Analog Distortion

Most editing techniques involve everything being on the computer. You gather footage from the internet/DVDs/etc, plug them into your editor, and upload them to a streaming site.

But what if you want to create edits that aren't with a computer? Analog Distortion is the distortion of footage on the physical side - the real world. This is contrary to Digital Distortion where everything is contained in a digital environment.

Real Analog Distortion

There are many types of real analog distortion, and we'll go over them here. Keep in mind this is not a complete list!

Things you're gonna want:

• A camera or recording device
• Your footage
• A way of moving footage around (USB Drives, SD Cards, etc.)

Using an Old TV

One of the simplest ways to create analog distortion is simply to record the footage off an CRT television.

Recording to VHS

VHS Generation Loss

VHS Generation loss is the process of recording footage to a VHS tape over and over again. As the process is physical, not everything carries over each time, resulting in substantial loss by the end.

Messing with the VCR

A more risky method, some forms of VHS distortion come by intentionally messing with the VCR as it is playing.

Artificial Analog Distortion

There are many simulators to create a look similar to analog distortion. These range from full on VHS simulators to distorted TV sets. These include:

• uni.VHS in RedGiant Universe
• ntscQT, ntscRS and other variants
• "Bad TV" in Vegas
• S_TVDamage in Sapphire
• Various Blender plugins (some free, some paid)
• Cathodemer