May 2003

Angel Without Me Vid by Sisabet & Dr. Dawn. (wmv) An extremely giggle-worthy Lilah vid with spoilers for Angel up to the end of the fourth season. Spankin' good source, wonderful timing and lots of Wesley and Connor to keep me extra happy.

Angel Numb Vid by Astarte (Vid is Missing) (rm) A slick Connor and Angel relationship vid. I don't much like Linkin' Park but I can't imagine a better Connor song. I particularly enjoyed the fractured opening. Spoilers through Angel season four.

April 2003

BtVS/Angel Ice Vid by Astarte (Vid is Missing). (wmv) A Sarah McLachlan song (I admit, I have a weakness) used to tell the overlapping tales of woe of Wesley and Faith in both 'Buffy' and 'Angel'. Literally, special-effects wise. I liked the use of layering - it's overdone but still. Moody. I found the line 'your soul is anchored' wonderfully eye-opening and I loved the ending, but then, I like third to fourth season Wes. One I've watched again and again.

March 2003

Angel My Father's Eyes Vid by Marauder Productions. (quicktime) Not my favourite Marauder vid, but it's pure third season Connor. Mmmmm, Connor.

Angel Saint of Me Vid by Marauder Productions. (quicktime) A romp through the entire series up to the fourth season Apocalypse Nowish/Rain of Fire. This is an extremely funky and brilliantly timed vid. 'You'll never make a saint of me'.

Angel Cowboy Vid by Sisabet. (wmv) A funny and pacey video that makes Angel look cool even when there's blood and pain. Great source and spot on timing.

Angel/BtVS Closer Vid by Sisabet. (wmv & rm) 'I want to feel you from the inside'. A fantastic opening and a brilliant last quarter that makes full use of the music's changes, this is a slashy and complex Spike and Angel compare and contrast vid. I get a different sense of its theme every time I watch.

BtVS She's Too Good For Me Vid by Blondie. (wmv & quicktime) An amusing Spuffy vid and a perfect example of lyric to clip matching. I'd recommend the wmv versions of her vids, they just seem to be better quality (so that goes for the five below as well). YMMV. Blondie also supplies clips-on-demand. Three cheers!

BtVS Since I Fell For You Vid by Blondie. (wmv & quicktime) Mostly season seven clips. Great use of an opening quote. I'd watch this vid just for the fantastic Dinah Washington song (very sad-guy-in-bar) but there's also a wonderful sense of Spike's continuing and helpless love for Buffy.

BtVS Tainted Love Vid by Blondie. (wmv & quicktime) Marilyn Manson's version of Tainted Love. And, well, it is. A Spuffy vid with some shiny, shiny source. Look Ma! No logos! The bit right at the start where the sound quality seems shite? Yeah, that's just the song. I think I'm getting old. P.S. Good use of show credits.

BtVS The Promise Vid by Blondie. (wmv & quicktime) Using a rather beautiful Tracy Chapman song, this is a sweetly romantic and slightly sad pre-season-seven Spike POV Spuffy vid. Eh. Got all that? My only complaints are a couple of odd transitions.

BtVS The Joker Vid by Blondie. (wmv & quicktime) Slow start but otherwise a lot of Spike-focused Spuffy fun with good to great source. And I love this song (the Steve Miller Band).

BtVS Can't Stop The Rock Vid by Blondie. (wmv & quicktime) Fighting, fighting, fighting, getting it on, fighting. Pretty much no redeeming value to this vid. It's fun. And funny book-end quotes for free.

BtVS Innocent Vid by Maeve. (wmv) 'We are all innocent'. Early season Buffy and gang and various heartbreaks. Valerie also used this song, and it makes for an interesting compare and contrast.

BtVS Behind Blue Eyes Vid by White Star 2 Productions. Large format Realplayer vid. Giles! He's sad. He's bad. He sings. I love Giles.

BtVS God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen Vid by Queen Mab. (wmv) Uses the episodes 'Amends' and 'Sleeper'. It took me a little while to get into this one, but it's a strangely disturbing Angel and Spike contrast vid, this time from Buffy's POV. On the theme 'once bitten, twice shy', it made me reconsider her relationships with them.

February 2003

BtVS Time Vid by Valerie. A moody, down-low Angel and BtVS "people" piece. Despite an incoherent song (Tori Amos, I love 'er, but...) there is a wonderful sense for the music and a nicely done read-what-you-will ending. Mixed source quality but all in all - pukka.

BtVS Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life Vid by Vyra. The sixth season was funny. No, really. Monty Python + absurd Buffyverse. It's all good.

BtVS Sleep Alone Vid by Vyra. A love it or hate it vid, I think, this throws all the special effects in the book at the screen but puts them to good use. An experimental, moody piece in which Buffy looks back at her relationship with Angel.

BtVS Buffy Season 1 & 2 Vid by Ariana. A dark and moody (and slightly jumpy) first and second season walkthrough with dramatic instrumental and choral music from the movie Romeo + Juliet. Focuses on Buffy and Angel, but other people get a look in too.

BtVS Die Another Day Vid by Ariana. Workmanlike Buffy-survivalist vid with an interesting ending.

BtVS Rockabye Vid by Valerie. A cute Spike and Dawn vid about a girl and her babysitter.

BtVS Boca Del Infierno Vid by Vanessa Nichols. What it is to live on the Hellmouth. Misery. Lots of misery. Misery with cherries on top. Uses beautiful music (Panis Angelicus sung by Charlotte Church) but unfortunately lousy source.

BtVS Overcome Vid by Karen. A seventh-season-hell vid which sensibly takes characters in turn and shows how all is not well. Moving.

BtVS In My Hands Vid by Windsong (Lynn). The song is 'Girl With the Weight of the World In Her Hands' Not a happy one then. Concentrates on the loneliness of fifth and sixth season Buffy.

BtVS Secret Garden Vid by Windsong (Lynn). (Vid is Missing) A lovely downbeat narrative Spike/Buffy vid which uses not only the lyrics but episode quotes to tell the shippy tale from Spike's POV. Excludes seventh season. Excellent source.

BtVS Facing Evil Vid by Lynn. (Vid is Missing) A powerful and dramatic seventh season vid using the Last of the Mohicans theme (sob! I love this music) and episode quotes. A reminder of just how nasty things have been.

BtVS Precious Illusions Vid by Nicole Anell. 'I know who I'm not, I still don't know who I am'. An Anya character vid using good source and an eye for movement. And wow, Emma Caulfield changes her hair a lot.

January 2003

Angel I Love LA Vid by Luminosity & Kamil. Though by no means my favourite song (Randy Newman), the video is compelling. They take the lyrics literally but not always in ways you might expect, and always with a great match of movement and music. A funny and strangely warm Angel vid.

Angel Breathe Vid by Bonibaru. A retelling of the Faith, Angel, Wesley triangle with some Buffy thrown in. Nobody's having fun. And now I'm going to go and watch Five by Five and Sanctuary again.

Buffy The Movie Die Another Day Vid by Silvia Kundera. Uses the Madonna Bond song and manages the stunning feat of making the Buffy movie look cool.

BtVS Dream On Vid by Luminosity - a woman who makes me want to use words like 'prodigious' and 'impeccable'. This is a technically excellent vid making simple use of transparency and silky transitions without pushing the music in any way. Looks at seventh season Spike. His dreams and fantasies may be crazy but his lucid world isn't any less nightmarish. Inspired and beautiful.

Try it with David Gray's, 'This Year's Love' or 'The Other Side'. Or Duran Duran's 'Ordinary World' or especially Annie Lennox 'Legend In My Living Room'. Or, y'know, any number of other songs. Go on. It's fun. Really.

BtVS Innocent Vid by Valerie. A Spike/Xander, Faith/Buffy, Willow/Tara vid by turns, it shows each character as sweet, and not so. Slick.

BtVS Fear Vid by cerdd_gwen. A Buffy POV vid using a Sarah McLachlan song. Yes, yes, I know but in focusing on season five and six, this vid captures all the melancholy and reckless hope and strength of 'Fear' and of Buffy herself. A clever and very moving depiction of Buffy's relationship with the people closest to her.

Fun with Kate Bush 'Running Up That Hill'.

BtVS Hero Vid by Ashes. Using Hero by Chad Kroeger, a song I am guilty of liking, Ashes pulls out more clips of Spike being, well, heroic (if no-one else will be), than I thought possible plus a few of him being just plain desperate. A moving vid for Spike lovers.

Also good with Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill' and with Small Faces 'Tin Soldier'.

BtVS Glorious #1 Vid by Here's Luck. A season six vid featuring Spike trying very hard to be the big bad. Irony-filled but ambiguous, particularly if you pretend you haven't seen season seven.

BtVS Strange Disease Vid by The Crazy Grrl. A vid that makes Angelus look like an amusing guy, and actually made me feel sorry for him. 'Two weeks ago you said you'd never leave me'. Great use of the pace, tone and lyrics of the song (Strange Disease by Prozzac).

BtVS Fool For Love Vid by Luminosity & Kamil. A sexy and dark Spike/Buffy vid adding visuals to a Mixmaster (fan) track. Features quotes from the fifth season ep Fool For Love.

BtVS The Last Time I Saw William Vid by Settiai. Though perhaps a little too long, this vid looks at Spike, the Early Days from the unusual viewpoint of Halfrek, Anya's Vengeance Demon buddy, and 'Cecily', William's original crush.

BtVS Grace Vid by Here's Luck. A sultry Spike/Buffy vid in which Buffy dreams and much sex is had. Clever and smooth.

BtVS Blood Of Me Vid by Here's Luck. Another sultry Buffy/Spike relationship vid, companion piece to Grace (above), this one uses the Heather Nova song to create a restless and unsettled atmosphere. Gothic.

BtVS Gangsta's Paradise Vid by Morgaine. A downbeat Faith POV vid that's so apt, you might wonder if Whedon had the song in mind.

BtVS She Bangs Vid by Morgaine. A rockin' Faithcentric vid that starts with Buffy's POV, switches half way (I think) to Faith's POV and has a thrilling conclusion. Basically an excuse to watch Faith's greatest moments. But who needs one?

BtVS End of The World Vid by Luminosity & Kamil. Using a driving REM song, this is a relentless tour of BtVS highlights and lowlights. Fast, funny, subtle, sad and ironic. My favourite is Cordelia + cheesecake. A masterclass in 4.12 minutes. Whistlestop, with bells on.

It also works uncannily well as a montage for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's 'Red Eyes and Tears'.

BtVS Clint Eastwood Vid by Sisabet. This is an inspired vid that makes witty use of a zany song and explores the freakiness of the Buffyverse. It's also a riff on the lyrics 'my future is coming on'. Twisty.

BtVS Atropine Vid by Here's Luck. A cleverly cut Willow/Tara heartbreak vid which makes full use of a stunningly appropriate song. Makes me pity DarthWillow.

BtVS Fragile Vid by Eunice & Myrtle. This is a delicate and tense high school era vid featuring the human characters (plus Oz) hurting and healing each other. Special cameo appearance by Miss Calendar.

BtVS Believe Vid by Bonibaru. 'I believe in me'. All about Buffy, and what it means to be a slayer. Sad and funny in turn, this is a touching and just plain cool vid.

BtVS Hit Vid by Here's Luck. On the theme 'this wasn't supposed to happen', Buffy and Spike hit each other a lot, and shag each other a lot. More light hearted than you'd think.

BtVS Country Cavalcade Vid by Sisabet & dr. dawn. The first part is a hilarious Buffy/Willow/Warren spoof based around the Dixie Chicks' 'Goodbye Earl' - even DarthWillow becomes funny. The second part... well, Spike would be mortified if he knew his life was a country song and Xander is a winner and a loser to 'Pink Houses'.

BtVS Only In America Vid by Settiai. As a non-American this song annoys the 'nads off me, and a couple of comments in the vid are questionable, but otherwise this is an interesting vid about the relationships in BtVS and Angel and a character piece to boot.

BtVS Fata Obstant Vid by Myrtle & Eunice. With a title meaning The Fates Oppose, this is a dramatic reworking of Angel and Buffy's battles using 'The Elk Hunt' from the beautiful Last Of The Mohicans soundtrack. Moving and powerful.

BtVS/Angel Ain't Love Strange Vid by Sisabet. A rogues' gallery of the more fucked up relationships in BtVS and Angel. An unusual and funny vid.

BtVS Twilight Zone Vid by Sisabet Xander's living in a mad world. A rockin' Xander character piece in which he gets to be the hero occasionally.

BtVS Some Fantastic Vid by Laura Shapiro. An illuminating Xander character vid with lots of humour and lots of sadness, chiefly looking at his relationships with Willow, Cordelia and Anya. Somehow he just never seems to get the girl. I'm afraid I can't give the direct URL for the vid, since it's password protected, but the link above gives Laura's addy, so ask her very nicely.

BtVS Transparent Vid by Laura Shapiro. A vid that could be seen as a companion piece to the Xander vid (above), this is a Willow character piece which pretty much answers the question, "why magic?" A vid to settle into, with a great sense for the music. I'm afraid I can't give the direct URL for the vid, since it's password protected, but the link above gives Laura's addy, so ask her very nicely.

BtVS Welcome To The Jungle Vid by Myrtle & Eunice. Beautifully timed and with good quality sources, this vid focuses on Angel, Drusilla and family being very, very naughty in season two. Sunnydale is a wild place to live.

Fun with Mary J. Blige's 'Family Affair' and Kosheen's 'Hungry'.

BtVS Mad World Vid by Luminosity. A beautiful song by Gary Jules, 'I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad', shows the weirdness of the Buffyverse through Spike's eyes and includes some of the series' niftier special effects. A meditative take on Spike that has ensured that I'll never look at him in the same way again.

Try with Lucid's 'Crazy' (they're about the same length, too).

BtVS When We Dance Vid by Here's Luck. A Spike POV Spuffy vid that makes good use of the song (Paper Cup by Heather Nova) paired with Spike's 'you know you wanna dance', uh, metaphor.

BtVS Southwest Voodoo Vid by The Shimmer Twins. I found the song off-putting at first but the lyrical match is uncanny, with fantastic timing and control. Willow in all her evil wicca glory.

BtVS Rebel Yell Vid by Luminosity. A Billy Idol song for the bleached boy wonder. A rockin' Spike POV vid that explores the more violent nature of his relationship with Buffy and with his own past. Powerful use of special effects. One of my all-time favourites.

Also good with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's 'Whatever Happened To My Rock 'n' Roll?' and fun with Everclear's 'Rockstar'.