VHS Effect Filter - Making a Video Look Bad on Purpose
Below is a YouTube video by Tom Scott about the "90s VHS look" filter. The video goes into some technical detail on how a special effect filter like VHS is made.
I went to the redgiant.com link in the YouTube video description and the VHS filter is a tool in a software product named Universe. There are a few other tools to add distortion to a video project such as GLITCH and WARP.
The HOLOMATRIX II filter will, according to the website, "Give your footage the look and distortion of a sci-fi hologram, digital display, and more." Can we someday get over the stereotype that sci-fi hologram images are prone to glitches and distortion? Someone please just subvert the expectation and make decent holograms in sci-fi fantasy. Quantum Leap did it. Star Trek: Voayger also made decent sci-fi holograms while struggling to do other sci-fi tropes well.
It's kind of weird how the annoying VHS random lines on the TV screen with bleeding colors is now something video makers pay a software license for to purposely downgrade their projects. Based on an internet search I just did on Google it seems there aren't many open source alternatives to this filter. There are a few tutorials on how to imitate the effect using other commercial software.
I still have some .mpg files I made around 2005 on an external drive of converted VHS video and I paid nothing for the "'90s look" quality because the tapes were already 5-10 years old. I'd actually like to have the opposite and upgrade the video using a filter.
Comments