Old VHS-quality video effects

September 29, 2010 7:30 PM

VideoProductionFilter, I'm doing a video project for school and I want to make the most realistic 1980-esque infomercial, complete with grainy/old-VHS look, sour, distorted sound, and muffled voices. How can I create these effects?

Specifically, I want that old-VHS tape effect where static tissue obscures the screen at the beginning and at random transitions.

I'm working with Final Cut Pro.

Thanks!

posted by Taft to media & arts (5 answers total)

Augh, I meant Adobe Premiere
posted by Taft at 7:32 PM on September 29, 2010

Do you have to do it on modern equipment? I'd just find a nasty old VHS camera... use it for the shoot, dump to FCP for editing, and then push it back out to the VHS again.
posted by nathan_teske at 9:05 PM on September 29, 2010

Yep, only modern equipment (school camera/mics) so these effects will probably have to be artificial.
posted by Taft at 9:11 PM on September 29, 2010

"ONLY the school camera and mics" ? or "using the school camera and mics" ?

i love VHS artifacting and grain and know of no other way to replicate it realistically besides using the real stuff. . .

i really enjoy the effects that come from dubbing and redubbing, transferring to different media, playing back on a screen and filming THAT, etc

can you use a vhs cam as suggested above, then play back the footage on and old school tv, and actually shoot the TV with the school cam to get your end product?

can you use only the school cam but wiggle the cables to get some jumps and jitters....?
posted by white light at 11:16 PM on September 29, 2010

For the sound, you probably want a low-pass filter combined with a little distortion (you can do this in Audacity, which is free). Not sure about the video aspect of course.
posted by en forme de poire at 6:56 AM on September 30, 2010