Check out the full short film, Static Memories: th-cam.com/video/mm7nqbz5IEU/w-d-xo.html I also have a video about one of the scooters: th-cam.com/video/Vu94JAtrdUI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=2loArs4YxlYVIBQv A video on the main motorcycle is coming soon.
Nostalgia is stronger these days because as an older person I can tell that the world was ostensibly a far better place years ago in terms of people - on an individual level - simply being able to get on with their lives (private and at work) without endless layers of Government and bureaucracies micro-managing everything - and doing a terrible job of it at that. So anything at all that reminds us of those days will always make us far happier than we normally are these days.
I love seeing cool passion projects on TH-cam, hopefully I’ll have a relic from the 80’s soon enough. Preferably a Toyota lol. Keep up the great content!
Damn, what a production quality. I shouldn't be surprised though, knowing your background. Still loads of effort for this small channel, but I have quite the feeling, that this video and the standalone movie will gather quite a lot of attention at some random time, always depending on the randmness of these algorithms. Especially since your thumbnail on the movie is very interesting, it will gain a lot of traction, once more people stumbled over it. I personally am the total opposite, working on an animated show right now, where everything is perfectly crisp and digital, but there absolutely is quite the charm about retro recording. It perfectly with the base, less is more. Whatever you don't see in old footage, your mind has the freedom to fill in the gaps. Great work and I wish you success with these passion projects!
Thanks, I actually have some arguably higher production videos like my Honda Aero 50 video (sorta informational styled like this) and Midship Retra (older short film). Though it is funny this is by far my biggest instant hit so far. Guess it’s just the combination of the thumbnail, title, topic, and random chance all aligning. I mean even this behind the scenes has more views than the actual short film lol. I agree too, I usually do go for a crisp and clean look which is kinda why I wanted to do something like this to mix it up and not focus on the raw quality as much. As a side note, cool to hear you do animation. I’m trying to incorporate more motion graphics and small animations (digital and hand drawn) in my videos as part of my recent style overhaul. This and my Honda Aero 50 videos are part of that.
Fantastic shots with this legendary camcorder! I could tell you my whole life story from when my dad owned one of these and I ran around shooting my own Indiana Jones films as a 12 year old :-D Love the attention to detail in your shots - the clothes, the cars and the settings you chose. Feels like Stranger Things. Great work!
Keep it up with the channel! Watching your Mr2 project inspired me to buy an 80s Honda CRX and restore it while in college. This stuff is just a bonus!
Thanks man, I wish I could do more car project stuff cuz I know a lot of my more loyal viewers really got into me from that, but I need to first get a garage. I’ve tried working on my car and bikes in my apartment alleyway and it’s just miserable if it’s anything more than maintenance stuff. Filming just makes it even more stressful in that situation. One day though I’ll do them again though.
I just love this kind of stuff. I’ve been having a lot of fun just using a bunch of my fathers old things like his canon vhs camcorder and film camera where I found an old roll of film with old pictures from when he was in high school. I just love the style and feel of all the old equipment.
As a kid from the 80ties myself...i can say that back in the 80ties you had way better quality vhs cameras with better film quality.i still have my 1988 panasonic m7😎and even today the quality is verry good.love your pasion
Yeah I wanna be clear this is one, a very early consumer model camcorder. And on top of that, both the TV and camcorder are definitely worn with aging electronics giving some funkiness. In my behind the scenes video I show what the tape looks like straight through a capture card and it’s totally higher quality and more what you’d typically expect from a tape. The same can be said about the music. There were 100% better tape recorders out there, but mine I used is a cheap consumer model that is worn out and producing its own “lofi” effects cuz of it. Either way, the look is funky, but it IS naturally distorted. I didn’t modify it in editing with any fake digital effects.
Grain = art. And it's the same for acoustic or distorted tones, sculpture textures, fabrics, drawing paper, drawing pens and brushes, and so on. Perfectly polished has its own feel, too, but you have to navigate through all of them for creation.
Watched the movie before this making of and was really impressed by the period cars, locations, clothing, haor etc. Excellent attention to detail (and all those period cars!).
Glad you appreciated it. Hardest part of the video was just all the planning to get things in place. I got a couple videos on those cars though, mainly my Fiat Spider being a big one. My dad has a classic car collection and I have an old video showing it off as well (mountain loop car barn #1) if you’re interested in that. It’s a bit outdated now though.
The JVC GR-C7 was one of the top notch camcorders of the 80's. And it was JVC's first camcorder to come with a CCD sensor. It's predecessors, the GR-C1 (the "Back to the Future"-camcorder) and the GR-C2 still used Saticon tubes to capture the image. While Sony had already introduced the CCD-V8 (the first Video8 camcorder) with a CCD sensor a year earlier. But back then, filmmakers were dissatisfied with the image quality. Especially if compared to professional broadcast equipment, which offered a much better quality, even in SD. Hence for me as an amateuer filmmaker from the 80's and 90's it's kind of strange to see that this "vintage" look has become popular, again.
Appreciate the background. I film a lot of stuff digitally and usually go for a clean and produced look so wanted to try something like this out for a mixup. Tbh I had fun and really think the look with the CRT came out really cool. Not something I’m gonna do on a regular basis just for the heck of it over my modern camera, but it was a fun and interesting experience as a stylistic choice here. If I were to use the camcorder again I think I’d give a more accurate digitization a try as another mixup though too. Got lots of advice in the comments on that. But we’ll see.
@@RetraCast In my humble opion, if you really want to go fancy with regard to a "vintage" style video, try to get your hands on an old tube camera from the 60's or 70's. They produce an image with a much more "analogue" look and feel than CCD cameras.
The verticcal lines on the bike ligts are a defect from CCD sensor of the vintage camera, all CCD sensors do this. Modern cameras have CMOS sensors. Way older cameras uses a CRT as sensor, it gives a comet tail effect on the lights sources, but light can damage the aparatus on those.
Yes someone else pointed this is out to me in the original short film. I knew this camera had a CCD since they advertise it on the label, though I was not sure the actual characteristics of it. The first time I saw that streak when filming I assumed it had to do with either a lens distortion/flare or something to do with the tape (similar to a light bleed on film but obviously not the same process). Very interesting effect I did not plan on. Combined with the headlight’s halo it’s pretty cool though.
@@RetraCast This is due to the fact that the sensor discharge in a certain way. It is interesting to know the effect if you want to use it or avoid it.
I'm just shooting as much tape as I can to do a Hi8 VS Panasonic VHS-C shoot out. It gives me some idea of the amount of hours that must have gone into your project. Nice work!
Tbh, compared to most of my other videos, this one was pretty quick to film simply cuz I had to cram all filming into a couple days since I had to schedule all my friends to be available at the same time. Digitizing, editing, and music took far longer than filming. Also I gotta admit Hi8 is a format I’ve heard of but don’t know much about firsthand.
@@RetraCast Hi8 can have PCM audio and RCTC timecode built in rather then VITC on SVHS, its quite nice for working with due to very high SNR, very much so with RF Captures and vhs-decode, video8 for example looking amazing for SP media new tapes and 80s tapes have the same stability if stored right Hi8 just has a bump to around SVHS line resolution, shame we never had 1125-line in something that size we were getting there though before digital came in and crushed the market.
Battery charge on the early VHS consumer camcorders was so-o-o short! We could only ever count on 15min of filming school events before a long recharge was needed. And then there was the editing that had to be done in real-time with a VHS video cassette recorder... No fond memories, here.
Funny, I actually own two. My first one had a similar issue where everything comes out black and white and super washed out. Assuming the head is worn or some component is fried. Got a second one and it’s the one I used for this video.
It’s just a modern 9.6v NI-MH battery (same volt and type as the original) then I hooked that into a male DC plug. My camcorder has a DC power input you can use to plug it into the wall. But with this setup, you plug the new battery in there. I just got all the parts online from Amazon. Hope that helps
Thank you for this insight. I'm surprised at all the comments telling you better ways to digitize the footage or even telling you you did it wrong. You stated you were looking for this aesthetic and how it fits in the story being told, how can this be wrong then?
Tell me about it. Overall though I do appreciate the people giving genuine advice on how to digitize the tape and mentioning the capture card I used is not a particularly good one. Especially cuz it is worth noting digitized VHS can look better than portrayed here. But at the same time yeah, I think there are a few people who didn’t quite understand the phrase “artistic direction” when it came up in bold text in the video. Especially anyone saying my equipment is faulty from age. Age is the whole point of the video. I’ve mentioned it a few times in the comments and maybe shoulda said it in the video itself, it’s not meant to be a tech showcase, it’s meant to be a stylistic but authentic and real lofi effect. Somewhat related, being in the video space, I do see a lot of people focusing solely on technical perfection and specs over creative style pretty often and I’m tryna go that different way in my more recent videos.
Thanks man, I still got a bit of a backlog of videos I shot over the summer to edit. No shortage of content coming, just need to find the time to finish them.
it has organic and authentic look, when today we are headed better than reality, over concerned about noise and distortion. THe theory is you can always add filters to perfect video, but it does not work that way.
Yeah, being in the videographer space, one thing I see a lot is people who are more focused on the technical and spec side of video, rather than the creative and style side. I was that way for a while too and tbh I’m just sick of it. Part of why I made this video and have been including more stylized effects in general in last few videos. Just would rather make fun and stylish stuff than technical but plain.
TH-cam bitrate too low to see nice and clear capturing from TV, annoying block artifacts is everywhere. Hope your original video looks great, and without added digital noise.
this is very much an interpretation of 80's aesethic, as it's using a camcorder that has aged and degraded for almost 40 years. which is of course interesting in itself. the image quality was a lot better when the device was new and properly calibrated. the degradation only serves to accentuate the difference in era and technology. it likely 'feels more authentic' to an audience who would have no concept of the medium at the time it was released.
Yes, it’s more of an “authentic lofi effect” than it is an “accurate tech showcase”. As in it’s a stylistic effect and choice, but not one that’s faked with digital effects and fine tuning. It’s just what my devices happen to look like given their 40 year old age. Even the capture card footage looks more what you’d typically expect from VHS footage. It’s really the combination of the aged camcorder and aged CRT TV together stacking their quirks and degradations. I think another extra reason the CRT looks the way it does is the fact it’s a very small display too so everything is shrunken and blurred more. Same can be said with the music. There are 100% better tape recorders and speakers out there from that era, but this is what a cheap portable recorder that has 40 year degrading electronics and motors sounds like.
YT Recs for the win on this one. Just watched your short film for this bts video. Your filmmaking style reminds me of 1990s Takeshi Kitano, mainly the film A Scene at the Sea (1991) if you've ever heard of it or him.
Thanks, I mainly do “review” style videos on retro stuff but with the occasional short film (check out Midship Retra and Lone Racer are my other ones, though a few years old now). I have not seen any Takeshi Kitano movies but I’ll check it out. I got into some Hong Kong movies a while ago by Wong Kar Wai which was partly an inspiration for the vibe of Lone Racer. I got to visit Japan last year (video coming on that) and have been wanting to get into some Japanese movies but wasn’t sure where to start. Hope you check out my other stuff and stick around. I got a “Best of” playlist, but I’m currently in a bit of a style and quality overhaul with my last 3 videos after being away for a couple years.
@@RetraCast Ah gotcha. I will definitely check out your other videos. The HK scene is a whole 'nother rabbit hole to go down as well. Still waiting to visit Japan someday...😪
I notice the s vhs-c cassette there. Can I offer friendly advice as a repair technician? If you use it,it will work however it’s like a metal evaporation tape type which can strip the heads quickly on your camera as well as not erase properly. Always use normal vhsc tapes on this especially as you have a good working unit! Look after it :)
That is very interesting actually I did not realize there were two types. I’ll have to double check what I’ve been using cuz the one shown in the video is not the actual same brand of tape. Thanks for the tip
@@RetraCastthanks for your reply. There’s not many left that work as well as that one, I’d hate for it to be killed just because of a minor tape error. A standard tape just has a vhs-c logo that matches the one on the door, with no ‘s’ stylisation on the beginning. I’m sure you know what I mean. The tape is more akin to chrome tape, a dark grey colour like normal vhs tape. The metal tape is pretty much black..
I gave it a double check and yes, the tape I used for this video does not seem to be VHS-C S. It’s a Maxell HGX-Gold. I’d have to double check what’s on the prop one shown in the video, but that other tape may be from some testing I did years ago when I first got the camcorder. That or it’s still blank. But I cannot remember without giving it a play. Hope it didn’t do too much damage if it was used though. I have quite a few random tapes laying around from a previous video and testing. This is the only video I’ve done that’s serious enough to actually label the tape this time lol.
We went so perfect in a sense of sound and picture, that my eyes sore. I don't want super HD unless we talk about technical stuff like pictures of space or animals in safari. Whatever. I want art to be inperfect.
I have not simply cuz it’s very expensive, takes a long time to develop and get back, and as a result, high risk if the footage doesn’t come out right, I can’t easily redo shots. If I was rich I’d do it for a video, but rn I already dump enough money into each video as is.
The elgato is a pretty terrible capture device if you're going for true-to-form captures. It's ok if you want something to look ok on a tiny cell phone screen is about it. DV conversion with either Digitial8/MiniDV camcorder passthrough or ADVC-110/100 would be a big step up and preserves interlacing which you can then deinterlace with something like QTGMC. Technically you'd also get better results most of the time with an S-VHS VCR and S-Video output for playback since the luma and chroma are stored separately on the tape even when made on machines that never had S-Video in/out or even pre-date S-Video. There are ways to get even better captures, but MiniDV would just be a big step up with minimal effort.
Yeah I’ll be completely honest I began to look into better ways to digitize the tape, and I consider myself a fairly tech person, but it all still got a bit deeper than I anticipated. I just didn’t really have the time between work and my other videos, plus the budget, to get too invested in finding the best possible way to digitize the tape. Especially cuz I ended up preferring the CRT for stylistic and contextual reasons in the film itself. Eventually I’d like to get the tape properly converted though if possible. It just wasn’t something I was ready to dive deep into for this one time thing yet.
The capture card deinterlaced your video, and knocked it down from 59.94 fields per second to 2.97 FPS - which murders the aesthetic of NTSC video. Capture the video with something better, like an IO Data GV2 capture dongle (cheaper than the Elgato but better) - set to captured in native 480i (weave or interlaced, instead of deinterlaced, or any other setting field setting). Then, deinterlace the video to 59.94 FPS, and you'll see the video looks way more authentic to period, even on a modern display.
I’ll give this a look. I have some other videos in the works rn but I do want to revisit the VHS idea in the future for other projects. I’m a pretty techy person but I gotta admit something about researching digitizing VHS tapes led me into a deeper rabbit hole of unfamiliar territory than I expected.
@@RetraCast Yes - there is a *ton* of contradictory content about how it's done. If you decide to pick it up again, feel free ping me. There are ways to properly capture true 480i video on the cheap.
Yeah I have it. Engine blew on it a couple years back and I didn’t have the money to fix it at the time. Over the past year I got the money and I’ve been slowly getting it rebuilt but haven’t had time to film it unfortunately. Someday will do videos on it again when I get my own garage.
It’s similar, but actually the little brother model to it that came out a year later. The Back to the Future one is a GR-C1, this is a GR-C7U. The GR-C1 is a lot more expensive since it’s in that movie, else I would have tried to use it.
4:36 Sad to see it was not ingested properly with FM RF capture and then run though vhs-decode, as that's the most native quality representation of VHS as your going to get, rather then an poor quality AIO IC with composite, also allows you to release an true RAW quality version of the film in source signal world not just a video file stream!
Yeah I’ll be honest, I began doing some research on the best ways to digitize it, but I’ll totally admit it got a bit more in depth than I anticipated. Especially considering I’m just doing this in between work, have other videos to get to, and working on a limited budget. Ultimately I’d like to get the tape more properly converted eventually, but I am happy with the CRT effect given the context of the video itself. Since it’s not necessarily meant to be a tech showcase, and more a stylized but “authentic” effect, even if that effect includes natural degradation.
@@RetraCast Well just making sure you and your community are properly aware of it is the best I can do haha.. But if you ever do want it run properly without the learning curve of getting set up feel free to give me a direct message, Comms always open happy to run some media.
What is deficient technology today will be the tools of 'artistic expression' in 30 years! A never-ending spiral of 'duplicate' and 'iterate'. The author is dead but he has returned - as a zombie.
Hahaha ya know I have 100% thought that. I grew up in the early 2000’s (born in the late 90’s) and I have noticed people a few years younger than me using 2000’s point and shoots and camcorders as an aesthetic. Sort of stuff I first filmed on when I was a kid. I’m shocked cuz even back then I didn’t think it looked very good. But that’s basically me with this camcorder, just a different generation. Maybe I should get a head start and just start filming with my iPhone, then release the videos in 10 years.
It’s related but it’s basically the little brother model to it. This is a GR-C7U and the back to the future one is a GR-C1. That camcorder is also exponentially more expensive because of that movie.
There were def some shots in there I got home and wished I shot differently after seeing them. Sort of is what it is (which sorta fits the home movie vibe anyways) and worked out though thankfully.
Yeah it’s got a manufacturing date stamped on the back. I wouldn’t be surprised if the model is a few years old and they kept making them through the 80s though.
For me, retro for retro, I don't see the point. Analog photography is still very interesting, both for the archiving of negatives and for the rendering obtained. I wouldn't say the same for video... Especially since VHS or audio K7 were not good archiving media...
Haha I’ll admit out of all the advice and comments on technicals, this is a pretty goofy decision but is something I thought about though. Using 24p even results in some flicker off the CRT too. Ultimately I went with it for simplicity though cuz it had to conform with the rest of my video footage which has always been in 24p. I’ve received a lot of advice on how to properly digitize the tape and someday I’ll probably do a version that is done that way just for comparison. But I’m not sure when I’ll get around to that since I have other videos in progress rn.
Nicely done. The filming of your CRT monitor, while I understand your reasoning, makes it less authentic. Screens were different from TV to TV, and it wasn't necessarily the screen that produced that retro jitter look... that could have been the TV reception, which varied based on where you were watching TV. Compare to the real thing! I shot this in '91 th-cam.com/video/ZqtHNhvCda8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=KAaZnwpqGc5RoxLc
To be clear, it’s supposed to be authentic in the sense this is what watching a 40 year old tape on a 40 year old CRT TV today looks like. Not sure how that isn’t accurate when that’s literally what I did here. Whether it’s authentic to watching these brand new in 1986, then yeah I agree it’s different but that’s not what the short film is about. It doesn’t take place in 1986, it takes place in 2024. It’s about watching a tape on a crt in 2024.
@@RetraCast Ah. I thought you were trying to recreate the 80's video quality rather than the experience of watching TV in the 80s. You did a great job, I'm not knocking you.
I respect the idea but I have some serious advice to improve it: 1. Ditch the crt, it’s completely trashing your image quality. 2. Get a betacam sp, dvcpro hd, or hdcam tape format camera, or a recording vcr (vtr) in order to convert your digital footage to tape and then back to digital (or record to tape and then capture on digital, if you got the camera) 3. Instead of trying to make it shaky on purpose, just don’t stabilize it, when you’re in the car and you go around a corner or into an intersection, try to arrest the bumps. As long as you’re not using a gimbal or stabilizer it’ll still give it that intended ameture effect. It’s not shakiness that’s charming, it’s the fact that you can tell someone is holding the camera based on its minor imperfections in movement 4. Only capture video directly, never film off a screen. You’re just creating a ton of image compression that makes most of the clips which look good otherwise, look pretty bad, and generates artifacting. I remember vhs artifacting and having generation loss when I got older, but when I was still young it looked pretty good. Stop trying to imitate bad quality, even super 8 film can do 2160p. Betacam sp is 720p, dvcpro hd is 1080p, hdcam is 1080p, and all of them will give you exactly the look you’re trying to get. If you want a little bit more fuzz then just copy it a few times and then capture the tape you copied from with your capture card (it’ll have more fuzz when you copy from it) Please by all means, let’s do this again.
BetaCam SP is not 720p it's interlaced and sampled at 720x488 i29.97 NTSC and 720x576 i25 for PAL for standard capture, and 720x512 / 720x608 for IMX with the VBI space If you're trying to preserve something like VITC timecode added it to it. VHS looks pretty damn good if you look at current properly uploaded footage from FM RF archival captures run though VHS-Decode, but anything less then HEVC 120mbps not in the 4k bracket will be crunched by YT. You don't have to use professional formats to get beautifully clean results for analogue footage, hell you can even use current standard tools to make digital YUV footage into the base band domain and then limit its chroma resolution and then spit it back out back to YUV it's the 2020s not 2005.
This is all 100% valid, and I don’t necessarily disagree with the ideas. But the actual video itself is meant to be played off an aged 40 year old tape and CRT in the modern age. To which this is just how it looks. It’s not inaccurate given the context. The video is not necessarily meant to be a tech showcase that squeezes every bit of detail available from the VHS format. That’s not what I was aiming for from the beginning. Now if I were to do a different video with a different story and context, then that’s a different case though.
@ for sure no need to defend your position. I think everything you did was good otherwise and I’d like to see more content. But I would definitely like to see capture card footage from the tape you shot being recorded off a VCR than to see the camera film any screen. If you ever shoot film, please get it scanned, don’t record it off the wall; film labs has a cost effective service they can do it for you. Although, that would probably render better results than recording off a crt, lcd, or oled.
How did you use film in a VHS camcorder???????? Hey, camcorders DON'T NOT USE FILM. Where did you learn this stuff? Double and triple check your text and script for. You get a failing grade in journalism class.
Check out the full short film, Static Memories: th-cam.com/video/mm7nqbz5IEU/w-d-xo.html
I also have a video about one of the scooters: th-cam.com/video/Vu94JAtrdUI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=2loArs4YxlYVIBQv
A video on the main motorcycle is coming soon.
Nostalgia is stronger these days because as an older person I can tell that the world was ostensibly a far better place years ago in terms of people - on an individual level - simply being able to get on with their lives (private and at work) without endless layers of Government and bureaucracies micro-managing everything - and doing a terrible job of it at that. So anything at all that reminds us of those days will always make us far happier than we normally are these days.
I love seeing cool passion projects on TH-cam, hopefully I’ll have a relic from the 80’s soon enough. Preferably a Toyota lol. Keep up the great content!
Damn, what a production quality. I shouldn't be surprised though, knowing your background. Still loads of effort for this small channel, but I have quite the feeling, that this video and the standalone movie will gather quite a lot of attention at some random time, always depending on the randmness of these algorithms. Especially since your thumbnail on the movie is very interesting, it will gain a lot of traction, once more people stumbled over it.
I personally am the total opposite, working on an animated show right now, where everything is perfectly crisp and digital, but there absolutely is quite the charm about retro recording. It perfectly with the base, less is more. Whatever you don't see in old footage, your mind has the freedom to fill in the gaps.
Great work and I wish you success with these passion projects!
Thanks, I actually have some arguably higher production videos like my Honda Aero 50 video (sorta informational styled like this) and Midship Retra (older short film). Though it is funny this is by far my biggest instant hit so far. Guess it’s just the combination of the thumbnail, title, topic, and random chance all aligning. I mean even this behind the scenes has more views than the actual short film lol.
I agree too, I usually do go for a crisp and clean look which is kinda why I wanted to do something like this to mix it up and not focus on the raw quality as much.
As a side note, cool to hear you do animation. I’m trying to incorporate more motion graphics and small animations (digital and hand drawn) in my videos as part of my recent style overhaul. This and my Honda Aero 50 videos are part of that.
"it's worse and better at the same time" and I love it :)
Fantastic shots with this legendary camcorder! I could tell you my whole life story from when my dad owned one of these and I ran around shooting my own Indiana Jones films as a 12 year old :-D Love the attention to detail in your shots - the clothes, the cars and the settings you chose. Feels like Stranger Things. Great work!
Nice! I love shooting on tape. It's so awesome seeing you break down the process in such detail. Hopefully it gets more people into shooting on tape!
Keep it up with the channel! Watching your Mr2 project inspired me to buy an 80s Honda CRX and restore it while in college. This stuff is just a bonus!
Thanks man, I wish I could do more car project stuff cuz I know a lot of my more loyal viewers really got into me from that, but I need to first get a garage. I’ve tried working on my car and bikes in my apartment alleyway and it’s just miserable if it’s anything more than maintenance stuff. Filming just makes it even more stressful in that situation. One day though I’ll do them again though.
I just love this kind of stuff. I’ve been having a lot of fun just using a bunch of my fathers old things like his canon vhs camcorder and film camera where I found an old roll of film with old pictures from when he was in high school. I just love the style and feel of all the old equipment.
As a kid from the 80ties myself...i can say that back in the 80ties you had way better quality vhs cameras with better film quality.i still have my 1988 panasonic m7😎and even today the quality is verry good.love your pasion
Yeah I wanna be clear this is one, a very early consumer model camcorder. And on top of that, both the TV and camcorder are definitely worn with aging electronics giving some funkiness. In my behind the scenes video I show what the tape looks like straight through a capture card and it’s totally higher quality and more what you’d typically expect from a tape.
The same can be said about the music. There were 100% better tape recorders out there, but mine I used is a cheap consumer model that is worn out and producing its own “lofi” effects cuz of it.
Either way, the look is funky, but it IS naturally distorted. I didn’t modify it in editing with any fake digital effects.
@@RetraCast you just have wrong equipment
I mean it is literal period correct gear
wow that looks real, as in really shot in the 80s. good job!
Grain = art. And it's the same for acoustic or distorted tones, sculpture textures, fabrics, drawing paper, drawing pens and brushes, and so on. Perfectly polished has its own feel, too, but you have to navigate through all of them for creation.
Watched the movie before this making of and was really impressed by the period cars, locations, clothing, haor etc. Excellent attention to detail (and all those period cars!).
Glad you appreciated it. Hardest part of the video was just all the planning to get things in place. I got a couple videos on those cars though, mainly my Fiat Spider being a big one. My dad has a classic car collection and I have an old video showing it off as well (mountain loop car barn #1) if you’re interested in that. It’s a bit outdated now though.
The JVC GR-C7 was one of the top notch camcorders of the 80's. And it was JVC's first camcorder to come with a CCD sensor. It's predecessors, the GR-C1 (the "Back to the Future"-camcorder) and the GR-C2 still used Saticon tubes to capture the image. While Sony had already introduced the CCD-V8 (the first Video8 camcorder) with a CCD sensor a year earlier. But back then, filmmakers were dissatisfied with the image quality. Especially if compared to professional broadcast equipment, which offered a much better quality, even in SD. Hence for me as an amateuer filmmaker from the 80's and 90's it's kind of strange to see that this "vintage" look has become popular, again.
Appreciate the background. I film a lot of stuff digitally and usually go for a clean and produced look so wanted to try something like this out for a mixup. Tbh I had fun and really think the look with the CRT came out really cool. Not something I’m gonna do on a regular basis just for the heck of it over my modern camera, but it was a fun and interesting experience as a stylistic choice here.
If I were to use the camcorder again I think I’d give a more accurate digitization a try as another mixup though too. Got lots of advice in the comments on that. But we’ll see.
@@RetraCast In my humble opion, if you really want to go fancy with regard to a "vintage" style video, try to get your hands on an old tube camera from the 60's or 70's. They produce an image with a much more "analogue" look and feel than CCD cameras.
I love this so much, I'm hoping to get my hands on my parents early 90s camcorder to do something similar. Excellent work, keep it up!
The verticcal lines on the bike ligts are a defect from CCD sensor of the vintage camera, all CCD sensors do this. Modern cameras have CMOS sensors. Way older cameras uses a CRT as sensor, it gives a comet tail effect on the lights sources, but light can damage the aparatus on those.
Yes someone else pointed this is out to me in the original short film. I knew this camera had a CCD since they advertise it on the label, though I was not sure the actual characteristics of it. The first time I saw that streak when filming I assumed it had to do with either a lens distortion/flare or something to do with the tape (similar to a light bleed on film but obviously not the same process). Very interesting effect I did not plan on. Combined with the headlight’s halo it’s pretty cool though.
@@RetraCast This is due to the fact that the sensor discharge in a certain way. It is interesting to know the effect if you want to use it or avoid it.
Loved this, it was great!
I'm just shooting as much tape as I can to do a Hi8 VS Panasonic VHS-C shoot out. It gives me some idea of the amount of hours that must have gone into your project. Nice work!
Tbh, compared to most of my other videos, this one was pretty quick to film simply cuz I had to cram all filming into a couple days since I had to schedule all my friends to be available at the same time. Digitizing, editing, and music took far longer than filming.
Also I gotta admit Hi8 is a format I’ve heard of but don’t know much about firsthand.
@@RetraCast Hi8 can have PCM audio and RCTC timecode built in rather then VITC on SVHS, its quite nice for working with due to very high SNR, very much so with RF Captures and vhs-decode, video8 for example looking amazing for SP media new tapes and 80s tapes have the same stability if stored right Hi8 just has a bump to around SVHS line resolution, shame we never had 1125-line in something that size we were getting there though before digital came in and crushed the market.
Battery charge on the early VHS consumer camcorders was so-o-o short! We could only ever count on 15min of filming school events before a long recharge was needed. And then there was the editing that had to be done in real-time with a VHS video cassette recorder... No fond memories, here.
Amico apprezzo molto questo video,adoro la tua telecamera JVC VHS c,somiglia a quella usata da marty mcfly in ritorno al futuro.bel video!
It actually is the little brother model to the Back to the Future camcorder! I got it cuz it’s smaller and A LOT cheaper since it’s not as famous lol
@@RetraCast so che non è lo stesso modello,però è una bella telecamera,ben tenuta
Brilliant Work!!!
Such well made content!
I have one of those cameras sitting on my desk here by my monitor :). Works, but only in black and white now.
Funny, I actually own two. My first one had a similar issue where everything comes out black and white and super washed out. Assuming the head is worn or some component is fried. Got a second one and it’s the one I used for this video.
Precisa fazer um vídeo explicando como fez uma bateria que a alimentasse durante as gravações.
It’s just a modern 9.6v NI-MH battery (same volt and type as the original) then I hooked that into a male DC plug. My camcorder has a DC power input you can use to plug it into the wall. But with this setup, you plug the new battery in there. I just got all the parts online from Amazon. Hope that helps
Thank you for this insight. I'm surprised at all the comments telling you better ways to digitize the footage or even telling you you did it wrong. You stated you were looking for this aesthetic and how it fits in the story being told, how can this be wrong then?
Tell me about it.
Overall though I do appreciate the people giving genuine advice on how to digitize the tape and mentioning the capture card I used is not a particularly good one. Especially cuz it is worth noting digitized VHS can look better than portrayed here. But at the same time yeah, I think there are a few people who didn’t quite understand the phrase “artistic direction” when it came up in bold text in the video. Especially anyone saying my equipment is faulty from age. Age is the whole point of the video. I’ve mentioned it a few times in the comments and maybe shoulda said it in the video itself, it’s not meant to be a tech showcase, it’s meant to be a stylistic but authentic and real lofi effect.
Somewhat related, being in the video space, I do see a lot of people focusing solely on technical perfection and specs over creative style pretty often and I’m tryna go that different way in my more recent videos.
Bros' putting "Subscribe" subliminals @ 6:13
fire vid bro keep it up
Thanks man, I still got a bit of a backlog of videos I shot over the summer to edit. No shortage of content coming, just need to find the time to finish them.
capture card thing lacks a time base corrector
it has organic and authentic look, when today we are headed better than reality, over concerned about noise and distortion. THe theory is you can always add filters to perfect video, but it does not work that way.
Yeah, being in the videographer space, one thing I see a lot is people who are more focused on the technical and spec side of video, rather than the creative and style side. I was that way for a while too and tbh I’m just sick of it. Part of why I made this video and have been including more stylized effects in general in last few videos. Just would rather make fun and stylish stuff than technical but plain.
Very cool! 👍😉
My parents had that one! I digitized the tapes only last year 😀
TH-cam bitrate too low to see nice and clear capturing from TV, annoying block artifacts is everywhere. Hope your original video looks great, and without added digital noise.
this is very much an interpretation of 80's aesethic, as it's using a camcorder that has aged and degraded for almost 40 years. which is of course interesting in itself. the image quality was a lot better when the device was new and properly calibrated. the degradation only serves to accentuate the difference in era and technology. it likely 'feels more authentic' to an audience who would have no concept of the medium at the time it was released.
Yes, it’s more of an “authentic lofi effect” than it is an “accurate tech showcase”. As in it’s a stylistic effect and choice, but not one that’s faked with digital effects and fine tuning. It’s just what my devices happen to look like given their 40 year old age.
Even the capture card footage looks more what you’d typically expect from VHS footage. It’s really the combination of the aged camcorder and aged CRT TV together stacking their quirks and degradations. I think another extra reason the CRT looks the way it does is the fact it’s a very small display too so everything is shrunken and blurred more.
Same can be said with the music. There are 100% better tape recorders and speakers out there from that era, but this is what a cheap portable recorder that has 40 year degrading electronics and motors sounds like.
wobbly tape sound is called wow and flutter
Isn’t it more of a warble in this case? I could be wrong though
@@RetraCast Is the music still audible or is it really destroy ?
Thanks for the nice video! I don't know why all new cameras got the damn fisheye effect that deform images!!!
YT Recs for the win on this one. Just watched your short film for this bts video. Your filmmaking style reminds me of 1990s Takeshi Kitano, mainly the film A Scene at the Sea (1991) if you've ever heard of it or him.
Thanks, I mainly do “review” style videos on retro stuff but with the occasional short film (check out Midship Retra and Lone Racer are my other ones, though a few years old now). I have not seen any Takeshi Kitano movies but I’ll check it out. I got into some Hong Kong movies a while ago by Wong Kar Wai which was partly an inspiration for the vibe of Lone Racer. I got to visit Japan last year (video coming on that) and have been wanting to get into some Japanese movies but wasn’t sure where to start.
Hope you check out my other stuff and stick around. I got a “Best of” playlist, but I’m currently in a bit of a style and quality overhaul with my last 3 videos after being away for a couple years.
@@RetraCast Ah gotcha. I will definitely check out your other videos. The HK scene is a whole 'nother rabbit hole to go down as well. Still waiting to visit Japan someday...😪
Me encanta
I notice the s vhs-c cassette there. Can I offer friendly advice as a repair technician?
If you use it,it will work however it’s like a metal evaporation tape type which can strip the heads quickly on your camera as well as not erase properly. Always use normal vhsc tapes on this especially as you have a good working unit! Look after it :)
That is very interesting actually I did not realize there were two types. I’ll have to double check what I’ve been using cuz the one shown in the video is not the actual same brand of tape. Thanks for the tip
@@RetraCastthanks for your reply. There’s not many left that work as well as that one, I’d hate for it to be killed just because of a minor tape error. A standard tape just has a vhs-c logo that matches the one on the door, with no ‘s’ stylisation on the beginning. I’m sure you know what I mean. The tape is more akin to chrome tape, a dark grey colour like normal vhs tape. The metal tape is pretty much black..
I gave it a double check and yes, the tape I used for this video does not seem to be VHS-C S. It’s a Maxell HGX-Gold.
I’d have to double check what’s on the prop one shown in the video, but that other tape may be from some testing I did years ago when I first got the camcorder. That or it’s still blank. But I cannot remember without giving it a play. Hope it didn’t do too much damage if it was used though. I have quite a few random tapes laying around from a previous video and testing. This is the only video I’ve done that’s serious enough to actually label the tape this time lol.
@@RetraCastdon’t worry too much about it, you’re aware of it now..just enjoy! :)
Hollywood would not even dare to record a film on VHS, they would use film.
We went so perfect in a sense of sound and picture, that my eyes sore. I don't want super HD unless we talk about technical stuff like pictures of space or animals in safari. Whatever. I want art to be inperfect.
Have you ever made a video with a super 8 camera?
it would be nice
I have not simply cuz it’s very expensive, takes a long time to develop and get back, and as a result, high risk if the footage doesn’t come out right, I can’t easily redo shots. If I was rich I’d do it for a video, but rn I already dump enough money into each video as is.
The elgato is a pretty terrible capture device if you're going for true-to-form captures. It's ok if you want something to look ok on a tiny cell phone screen is about it. DV conversion with either Digitial8/MiniDV camcorder passthrough or ADVC-110/100 would be a big step up and preserves interlacing which you can then deinterlace with something like QTGMC. Technically you'd also get better results most of the time with an S-VHS VCR and S-Video output for playback since the luma and chroma are stored separately on the tape even when made on machines that never had S-Video in/out or even pre-date S-Video. There are ways to get even better captures, but MiniDV would just be a big step up with minimal effort.
Best method is now FM RF capture from the tape directly, then software TBC and Comb Filtering in vhs-decode cheaper to then QTGMC etc.
Yeah I’ll be completely honest I began to look into better ways to digitize the tape, and I consider myself a fairly tech person, but it all still got a bit deeper than I anticipated. I just didn’t really have the time between work and my other videos, plus the budget, to get too invested in finding the best possible way to digitize the tape. Especially cuz I ended up preferring the CRT for stylistic and contextual reasons in the film itself. Eventually I’d like to get the tape properly converted though if possible. It just wasn’t something I was ready to dive deep into for this one time thing yet.
The capture card deinterlaced your video, and knocked it down from 59.94 fields per second to 2.97 FPS - which murders the aesthetic of NTSC video. Capture the video with something better, like an IO Data GV2 capture dongle (cheaper than the Elgato but better) - set to captured in native 480i (weave or interlaced, instead of deinterlaced, or any other setting field setting). Then, deinterlace the video to 59.94 FPS, and you'll see the video looks way more authentic to period, even on a modern display.
I’ll give this a look. I have some other videos in the works rn but I do want to revisit the VHS idea in the future for other projects.
I’m a pretty techy person but I gotta admit something about researching digitizing VHS tapes led me into a deeper rabbit hole of unfamiliar territory than I expected.
@@RetraCast Yes - there is a *ton* of contradictory content about how it's done. If you decide to pick it up again, feel free ping me. There are ways to properly capture true 480i video on the cheap.
nice film man. do you still have your aw11? I loved those vids back when you dropped them.
Yeah I have it. Engine blew on it a couple years back and I didn’t have the money to fix it at the time. Over the past year I got the money and I’ve been slowly getting it rebuilt but haven’t had time to film it unfortunately. Someday will do videos on it again when I get my own garage.
Creo que es como la videocamara que usa Michael J Fox en la película de Volver al Futuro.
It’s similar, but actually the little brother model to it that came out a year later. The Back to the Future one is a GR-C1, this is a GR-C7U. The GR-C1 is a lot more expensive since it’s in that movie, else I would have tried to use it.
4:36 Sad to see it was not ingested properly with FM RF capture and then run though vhs-decode, as that's the most native quality representation of VHS as your going to get, rather then an poor quality AIO IC with composite, also allows you to release an true RAW quality version of the film in source signal world not just a video file stream!
Yeah I’ll be honest, I began doing some research on the best ways to digitize it, but I’ll totally admit it got a bit more in depth than I anticipated. Especially considering I’m just doing this in between work, have other videos to get to, and working on a limited budget. Ultimately I’d like to get the tape more properly converted eventually, but I am happy with the CRT effect given the context of the video itself. Since it’s not necessarily meant to be a tech showcase, and more a stylized but “authentic” effect, even if that effect includes natural degradation.
@@RetraCast Well just making sure you and your community are properly aware of it is the best I can do haha..
But if you ever do want it run properly without the learning curve of getting set up feel free to give me a direct message, Comms always open happy to run some media.
02:58 I'm glad I'm not the only one with shaky video
Thought I had undiagnosed Parkinsons 🤷♂️
What is deficient technology today will be the tools of 'artistic expression' in 30 years! A never-ending spiral of 'duplicate' and 'iterate'. The author is dead but he has returned - as a zombie.
Hahaha ya know I have 100% thought that. I grew up in the early 2000’s (born in the late 90’s) and I have noticed people a few years younger than me using 2000’s point and shoots and camcorders as an aesthetic. Sort of stuff I first filmed on when I was a kid. I’m shocked cuz even back then I didn’t think it looked very good. But that’s basically me with this camcorder, just a different generation.
Maybe I should get a head start and just start filming with my iPhone, then release the videos in 10 years.
Is this Back To The Future camcorder? 😃
It’s related but it’s basically the little brother model to it. This is a GR-C7U and the back to the future one is a GR-C1. That camcorder is also exponentially more expensive because of that movie.
praying for the clip to be useful 😅
There were def some shots in there I got home and wished I shot differently after seeing them. Sort of is what it is (which sorta fits the home movie vibe anyways) and worked out though thankfully.
"Compact VHS-C tapes"
Oh right, so Compact VHS-Compact tapes
Yeah I assumed the average viewer wouldn’t know what the C stood for
You sure that Hitachi is from 1986 🤔 Looks like 1970's model.
Yeah it’s got a manufacturing date stamped on the back. I wouldn’t be surprised if the model is a few years old and they kept making them through the 80s though.
no CCD sensors before 1985, so definitly not 1970 model despite the old look.
For me, retro for retro, I don't see the point. Analog photography is still very interesting, both for the archiving of negatives and for the rendering obtained. I wouldn't say the same for video... Especially since VHS or audio K7 were not good archiving media...
Yeah I mean I’m not gonna start filming all my future videos on VHS. This was purely a stylistic choice for a very specific video theme.
Your skinny pants tell that you were either punk or metal in your eighties.
video in 24p ... Your camcorder can do 60i.
Haha I’ll admit out of all the advice and comments on technicals, this is a pretty goofy decision but is something I thought about though. Using 24p even results in some flicker off the CRT too. Ultimately I went with it for simplicity though cuz it had to conform with the rest of my video footage which has always been in 24p.
I’ve received a lot of advice on how to properly digitize the tape and someday I’ll probably do a version that is done that way just for comparison. But I’m not sure when I’ll get around to that since I have other videos in progress rn.
@@RetraCast Ah ok the video look is really 50 or 60i so it seemed odd to me to go to cinema look at 24p at the same time.
2:09 Yes, you are.
Got me
Nicely done. The filming of your CRT monitor, while I understand your reasoning, makes it less authentic. Screens were different from TV to TV, and it wasn't necessarily the screen that produced that retro jitter look... that could have been the TV reception, which varied based on where you were watching TV.
Compare to the real thing!
I shot this in '91
th-cam.com/video/ZqtHNhvCda8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=KAaZnwpqGc5RoxLc
To be clear, it’s supposed to be authentic in the sense this is what watching a 40 year old tape on a 40 year old CRT TV today looks like. Not sure how that isn’t accurate when that’s literally what I did here.
Whether it’s authentic to watching these brand new in 1986, then yeah I agree it’s different but that’s not what the short film is about. It doesn’t take place in 1986, it takes place in 2024. It’s about watching a tape on a crt in 2024.
@@RetraCast Ah. I thought you were trying to recreate the 80's video quality rather than the experience of watching TV in the 80s. You did a great job, I'm not knocking you.
I respect the idea but I have some serious advice to improve it:
1. Ditch the crt, it’s completely trashing your image quality.
2. Get a betacam sp, dvcpro hd, or hdcam tape format camera, or a recording vcr (vtr) in order to convert your digital footage to tape and then back to digital (or record to tape and then capture on digital, if you got the camera)
3. Instead of trying to make it shaky on purpose, just don’t stabilize it, when you’re in the car and you go around a corner or into an intersection, try to arrest the bumps. As long as you’re not using a gimbal or stabilizer it’ll still give it that intended ameture effect. It’s not shakiness that’s charming, it’s the fact that you can tell someone is holding the camera based on its minor imperfections in movement
4. Only capture video directly, never film off a screen. You’re just creating a ton of image compression that makes most of the clips which look good otherwise, look pretty bad, and generates artifacting. I remember vhs artifacting and having generation loss when I got older, but when I was still young it looked pretty good. Stop trying to imitate bad quality, even super 8 film can do 2160p. Betacam sp is 720p, dvcpro hd is 1080p, hdcam is 1080p, and all of them will give you exactly the look you’re trying to get. If you want a little bit more fuzz then just copy it a few times and then capture the tape you copied from with your capture card (it’ll have more fuzz when you copy from it)
Please by all means, let’s do this again.
BetaCam SP is not 720p it's interlaced and sampled at 720x488 i29.97 NTSC and 720x576 i25 for PAL for standard capture, and 720x512 / 720x608 for IMX with the VBI space If you're trying to preserve something like VITC timecode added it to it.
VHS looks pretty damn good if you look at current properly uploaded footage from FM RF archival captures run though VHS-Decode, but anything less then HEVC 120mbps not in the 4k bracket will be crunched by YT.
You don't have to use professional formats to get beautifully clean results for analogue footage, hell you can even use current standard tools to make digital YUV footage into the base band domain and then limit its chroma resolution and then spit it back out back to YUV it's the 2020s not 2005.
This is all 100% valid, and I don’t necessarily disagree with the ideas. But the actual video itself is meant to be played off an aged 40 year old tape and CRT in the modern age. To which this is just how it looks. It’s not inaccurate given the context. The video is not necessarily meant to be a tech showcase that squeezes every bit of detail available from the VHS format. That’s not what I was aiming for from the beginning.
Now if I were to do a different video with a different story and context, then that’s a different case though.
@ for sure no need to defend your position.
I think everything you did was good otherwise and I’d like to see more content.
But I would definitely like to see capture card footage from the tape you shot being recorded off a VCR than to see the camera film any screen.
If you ever shoot film, please get it scanned, don’t record it off the wall; film labs has a cost effective service they can do it for you.
Although, that would probably render better results than recording off a crt, lcd, or oled.
How did you use film in a VHS camcorder???????? Hey, camcorders DON'T NOT USE FILM. Where did you learn this stuff? Double and triple check your text and script for. You get a failing grade in journalism class.
0:50 Rewatch it as many times as necessary.
what
VHS-C Tapes
You people replying to this comment don’t understand his point. Video tape is NOT “film”.
@@darwinsayeWhen somebody is a “filmmaker” or they work in “the film industry” do you think that they exclusively use film?