| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vhs_glitch.jpg]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKYU9gqnhw Via YouTube]]]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | Deliberate VHS Quality is when, to achieve a certain aesthetic, something is deliberately filmed in grainy VHS quality to make it appear older as a stylistic choice. Often in videos that try to mimic the quality of a VHS tape, you'll see a blue screen at the beginning, with "PLAY" in blocky white letters at the top left corner of the screen, and the ensuing video quality will be grainy and full of tracking lines. Occasionally, even the audio may sound warped or distorted. By definition, a video using this trope will have been created sometime after VHS was supplanted by the DVD, so the mid-[[TurnOfTheMillennium 2000's]] at the earliest. |
| 5 | |
| 6 | The creator either achieves this through a computer effect such as a video filter, or they find an actual VHS video cassette to film on; usually, the more warped and degraded the better, as it wouldn't be as obvious if they used a well-preserved tape. After all, VHS wouldn't have been considered at least passable as a video format for more than twenty years, even outselling formats with superior image quality like Betamax and Platform/LaserDisc, had it always looked so warped. Particularly with the advent of Hi-Fi, picture and especially sound quality on VHS improved a lot compared to when it first debuted; and of course, professionally-made VHS tapes typically looked and sounded better than a tape recorded off the television, which itself would typically look better than something recorded with a camcorder. As such, usage of this trope can be a type of StylisticSuck, as creators that want the look of an aged and degraded VHS tape but are still looking for a certain level of authenticity will often purposely use a worn-out tape, use a Platform/{{VCR}} with dirty recording heads, or record from one tape to another back and forth with two [=VCRs=], to get the desired effect. Video filters usually already have the video quality be exaggeratedly bad even for VHS. Other clues that a filter was used instead of the real thing include when the word "PLAY" on the top left corner of the screen never goes away, as on most real [=VCRs=] it only stays for a few seconds, and if the video is widescreen and not formatted for a square-shaped CRT television (as actual rips from a VHS tape will usually be)[[note]]Some poorly made VHS rips may [[VisualCompression stretch]] or [[PanAndScan crop]] the image to 16:9, which aren't the original aspect ratio. This can only be justified if the video was {{Letterbox}}ed on the tape to begin with. That would make the image smaller, and therefore even lower quality.[[/note]]. |
| 7 | |
| 8 | Since [[TheNewTens the 2010s]], this has become a way of establishing a time period as being in the [[TheEighties 1980s]] or [[TheNineties 1990s]], in much the way filming in black-and-white became shorthand for the early-to-mid 20th century, and can be meant to invoke nostalgia. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | When used in a FoundFootage film and/or AnalogHorror, it can add a horror element by making it seem more authentic, though these days this is more likely to be done with a smartphone camera, unless it's supposed to be a PeriodPiece. It can also be used to [[ObscuredSpecialEffects disguise imperfections in CGI animation]], making the footage look more "real", though dated. May be combined with an AspectRatioSwitch to show a 4:3 frame, as VHS only ever supported that AspectRatio.[[note]]While widescreen VHS tapes technically exist with select movies, they show widescreen content {{Letterbox}}ed to 4:3. This practice was used for nearly every widescreen movie on Platform/LaserDisc in TheNineties. A "true" widescreen VHS tape or [=LaserDisc=] would either be incompatible with an existing player, or would [[VisualCompression look squished]]. "True" widescreen wouldn't become popular until digital formats, such as Platform/{{DVD}} and MediaNotes/HighDefinition came around.[[/note]] |
| 11 | |
| 12 | Compare {{Retraux}}, CassetteFuturism, RasterVision and DeliberatelyMonochrome; artificial emulating of old tech to produce a certain aesthetics. Contrast StaticScrew. Related to DecadeThemedFilter. Contrast CrystalClearPicture, which is fixing the de-sync between InUniverse screens and the camera to avoid RasterVision. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | ---- |
| 15 | !!Examples: |
| 16 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 17 | |
| 18 | [[folder:Advertising]] |
| 19 | * [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in [[https://youtu.be/EVBHuhrY1Ew A 2019 April Fools commercial]] for the Honda Passport. It's in 4:3 ratio, has slightly muted colors, and a narrow column slightly brighter than the image on the far left. However, the quality looks more like a Platform/LaserDisc or a well-restored analog master tape. |
| 20 | * A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWixQmv-FMM 2020 Christmas commercial]] for Liberty Mutual plays a VHS-quality home video from 1990 of a child receiving insurance for Christmas. It doesn't look much lower-quality than the scene leading into the home video, other than the camera filter, a more jagged frame rate, and a bit of pixellation near the end. The commercial is quite tongue-in-cheek, since it depicts children getting more excited about insurance than a bicycle, and the narrator admits the video is an attempt to appeal to invoke nostalgia, so it's implied the tape isn't even a real VHS tape in-universe. |
| 21 | [[/folder]] |
| 22 | |
| 23 | [[folder:Film — Animated]] |
| 24 | * The beginning of ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', after the FakeActionPrologue, is a series of home videos showing young Andy playing with his toys. The picture is framed in 4:3 and features occasional visual glitches. This emphasizes the SequelGap (both of the previous films were released in TheNineties) and the ensuing TimeSkip to TheNewTens. |
| 25 | * Some scenes in ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe3'', mainly those that involve [[BigBad Balthazaar Bratt]], were made to resemble VHS quality footage because he is a FormerChildStar who was famous in TheEighties. |
| 26 | * A couple scenes in ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'' (set in the early 2000s) are made to look like footage from a camcorder made in the TheNineties as it is meant to show what Mei and her friends recorded during their fundraising for 4*Town tickets. |
| 27 | [[/folder]] |
| 28 | |
| 29 | [[folder:Film — Live-Action]] |
| 30 | * ''Film/{{Censor}}'' is this as TheMovie. The tapes that Enid watches are naturally '80s quality, although it's a mark of Enid's deteriorating sanity when it starts to slip into real life, with rewinding, pause, and other video qualities. |
| 31 | * ''Film/ComputerChess'' was mostly filmed with early 1980s-era Sony AVC-3260 camcorders. |
| 32 | * ''Film/KongSkullIsland'': The Washington D.C. scene (which is the very first scene in the movie's main 1970s time frame after the WWII {{distant prologue}}) opens with a grainy 70s footage aesthetic when focusing on the historic anti-Vietnam War protesters, before transitioning into modern picture quality as we fully settle into the setting. [[spoiler:The mid-credits footage of Marlow reuniting with his family just after the ending also uses a 70s home video visual quality]]). |
| 33 | * ''Film/KungFury'' looks like it's from a heavily used VHS tape from 1985; tracking issues even interrupt the opening fight the main character has with a robotic arcade machine, obscuring how he ends up in outer space suddenly in the middle of the fight. |
| 34 | * The film ''Film/{{No}}'' was shot on Sony U-matic magnetic tape in order to make it look more like footage from a television news report from 1988, which is when the film is set. The use of U-matic tape allowed the filmmakers to seamlessly incorporate ''actual'' Chilean news footage from the era. |
| 35 | * The ''Film/ParanormalActivity'' films dabble in this although released solidly in the DVD era, particularly the third film which is actually set in the 1980's and thus looks like it was filmed on a VHS camcorder. |
| 36 | * The promotional material for ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' was intentionally produced to resemble the cheesy movie trailers featured on VHS rentals in the 80s and 90s, including the warped sound and grainy film quality. |
| 37 | * ''Film/TopGunMaverick'': Some of Maverick's memories of Goose are taken from [[Film/TopGun the first film]] (chiefly Goose at the piano at the bar and [[spoiler:his death]]) and are shown this way. |
| 38 | * ''Film/TronLegacy'' used this in several flashback moments, like Flynn's last address to Encom. Again, {{Justified|Trope}} as the scenes were set in 1989, and an ExploitedTrope as the grainy VHS style downplayed some of the UnintentionalUncannyValley aspects of the DigitalDeaging. |
| 39 | * The FoundFootage horror anthology series ''Film/{{VHS}}'', [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin naturally]], uses this technique to great effect, being a series in which the main hook is that people discover old VHS tapes containing horrifying scenes. The fourth and fifth films, ''Film/VHS94'' and ''Film/VHS99'', go even further and are staged as outright '90s {{period piece}}s. |
| 40 | * The director of ''Film/WNUFHalloweenSpecial'' went so far as to copy the film's digital master copy onto VHS and from there copy it to another VHS tape ''5 times'' in succession, in order to achieve the level of degradation appropriate for a VHS tape from the '80s. |
| 41 | [[/folder]] |
| 42 | |
| 43 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 44 | * ''Series/CheckItOutWithDrSteveBrule'' looks like a cheap public access TV show viewed from a VHS recording. To really sell the aesthetic, the show will occasionally display scanlines and cut into some unrelated scene to make it look like was recorded over another show. |
| 45 | * Most ''Series/ColdCase'' episodes would use flashback effects to mimic the style of filming that was in use for the time period. Those set in the '80's or '90's often had this style to them. |
| 46 | * Season 1 of ''Series/TheEricAndreShow'' was shot in 4:3 resolution using cheap vintage cameras to capture the feel of NoBudget public access shows. They had to stretch out the $500 they were given to produce the show. |
| 47 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwnz11l4Tj0 This trailer]] for season 3 of ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' is a parody of ''Series/TouchedByAnAngel'' and its ilk and has deliberate VHS quality and skipping. |
| 48 | %% * The opening to ''Series/AmericanHorrorStory1984'' employs this, with a lot of 1980's imagery, in keeping with the time period. |
| 49 | * In the TV series of ''WebVideo/DontHugMeImScared'' the ArtShift in the Old Train's song from the episode "Transportation" is done up in this way, making it look like some sort of animation from the 1990s. |
| 50 | [[/folder]] |
| 51 | |
| 52 | [[folder:Music Videos]] |
| 53 | * This trope is extremely popular within the MediaNotes/{{Synthwave}} genre, since the genre is all about striving for a 1980's aesthetic. Some examples: |
| 54 | ** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmzfJeLINhY opening bumper]] to a typical video on the Platform/YouTube channel New Retro Wave starts like it's being played on a VCR, before going to a still image for the rest of the song. |
| 55 | ** The video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdmnsGp9nHw "Drive // Ride"]] by IVERSON starts like someone pressed play on a VCR. |
| 56 | ** [=Timecop1983=]'s video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkQ6H21QBXE "Let's Talk,"]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KZ2f1BEXqE "My First Crush"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEYNRi9ufWs "Secrets"]]...and the majority of their other music videos. |
| 57 | ** The opening logo on music videos for the synthwave band Gunship. |
| 58 | ** Michael Oakley's video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6C9Yt4a7mQ Left Behind]]" flirts with this; it starts like an old video file being played on a 90's computer, and while mostly in HD quality does include tracking lines at different points of the video like a VHS tape. Perhaps it's from one of those rare high definition D-VHS tapes. |
| 59 | ** Ollie Wride's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtMv9r-wjiU Back to Life]]" lyric video employs this along with most of the other common synthwave tropes. |
| 60 | ** Ace Marino's video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtQnNKl7EDk "Summer"]] was filmed using a VHS video filter on a phone, and as a result has a vertical rectangular frame. |
| 61 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsFCEyLFVPM Dreamhour- Eat.Saul.Riot]] released by New Retro Wave records uses the VHS look in the video with lyric subtitles. |
| 62 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrGat10fqXg&list=PLY7wcqjPpV8n7lN2o_s_RNADx4FZB1YPl&index=439 “Those Days” by Geo Vac]] uses this trope to great effect, pairing it with 80s technology and fashion throughout to make it seem like the video really was made in the 1980’s. |
| 63 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z7fJhRe-HA “Runes” by Dead Roses Society]] is an instrumental track that uses this technique in its video, and is even burdened with occasional tracking issues. |
| 64 | * Within modern-day DarkWave, GothRock, PostPunk and other genres in the Goth scene music videos are filmed on VHS increasingly often, perhaps because their style of music dates back to the 1980's and many modern bands are trying to emulate bands from that era, in part by having their videos look like home-made underground music videos from back then. |
| 65 | ** Music/{{Holygram}}'s videos for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihhgJqs_yZg "Still There"]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43zT5aIkT2E "She's Like the Sun"]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFegik2nrNg Acceleration]]. They are quite fond of this effect. |
| 66 | ** The video for Music/HoneyBeard's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJAhfmLyisY Dreamless Sleep]] starts like it was recorded off a late 90's or early 2000's VCR. |
| 67 | ** Music/LebanonHanover's video for [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kmZmbp-nb_k Petals]] was recorded on a VHS camcorder. They didn't go out of their way to make it look degraded either, somewhat unusually for music videos that use this trope. |
| 68 | ** Coldkill's lyric video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNSnPQDwveM "We Believe"]] (a cover of an old Music/{{Ministry}} song) uses this trope, and even has the lyrics in the blocky white VCR font. |
| 69 | ** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ojIdFun68Q Hands]]" by Music/{{Hapax}} looks like it was recorded on a VHS tape that was in pretty bad shape. |
| 70 | ** Music/BoyHarsher uses it in the video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4PDXmo-Gxo "Face the Fire"]]. |
| 71 | ** The video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mDqnZmAg00 "Calm"]] by Music/SecretShame is filmed like someone brought a camcorder to one of their concerts. |
| 72 | ** On one occasion this was done completely on accident by a post-punk band actually from the era being imitated: Music/JoyDivision's one and only music video made during their lifetime, that for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuuObGsB0No "Love Will Tear Us Apart,"]] was handled very poorly in production, resulting in the footage dipping in quality numerous times and creating a brown, solarized effect indicative of tape degradation. Even then, the parts that aren't browned out look very muddy due to the low quality of the recording equipment, which in combination with the dips in quality lend the video a distinctly gritty look that both perfectly captures the feel of an old VCR recording and fits the dark tone of the song. |
| 73 | ** The music video for [[Music/{{Syzygyx}} SYZYGYX]]'s remix of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj9feWUGMJ0 "Le Moment"]] by Music/{{Antipole}} consists of VHS footage of a dance club. |
| 74 | ** The video for Music/CabaretGrey’s [[https://youtu.be/HG2_M-Oap58 “Almost Frantic”]] looks like it was filmed on a video cassette that had varying picture quality. |
| 75 | ** The video for [[https://youtu.be/Wn3Vu_6dlkM “Guilty and Gifted”]] by SDH was filmed using a real VHS camcorder. |
| 76 | ** Music/DrabMajesty [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjBo82hQXFA uses this effect]] fairly regularly in their music videos, often paired with other effects and filters giving the whole video a distorted feel. |
| 77 | ** Music/TwinTribes: |
| 78 | *** The music video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_clqb26cx5A “Tower of Glass”]] has a glitchy VHS quality paired with a red filter. |
| 79 | *** The video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91AvRIu1XQM this Goth for Sanctuaries live performance (Upir/Still in Still)]] is in a VHS filter and in black and white. |
| 80 | ** The Belarussian darkwave band Music/MolchatDoma used a VHS filter in the lyric video for “[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnjs569Ba20 Zvezdy]]”. |
| 81 | ** Minuit Machine’s video for “[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQcSR-pHSew Don’t Run from the Fire”]] starts with “PLAY” in the upper left corner, and uses this as well as other effects to create atmosphere. |
| 82 | ** French coldwave group Music/{{Hante}} uses this effect as well as other filters on their video for [[https://youtu.be/Zk0G24HAx20 “Blank Love.”]] |
| 83 | ** The lyric video for "[[https://youtu.be/KrcxSPe5qo0 E Tu Reagisci]]” by Music/{{Ascending}} was recorded on a very worn VHS tape. In [[https://post-punk.com/detriti-records-founders-dark-synth-project-ascending-reveals-its-experimental-vhs-for-e-tu-reagisci/?fbclid=IwAR2maCNT80K2BqflEAdhLxkHzMDhkgpfKUZKwdQXP2baMHeibeQD0MDh7uM an interview]] the singer said that he filmed his video this way as a tribute to underground music videos of the 1980s by bands such as Severed Heads. |
| 84 | ** The video for "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G591bCYgpi0 Закладка]]" by Russian post-punk band Music/{{Ploho}} incorporates a VHS filter over modern footage paired with actual VHS footage from the early 1990s, being a song about [[WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell the tumultuous years immediately after the fall of the Soviet Union]]. |
| 85 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QD-cM54OZ4 “Преступление”]] by the Russian-Austrian post-punk band Скубут recorded their music video with a camcorder app, making sure to leave the timestamp from 2020 in the corner. |
| 86 | ** Synthpop artist Music/MaleTears like making their music videos look like cheesy goth or New Wave videos from the 80s, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGZ6BqqgtOY with most of them done on VHS]]. |
| 87 | * Indy synthpop group Music/ChoirBoy [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSOpPJGAzqc uses this effect in several of their music videos.]] |
| 88 | * As the movie itself, the main theme from ''Film/KungFury'' (Creator/DavidHasselhoff's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTidn2dBYbY "True Survivor"]]) was filmed in the same way than the movie, but with some parts refilmed with Hasselhoff as protagonist. |
| 89 | * The music video for the song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-SDVrm8N0Q "Youth"]] by Numbxers. |
| 90 | * Metal band LANTVRN's video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsKUXySuh5M "Hidden Doors"]] plays on an old CRT television for bonus authenticity points. |
| 91 | * Vaporwave artist Ian Felpel's video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZBeqVHqiQ8 "N O T H I N G."]] |
| 92 | * Modesta's appropriately titled [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CajuRKkCxMw "VHS."]] |
| 93 | * The video for Blue Helix's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRE0W1vqFaY "Anodyne"]] boasts being recorded completely with analog video equipment. |
| 94 | * This is used briefly in the video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDFBTdToRmw “Skibidi”]] by the Russian group Music/LittleBig. The lead singer, who occupies a bizarre alternate universe where everyone constantly does the same dance, passes by a stack of old CRT televisions playing an exercise program in VHS quality, with the exercisers (dressed in 80s style latex and leg warmers) doing the Skibidi dance. |
| 95 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1B9Fk_SgI0 “Feels Like Summer”]] by Childish Gambino uses this in its animated music video, with noticeable tracking lines and a fuzzy picture quality. |
| 96 | * The video for the official audio of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vdLDY6yQSc Galantis, Ship Wrek and Pink Sweat$ collaboration “Only a Fool”]] was done in VHS quality, although also widescreen. |
| 97 | * Music/DuaLipa’s video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHuBW3qKm9g “Levitate”]] has a 1980s aesthetic, with lyrics in stylized 1980s fonts against a space background, and of course the look of being recorded on a a VHS tape. |
| 98 | * The video for Roosevelt’s [[https://youtu.be/UBS6MM05KdY “Montreal”]] looks like a low budget music video from the early 1980s, with abstract psychedelic backgrounds and authentic VHS quality. |
| 99 | * Neo-grunge group Circa Never recorded their sole music video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFRkkCwPTTI&list=FLUx5OtHSp9xpUpRrcU8xF7Q&index=50 “I Feel”]] in this style perhaps as a nod to the early 90s grunge music they were paying homage to. |
| 100 | * The music video for Music/TessaViolet's "punk" remix of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eGY6_kfTfs "Games"]] that she made with lovelytheband and Matt Squire has the styling and cinematography of something that might have aired on MTV in the 90s, and then also has the video quality of a homemade VHS recording. |
| 101 | * Music/BrunoMars' "Treasure" is inspired by late-1970s & early 1980s music videos, and the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPvuNsRccVw official YouTube video]] is capped at 4:3 480p resolution, in keeping with [[MediaNotes/DisplayTechnology NTSC]] broadcast TV/VTR standards of the time. |
| 102 | * This trope is pretty much a staple of [[Music/JackStauber Jack Stauber's]] work. |
| 103 | [[/folder]] |
| 104 | |
| 105 | [[folder:Pinball]] |
| 106 | * ''Pinball/Alien2017'': Any footage displayed on-screen during a mode includes intentional distortion meant to emulate the imperfections of VHS (and, more broadly, [=CRTs=]). These include split-second glitching and simulated scan lines. As WordOfGod [[https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/alien-pinball-official-game-thread/page/186#post-3455278 explains]], it also stays true to [[Franchise/{{Alien}} the original films]]' CassetteFuturism: |
| 107 | -->"Kelly and I worked together on a lot of tests and samples to get the glitchy analog look of the videos right. Alien is a world of CRT screens, used equipment, dirt, it's lived in. We wanted the videos to match that feeling. A little bit of VHS action." |
| 108 | [[/folder]] |
| 109 | |
| 110 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 111 | * ''VideoGame/BlackMesa'' does this for its [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVYJ9o6Bddo Steam launch trailer]], which is presented as "an old tape from the archives" of a promotional video produced by the titular research facility. |
| 112 | * ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'': The [[EldritchLocation Oldest House]], the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Control, does not let people bring in technology invented after the 1980s (smartphones explode in people's pockets). So despite the game taking place the same year it was made (2019), video recordings in the Oldest House have to be on either physical film reels or VHS tapes. The latter is used in particular for the [[SubvertedKidsShow "Threshold Kids" show]], and the VHS visual artifacts help make the episodes even creepier than they already are thanks to their content. |
| 113 | * ''VideoGame/DeathRoadToCanada'' has scratches and film grain effects to further the "old zombie movie" vibe. These effects can actually be turned off if one so wishes. |
| 114 | * ''VideoGame/KatanaZero'' is framed as videotapes in many ways: the stage select is a set of tapes, each death gets rewinded, and the pause effects and numerous glitches are likewise taken straight from VHS tech. |
| 115 | * ''VideoGame/FarCry3BloodDragon'' has loading screens with tracking lines and 4:3 resolution, in keeping with its 80's sci-fi B-movie theme. |
| 116 | * ''VideoGame/MegaMan10'' did this in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaDq2aHGKUo promotional video]] designed to look like a 1980s or 1990s era commercial recorded off of TV (beginning with a VanityPlate for a fictional TV show that the commercial presumably followed). |
| 117 | * ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7'' Videotapes you find that Ethan can play look somewhat like this. Not quite as extreme as some examples (there aren't any tracking lines), but the video does have a filter that makes it look grainy and noisier than the regular gameplay. |
| 118 | * Most of the games created (and even published) by ''Creator/PuppetCombo'', has this quality effect. Mostly due to being {{Retraux}} games that heavily take influence from [=PSX=] and 70s/80s/90s-era slasher and grindhouse films, thus their VHS filter. Although they can be turned off in some games if the VHS gets a little too disorienting. |
| 119 | ** ''VideoGame/PowerDrillMassacre'''s overall visual style makes the game look like the player is watching a videotaped horror movie, complete with its menus using [[https://www.dafont.com/vcr-osd-mono.font blocky monospaced font]] that people who lived in the VHS era's heyday might be familiar with. |
| 120 | * ''VideoGame/NoDelivery'' and many of the other games by the same developer feature this aesthetic prominently. While the games are made in MediaNotes/RPGMaker, often there is a [=VHS=] filter over the gameplay and/or cutscenes. |
| 121 | * ''Sega Genesis Classics,'' a compilation re-release of 20 of the Platform/SegaGenesis' greatest hits, uses a staticky VHS tape filter for when you rewind or fast-forward gameplay with the left and right shoulder buttons. |
| 122 | * ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' uses a VHS filter for 1980s mode. The different effects can be enabled and disabled in the video settings. |
| 123 | [[/folder]] |
| 124 | |
| 125 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 126 | * ''VisualNovel/ASummersEndHongKong1986'' leans into its 80s aesthetic hard and makes use of a fake VHS effect on the game's opening (featuring the word "PLAY") and ending sequences ( both featuring the word "STOP"), as well as a brief use to bookend the portion of the game [[spoiler: from Sam's point of view,]] with a "REW" and "FF" to symbolize the game revisiting past events. The game's official also makes use of VHS effects. |
| 127 | [[/folder]] |
| 128 | |
| 129 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 130 | * The YouTubePoop ''WebAnimation/AdventuresInHyrule'' video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqf6PXw5cRk "Hyrule Visits 1993"]] by iteachvader achieves this effect with a video filter in Sony Vegas. |
| 131 | * Some supplementary videos for ''WebAnimation/TheAmazingDigitalCircus'' are deliberately created with a lower quality to invoke the feeling of being recorded VHS footage from TheNineties, as it's heavily implied that the Amazing Digital Circus is a computer program created in the mid '90s. |
| 132 | * ''WebAnimation/TheBlueChannel'': The videos are made to look like VHS recordings with windowboxing and grainy flickers. |
| 133 | * The AnalogHorror fan series ''WebVideo/DeltaruneVHS'' uses deliberately bad quality images (sometimes coupled [[MediumBlending with realistic footage]]) with slowed down music tracks, blurred lines, [[SmashToBlack smashes to black]] and StaticScrew to give the impression that every tape was made in the 1990s. |
| 134 | * ''WebAnimation/AFoxInSpace'' is made to look and sound like a forgotten animation series from the late '70s or early 80s, complete with faded color and fuzzy, heavily compressed audio. |
| 135 | * ''WebAnimation/{{Xombie}}: Dead Ahead'' is presented as a series of grainy SLP-format videotapes during the opening and credits; the core animation is perfectly clear. |
| 136 | [[/folder]] |
| 137 | |
| 138 | [[folder:Web Video]] |
| 139 | * {{Vaporwave}} songs usually have their music videos and/or images under VHS filters in reference to the 80s and 90s eras; as with MediaNotes/{{Synthwave}}, it is part of the aesthetic. |
| 140 | * Used as a visual effect on a static image on the Youtube video with the official audio of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzex-nN2yM0 "America Online"]] by The Midnight. |
| 141 | * WebVideo/CaptainDisillusion uses VHS quality a few times, often combined with an AspectRatioSwitch to 4:3 |
| 142 | ** "[[https://youtu.be/iLIAMt0wXzQ Quick D: Cup Levitation & Train Track Rescue]]" uses 4:3 ratio and VHS quality to show that a certain magic trick is "So old, [he] covered it in [his] pre-internet days". |
| 143 | ** For less than a second in "[[https://youtu.be/aO3JgPUJ6iQ?t=104 Chinese Invisibility Cloak Hoax DESTROYED!!!]]", the background turns blue with a VHS effect when Cap's alter ego "Big D" talks about how blue screen is old and outdated compared to green screen. |
| 144 | ** "[[https://youtu.be/_1yOwgXGKPM CD / Interlacing Addendum]]" has scenes in 4:3 as part of its DeliberateVHSQuality, and switching to 16:9 and the style of a midcentury instructional video. |
| 145 | * WebVideo/ContraPoints frequently uses this tactic during transitions. |
| 146 | * Creator/JamesRolfe is fond of this effect, and uses it especially in his ''Cinemassacre Rental Reviews''. |
| 147 | * ''Webvideo/HonestTrailers'' had [[https://honest-trailers.fandom.com/wiki/Vault_episode a few]] for retro-style episodes, namely ''Film/SupermanIVTheQuestForPeace'', ''Film/CaptainAmerica1990'', ''Film/TopGun'', ''Film/{{Hackers}}'' and ''Film/RockyIV''. |
| 148 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcxN_gfAE_43Wj6-UWC16bw KaiserBeamz]] uses this in the intro for his WebVideo/KyotoVideo series as a shout-out to the old days of anime tapes. |
| 149 | * ''WebVideo/LinusTechTips'': When Linus inserts an LTO tape into a drive in "[[https://youtu.be/alxqpbSZorA?t=350 We got a $5,500 TAPE DRIVE!]]", the screen [[AspectRatioSwitch switches to 4:3]] and looks like it was shot on a camcorder from TheNineties. |
| 150 | * The horror channel ''WebVideo/Local58'' has many videos with this effect (speeding up and down, audio distortion), as they're supposed to be clips and FoundFootage from an old TV station. |
| 151 | * ''WebVideo/TheMonumentMythos'' follows a similar aesthetic with its videos, with the occasional jump up to the early days of the internet in levels of quality. This is mostly due to the bizarre technological progress of the alternate timeline the series is set in, where several technologies stalled out past the eighties because of multiple incidents, including technological flagbearer MAIZE's facilities being attacked by an entity they perturbed. |
| 152 | * The Platform/YouTube channel WebVideo/{{Meat}} produced creepypasta-esque vids which turned out to be either an ARG or an art project, and at least one of which (Floatsam and Jetsam) used Deliberate VHS Quality. |
| 153 | * WebVideo/MothersBasement, a Youtube channel dedicated to commenting on anime, uses this effect in their ''Public Service Anime'' videos. |
| 154 | * Website/{{Nerdix}} made their own VHS trailer for ''Film/{{Captain Marvel|2019}}'' as it was ''really'' made in 1995 (the time supposely [[Characters/MarvelComicsCarolDanvers Carol Danvers]] goes to Earth in the movie), with some scenes from Creator/SamuelLJackson movies from TheNineties, and properly called ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y0Yp5T_6Ho Captain Marvel 1995]]''. |
| 155 | * WebVideo/NightMind likes to pull off a special project each Halloween, which includes capturing the feeling of a particular style. |
| 156 | ** In 2017, his second video on the ''Website/SCPFoundation'' was treated as an exploration of an old VHS-tape he found, complete with VHS-quality footage, to create the story of a 90s company called "Dilley's" leaking SCP-information through the use of a bargain-bin tape. |
| 157 | ** In 2018, viewers were allowed to submit horror work under the theming of "90s Nightmare". Not only were many short-films filmed in VHS quality, but the ShowWithinAShow these projects were shown on off in, "Three Guys For Six", was ''also'' treated as a work straight from the 90s, again, in this same quality. |
| 158 | * The opening logo to videos by [[https://www.youtube.com/user/ThePrimeThanatos ThePrimeThanatos]] deploys this, starting like a VCR after someone presses play before fading into a still image; videos on the channel are generally long synthwave playlists. |
| 159 | ** Ditto with the opening bumper to [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6ghlxmJNMd8BE_u1HR-bTg The 80's Guy]], a similar Youtube channel. |
| 160 | * Scott Wozniak's very first video in the ''WebVideo/ScottTheWoz'' channel, ''WebVideo/TheInternetAndYou'' (considered outside of the ''Scott The Woz'' series as a whole), is made to seem like it's an educational VHS tape from the 90s, complete with TotallyRadical aesthetics and dialogue. [[{{Defictionalization}} It even received an actual limited VHS release in 2019 as part of a charity drive.]] As for episodes in the ''Scott The Woz'' series proper: |
| 161 | ** In ''E3 1999'', Scott puts up a VHS tape of himself at E3 1999 as a proof that he was there, even though he was only 2 years old at the time. The video ended up being fully grown Scott "reporting" the event, in a VHS filter. |
| 162 | ** ''Borderline Forever'' opens with Scott playing a VHS tape of himself providing a tutorial on how to talk about video games for a living. |
| 163 | * This effect is seen in the ''WebVideo/SomeJerkWithACamera'' video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ftqMnB4xFM "ABC Goes to Disney World!"]] in a fake infomercial for "Disneylandia", before Jerk tears the low quality off the screen and elbowing the letterboxes away. According to the commentary, this is done by burning the scene onto a DVD and copying it between two actual [=VCRs=] about six times before putting it back onto a DVD. |
| 164 | * WebVideo/TechnologyConnections: Alec puts segments of his own videos on a real recordable[[note]]for obvious reasons, he does not do this with formats that can't record, such as Platform/{{CED}} and Platform/LaserDisc[[/note]] format (VHS, Betamax, [=Video8=], etc.) when demonstrating how these formats looked. |
| 165 | ** Alec put video of himself on a VHS tape and transferred it back to his video "[[https://youtu.be/KfuARMCyTvg?t=365 The Impossible Feat Inside Your VCR]]. He also toggles from SP to LP to EP speeds to demonstrate how video and audio quality suffers, and why the latter doesn't with VHS Hi-Fi. |
| 166 | ** "[[https://youtu.be/_oJs8-I9WtA Comparing Beta & VHS on Quality: Was Beta Really Better?]]" deliberately uses VHS quality for obvious reasons. |
| 167 | ** In [[https://youtu.be/cvwuAKi1ZB4?t=1175 DVD: The Death Knell of LaserDisc]], Alec does this to show how little image quality comes through when {{Letterbox}}ing widescreen content to a 4:3 SD analog format like VHS or Platform/LaserDisc. |
| 168 | * Ten Second Songs uses this effect in "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQm0nKoODo4 Take on Me in 20 Styles]]", covering Music/{{Aha}}'s hit, with the VCR monospaced font. |
| 169 | * [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in Creator/TomScott's video "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6RRNNztN5o How The 90s VHS Look Works]]". It uses this trope while explaining how analog videos acquire that distinctive VHS quality. |
| 170 | * As part of a stealth ad campaign for ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory3'', a fake commercial for Lots-o'-Huggin Bear (the main villain of the movie) made to look like it came from a very degraded 80's VHS tape recorded off the TV was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6dZtNYGlLM posted to YouTube]]. |
| 171 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyd51lvu3xw "Every 90s Commercial Ever"]] by Creator/RocketJump actually ran their footage through an old VCR to re-record it with the correct appearance. |
| 172 | * Many AnalogHorror series such as ''WebVideo/Local58'', ''WebVideo/EventideMediaCenter'', and ''WebVideo/GeminiHomeEntertainment'' feature videos that look like they were recorded on VHS on top events of taking place in the 1980s-1990s milieu of VHS's heyday. It adds to the creepy atmosphere they have; not only do VHS-style {{Ominous Visual Glitch}}es start occurring when the freakier stuff gets portrayed, it also doubles as ObscuredSpecialEffects for the usually low-budget programs. |
| 173 | * The opening to WebVideo/NitroRad's ''VideoGame/HypnospaceOutlaw'' review is presented in VHS quality as if the game was advertised as a product in the 90's. |
| 174 | * WebVideo/{{Brutalmoose}} does this with his ''Mystery Tapes'' series, fitting with its topic of looking through blank off-air videotapes. |
| 175 | * Website/CollegeHumor used this effect in [[https://youtu.be/tD0rchvuoMU “We Found Sinbad’s SHAZAAM Genie Movie”]], reportedly a degraded VHS recording of the 90s movie many people remember existing but it never actually did. |
| 176 | * WebOriginal/TheBackrooms videos typically take place in the 80s or 90s, and involve someone holding a camcorder filming their journey through the endless Backrooms after clipping through reality. They normally employ a VHS filter, which disguises the CG animation in the higher quality ones. |
| 177 | * Platform/YouTube channel [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpvtp7mH0Cdq8FQUxcjDq0Q My Life in Gaming]] created "how to beat" videos [[{{Retreaux}} in the style of old 1980s and 1990s gaming tips VHS tapes]]. For added authenticity, they ran the video through an actual VHS recorder to achieve this quality (and even spliced in video from an ''authentic'' VHS home recording to give the impression of a tape being reused and poorly recorded over). |
| 178 | [[/folder]] |
| 179 | |
| 180 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 181 | * ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': |
| 182 | ** Rose and Greg's tape for Steven in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS1E35Lion3StraightToVideo "Lion 3: Straight to Video"]] is presented with a lot of film scratch and even has darkened edges, to emphasize that it was made with old technology from before Steven was born. [[spoiler:The tape for Nora that Steven finds in [[Recap/StevenUniverseS4E20Lion4AlternateEnding "Lion 4: Alternate Ending"]] is even more degraded, thanks to it being in the desert unprotected for fourteen years.]] |
| 183 | ** [[Recap/StevenUniverseS5E14TheBigShow "The Big Show"]] is almost entirely shown in the same quality as the old "For Steven" tape, even being recorded with the same InUniverseCamera, because [[InvokedTrope Steven is filming a documentary and wants the footage to look as old and authentic as possible.]] |
| 184 | * ''WesternAnimation/InfinityTrain'' has the memories of passengers stored on VHS-esque tapes, with the telltale rewinding and fast-forwarding effects. The last two seasons were also given a light film grain effect overall, to emulate the feeling of watching it on professionally-made, well-kept tape. |
| 185 | * ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Pinkie Pie's '90s-esque rap number in "Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3" is done in this style. |
| 186 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' short "Welcome to Hexside" features this to go along with the whole KitschyLocalCommercial feel, even though the presence of [[NewTransferStudent Mattholomew]] means that it would have been recorded during or shortly before the events of the series (which is set in 2022). |
| 187 | [[/folder]] |
| 188 | |
| 189 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 190 | * With [[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vhs-camcorder-the-1-vhs-cam/id679454835?mt=8 this handy VHS camcorder app]] (and several others like it) you too can make videos on your smart phone look like they were recorded on a 30 year old camcorder. Superfluous tracking lines included. |
| 191 | [[/folder]] |
| 192 |
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