Step By Step 3: VHS Effect

 To start this step by step i first had to import my clip. Once imported i began by selecting the section of the clip i wanted and transferring it to the timeline. Once i had selected the duration of the clip, i then had to duplicate the first clip twice stacking them on the above timelines. This allowed me again to use the blending tools to create mild distortion once i had changed the properties of each of them that is.

So now that i had the original & the copies overlapping it allowed me to change the blend mode to "Linear Dodge (Add)" this creates a form of transparency, this allows me to create a distorted look, but that bit comes later.

Next I had to create the distorted coloration of an old VHS recorder which is simple enough. So to create this effect you simply have to add the RGB color balance effect.

 So once you have added the effect you need to then change each of the clips colour properties, one needs to bee 100% blue, another needs to be 100% green & the last needs to be 100% red.

Once this has been established and the properties have been changed then you can move onto the next step. The next step is to create a more visually distorted look you achieve this by going to each of the duplicate clips and changing the horizontal properties slightly to the left, the percentage i had it on was 960% which created the look that i was after, it took some experimenting to find out what worked & what didn't.

The next step you will need to right click onto your project panel, this will bring up a menu of options. I selected insert "Adjustment Layer" this crafts a plain layer that you can stack at the top, the advantages of this are that you can add any effect to the adjustment layer & it will effect every layer underneath. It saves having to add the same effect to each clip.

Now you will need to go to the effects & preset section & look up "Wave Warp". Once you have found it you then need to drag and drop it over the adjustment layer. this will effect each of the clips.

Once you have added wave warp you will notice that there is a lot of distortion & that will need to come down a bit, but first to create a more authentic looking VHS aesthetic, you will need a line of distortion. But you cannot do that with wavy lines, it needs to be more static so in order to achieve that look you first need to click onto your adjustment layer and select the effect options.

 So now your on the options you will need to change the "Wave Type" to square. you now have a lot more options at your disposal, the first option to tweak at this point will be the wave height & width. The default for the height is 10% and the width is 40% which gave the effect on the left .

 But to acquire the effect also to the left you will need to change the width to 800% and leave the height at 10% this will give a line of distortion running down the clip. the image on the left does say that the width is at 1000% but that was some experimentation gone wrong the distortion didn't work with such a wide rang.

Once all the values have been changed correctly you then need to make sure that pinning is set to "all edges".


Next step is to create some grain, so to accomplish this you have to locate "noise" in the effects panel and add it to your adjustment layer, this will allow you to turn up the amount of grain the clip has giving it a much more retro aesthetic.

The final touch was to add the old fashioned date on the top right hand side which was easily achievable by just selecting the title option, typing in the numbers you want selected & setting them up in the top right hand corner.

This is what the finished effect will look like, its not too bad it could be better but this one was definitely the most challenging to achieve.

Down below is the finished effect in its entirety check it out.