by Prodigy
Length: 3:38
Size: 4.1 MB
Completed: 8/18/00

In the summer of 2000, this was the first action video that I had made in a long while. Deciding to use the insanely AMV-popular song, "Smack My Bitch Up" by Prodigy, I wanted to make an action video that would somewhat turn out slighty different from what the title implies.

For this song, I used the Vegeta vs. #18 fight. One would think "haha, Vegeta's smacking that bitch up," but on the contrary! In the end of this video, #18 is the one making Vegeta *her* bitch. Ohh, quasi plot twists!

I thought that I had some pretty neat timing elements going on when I first made this video. In fact, it was probably my first purely action video in which I attempted to synch the majority of the actions in the video to musical beats. But now that I look back at it, it's still just as sloppy as all my other old works.

Title: "This Was Never Meant To Be"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "This Was Never Meant to Be," by Sting
Length: 3:09
Size: 3.5 MB
Completed: 7/23/00

You know how DBZ is a macho-manly show? Well, sometimes I like to pretend it's something else. In this video, I make the series out to be a rip-roarin' yaoi-fest. Now, don't get me wrong. I hate yaoi with a passion. But when it's in a non-serious comedic sense, then I find it hilarious. So, this video was born!

The premise of this video is show some unusual "couples" of Dragonball land. Some are obvious, others are completely subtle and mostly made up in my own mind. But for the purposes of this video, I just wanted to make people laugh, or be totally disgusted and think "whoa, she did not just imply that!"

Here's a run-down of the fake DB "couples" I highlighted in this video:

Piccolo / Dr. Gero, Chaotzu / Tenshinhan, Goku / Broli, Trunks / Goten, Krillin / #17, Goku / Vegeta, Gohan / Piccolo, Freeza / everyone.

In addition to the spelendor of these wanna-be yaoi couples is the introduction of cheesy dub-lines in the video, added for commedic effect. Come on, what's not to love about the sexual undertones of "so, you wanna see my sword, huh?" and "having these balls makes me feel something resembeling joy, I think... I want to carress them."?

And, then video ends with our men bursting out into fits of blushing uncontrollably. How cute! So yes, that's my silly gay video which is as close as I'll ever get to making a yaoi video. :P

Title: "Baby Got Back"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "Baby Got Back," by Sir Mix A Lot
Length: 1:03
Size: 1.7 MB
Completed: 6/7/00

Just when you though I couldn't make any more derivative music videos, here comes another AMV standard: "Baby Got Back."

However, in the case of the series in question, I actually think this works. Ya see, more than an action series, DBZ is also a comedy. A comedy based on lots of nudity and potty humor. That said, you have a basis for a fun video.

Apparently, I must not have thought it was *that* solid an idea, because I edited the song down to 1:02 minutes, heh. The focus of this video, though, is mostly entirely on the mother/son team of Bulma and Trunks, who have a tendency to share their nude groove thangs.

Short, sweet, and stupid. That about sums it up. :P Nothing to write home about, though!

Title: "Dress You Up In My Love"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "Dress You Up (In My Love)," by Madonna
Length: 4:01
Size: 4.5 MB
Completed: 5/26/00

Being the horny fan-girl I was once, I liked to indulge myself in making cheesy Trunks music videos. Before, I had done action and serious videos about this character, but I eventually decided to make a kind of fan-girl's dream video, featuring all the cute and sexay shots of Trunks that I can find. Juvenille to the max, but this video is a slight step up from my previous videos, and especially better than the past three un-original piels of crap I had made.

The main good thing about this video is the cute lyric matching. The video capture quality is also better than most, but certainly is not great.

Some examples of scene/lyric matching in the video:

* "you've got style, that's what all the girls say" / Trunks being gawked at by fellow employees at Capsule Corp.
* "satin sheets, and luxuries so fine" / falling down on a big bed with sheets

However, after about the 1:45, I start to run out of ideas and just use filler shots. Pretty lame of me!

Title: "I Think I'm A Clone Now"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "I Think I'm A Clone Now," by Weird Al Yankovic
Length: 3:10
Size: 5.2 MB
Completed: 5/18/00

After seeing the Evangelion "I Think I'm a Clone Now" music video on an Otakon tape, I decided "wow, that can work with Broli too!" Then a bad music video was made. From 2000, this is one of my least favorite videos, most obviously due to the fact that it's not an original idea for a video. I must have been in a rut back then, unable to come up with any decent ideas of my own. This video has some attempts at timing, but not many, and was made using DBZ movie fansubs. O_o Yuck!

Title: "Who Wants To Live Forever?"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "Who Wants to Live Forever?," by Queen
Length: 5:16
Size: 8.36 MB
Completed: 4/30/00

Continuing my streak of over-used songs is my rendition of "Who Wants to Live Forever?" Muchly seen on many Otakon music video contests, I decided to try my own hand at using this dramatic song for a music video.

The concept is: show almost every single main character's death from DBZ. Some parts work better than others, and this does rank as the longest music video I've ever made. However, considering how over-used the song is, and the unoriginal idea, I can't say many good things about this video. Well, there were some actual dramatic moments in the video that I think are strong, and a few bits of timing, but other than that... meh.

Title: "DBZ Is Too Sexy!"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "I'm Too Sexy," by Right Said Fred
Length: 2:37
Size: 4.3 MB
Completed: 4/16/00

Oh god... make it stop. Well, I suppose most AMV creators are obligated to do an "I'm Too Sexy" video at some point. And this is mine. -_-;;;

It's kind of cute, but this video suffers from extremely poor video quality, and awkward timing. This is obviously not the most original video ever made, so I really don't have much to say about it.

Title: "I Want Someone To Love"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "I Want Someone To Love," from the Lunarock Sailor Moon Soundtrack
Length: 3:36
Size: 5.8 MB
Completed: 3/11/00

As a longtime DBZ fan, I found things about the show, little things, that I liked more than the actual main plots. One of those things was the variety and intensity of the relationships. I noticed that in addition to the standard relationships (i.e- Goku/Chi-Chi), there were a few that had a bit of sexual tension and innuendo (Vegeta/Bulma, Krillin/#18, and Trunks/Pan to a small degree). I thought, "hmm, there's a lot more sexuality in this show than people realize, and I wanna bring these raging hormones to light." That said, I made this video in which I hoped to show people the sexuality of some of the characters, or just their plain hotness, and relationships to one another.

I think this video marks a new trend in my older videos, in which I pay more attention to editing and scene choices. It's a pretty big jump from my videos made two months prior to this in January 2000 (maybe I took a 2 month break from videos for a reason... I honestly don't remember), and I think it shows. If you have any of these of videos of mine in RealVideo format saved somewhere, I recommend checking this one out, and compare it to ones made in 1999 to see the big change in my work. :P

Title: "Dawn of the Children: Generation Z"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "Dawn of the Children," from DBZ Never Ending Story CD
Length: 2:25
Size: 2.7 MB
Completed: 1/26/00

I made this video featuring the "next generation" of the Z-Senshi, Trunks, Goten, Pan, Bra, and Marron. After I made it, I decided to dedicate the video to the "Gen-Z"-type fansites I had enjoyed back in the day. Gen-Z sites were a pretty popular fad back then; it allowed fans to explore the lives and potential of the teens of DBGT, and they were different from the norm of cannon DBZ sites. I think those site played a big part in the creation of this video.

I used the song "Dawn of the Children," a catchy mid-tempo DBZ image song I had on my 'Never Ending Story" DBZ 2-CD set. I thought it fit the mood of the video pretty well. While this video isn't a hard action video, it has a few action elements that exist just for keeping things interesting. Basically, this is a tribute video to a few select and under-used characters from the late-DBZ and DBGT eras. I think it's for that reason that I enjoy this video.

There are a few instances in this thing where I attempted to time cool scenes of character head shots together. But now that I look back at it, I realize that I didn't get it right at all, but I can see what I was trying to accomplish. For something I made 3 years ago, it's *almost* on the right track.

Title: "Gangster Tripping"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "Gangster Tripping," by Fatboy Slim
Length: 2:21
Size: 3.8 MB
Completed: 1/13/00

In my original description for this video, I wrote: "I'll admit it, there is absolutely no point to this music video." I'll still stand by that statement.

However, for one of my earlier works on the computer, it does have a moderate amount of action, clips, and... timing!

Yes, I'll admit it, when I first made this video, it was my own attempt at practicing timing. And while it's by no means any good, it's at least a start! Sadly, the video does not feature any kind of story; it's just random clips all put together for the sake of looking cool, and using a cool song, while I can learn to edit.

Essentially, it's a video I made in order to learn and practice with Premiere. Nothing much to say other than that. :P

Title: "Gettin' Rowdy:  Super #17 vs. The GT Gang"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "Iz They Wildin' Wit Us & Getin' Rowdy Wit Us?," by Busta Rhymes and Mystikal
Length: 3:36
Size: 2.2 MB
Completed: 1/4/00

Next to "I Hate You So Much," this is, in my opinion, my second worst video of my early years. The one cool thing about it is the fact that I used the Super #17 fight from DBGT, perhaps the only section of that series I even remotely like.

This video, while using a pretty unique story arc for it's time, has very little in the way of concept and actual timing. However, if you wanna watch a video with lots of pummeling, rapping, and dirty words, then by golly, it looks like you have yourself a winner.

Guess I don't have much to say about this video. It's my first and only video using a rap song (hey, Busta's pretty wacky!), and that's more or less it. The video is just.. yikes!

**not available, see Version 2**
Title: "Open Road Song:  Goku and Piccolo Go Driving"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "Open Road Song" by Eve 6
Length: 3:17
Size: 5.4 MB
Completed: 12/29/99

This is my first comedy DBZ music video, and I can say with somewhat-sure self-assurance that this is the first video based on the DBZ driving episode! Accept no imitators! Well, you can, I just won't care.

When I was big into Eve6 *shudder*, I really fell for this song, and realized it fit perfectly with this one very humorous episode of DBZ when Goku and Piccolo are forced to get their drivers licenses by Chi-Chi. Well, fitting perfectly may be a bit untrue, since a few lyrics really have nothing to do with the scenes I used. But hey, it's the thought that counts!

One thing that this video does have going for it (other than the use of silly looking scenes), are my initial attempts at timing certain actions to the beats. Wow, I was starting to learn back then (albiet, very VERY slowly).

All in all, a cute video, and one of my early favorites.

**not available**
Title: "I Hate You So Much:  Vegeta vs. Goku"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "Caught Out There" by Kelis
Length: 4:11
Size: 2.5 MB
Completed: 12/17/99

Arguably, this is one of THE worst music videos I have ever created. The song choice itself is a disaster. It's one of those newbie things people do when you say "oh, this is a cool song, I'll use it in a video!" based on listening to JUST the chorus. If I did take only the chorus into consideration, then this video may work.

This is a video based on the first Goku and Vegeta battle. This song is about a very angry woman breaking up with her man. UGH. Worst song choice EVER! OK, it could be worse, but you have to admit, this is pretty damn bad.

The audio quality is absoltuely terrible. It even has my sister and me talking in the background. Don't ask me how that happened. Something must have gone wrong in the recording process. I didn't know how to properly rip audio back then. ^^;;

In addition to the lousy quality is the lack of editing of footage. Long, unedited scenes, all strung together in a scary mix. Worst of all is perhaps the downright pathetic attempt at lip synching. In this day of frame-by-frame lip synching... I don't know how I could have done this.

I'm not even going to attempt to talk about the story of this video, because frankly, there isn't one. Vegeta and Goku fight each other. Lots of yelling. KA POW! Quite an embarrassing video to add to my collection, I'd say.

Title: "Worlds Collide"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "When Worlds Collide" by Powerman5000
Length: 2:58
Size: 4.8 MB
Completed: 11/19/99

Ahhh, remember back in the day when everyone and their uncle used Powerman5000's "When Worlds Collide" for music videos? Remember when people actually knew of that band? Wow, that band sucked. Anyways, this video was made for an actual reason, believe it or not!

At some point, I started to get an obscene amount of requests for this one tune, and I eventually gave in, and admitted it was a kinda catchy dumb hard song I could use for a mindless action video (wait... they were ALL mindless action videos!). So, a video was made.

Sadly, this video doesn't have much going for it. My original idea for the video was to focus on each "era" of DBZ, and show each of the main villains being killed (god, was I really THAT much of a newbie?). Unfortunately, I didn't own much in the way of Freeza Era fansubs back then (yes, all my music videos at this point in my life were made with fan subs. Not many commercial releases of DBZ were out back then, just the early stuff), so this video only focuses on the Cell and Buu sagas. Score one point for Meri using her first over-used song!

**not available, see Version 2**
Title: "Break Me"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "Break Me," by Savage Garden
Length: 3:25
Size: 5.7 MB
Completed: 11/5/99

This is version 1 of a music video I made back in late 1999. It's my first real character profile music video. Almost a serious attempt at one, to boot!

The premise of the video is one that attempts to make sense of the somewhat disturbed character of Vegeta. The story shows him abusing his son, Trunks, being pretty self-destructive, suicidal, and of course the major pride issues come into play as well.

My desire to make this video basically stems from the song itself: Break Me. With this song in mind, there are basically two jokes that make up the video: Vegeta "breaking" himself as he commits suicide against Buu, and at the end of the video when #18 breaks his arm. Pretty simple, neh?

In the end, the video deals with Vegeta's psychological troubles (yes, I personally do like to believe DBZ is deeper than it really is ^^), and how they drive him batty! Had the timing and video quality been better, this would be something I'd be super duper proud of. But, a remake of this video would later come...

Title: "Tribute To Gohan & Piccolo"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "Music of my Heart" by *NSYNC and Gloria Estafan
Length: 4:31
Size: 5.1 MB
Completed: 10/15/99

Awwww. Meri's very first widdle little drama video! It would even be a decent one, too... if it didn't look like garbage and have long unedited scenes.

All the terrible negative things aside, I kind of enjoyed making this video. It focuses on the relationship between Gohan and Piccolo (well, as much of a relationship that can exist between a little boy and a green evil alien), and takes a look at all the good times and heartaches, up to Piccolo's sacrifice.

I remember making this with an actual story in mind, as well as a sequence of events planned out in my mind. This may be my first step towards realizing that music videos should be planned ahead of time, with a plot, rather than being slapped together in 5 hours, like all my early music videos in 1999 and early 2000 were.

Title: "SpacePeople DBZ"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "SpacePeople DBZ" by Kageyama Hironobu
Length: 3:11
Size: 3.5 MB
Completed: 10/1/99

This is the first full-length music video/editing project I ever made using a computer. It really blows, and it's nothing a DBZ newbie fanboy wouldn't be able to make nowadays. Maybe for its time I was impressed by it, but... still, it's pretty pathetic. :P

The video quality itself is very icksome, since I used just DBZ movie fansubs. On the plus side, it was my first time truly experimenting with Adobe Premiere. Sadly, there's no point to the video. Just picked a song I liked (from one of the DBZ soundtracks, "Never Ending Story"), and set it to some "cool." Clips. I am now a retard. Hard to believe I started off as such an innocent young editor, not knowing what she was doing!

Come to think of it, I suppose there is a sophomoric plot to the video... somewhat. Story is: the biggest Super Saiyajins Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, and Trunks get their thangs on, lookin' hot. How sad am I.

**not available**
Title: "Men In Black"
Format: RealVideo
Song: "Men In Black" by Will Smith
Length: 2:43
Size: 4.4 MB
Completed: Summer '98

Also made using 2 VCRs, this was my very first strictly DBZ video that would lead to years of insanity on my part. I think the big question is "what was she thinking?"

Concept: Z-Senshi kick ass. So do the MiB. Uh... Will Smith is cool! Make video! A gal does stupid things when she's 17.

At this point in my life, I was *heavily* obsessed with Trunks and Juunanagou (#17) from DBZ. So, they were featured prominently in this video. Basically, a lot of action scenes with my first attempts at timing. It's pretty ugly. :P