VHS Broadcast

A personal project to create 90's themed broadcast screens and perfect VHS playback distortion for future applications.

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Role

Design

Technology

After Effects

Photoshop

VHS Player

Year

2019

Background

After going down a rabbit hole of how to best emulate the visual look of a VHS tape I settled on the most convincing option; recording the video to a VHS tape and recording the playback. To test this setup I created various broadcast screens to help sell the look.

The effect can also be created, with less noise and distortion, by outputting the display to composite A/V cables and inputting this signal back to the computer. This could be useful for livestream purposes where recording and playing back from a tape is not an option.

Showreel

A full look at all of the screen and overlays created, their animations, and the VHS distortion.

VHS screen variations

Comparison

Side by side view of the source video versus the output on a VHS tape.