Based on my initial ideas and photo tests I felt I would need a aesthetic to further emphasise the direction I wanted to go for. Not only did I want to showcase a flashback in my story I wanted to somehow show the past and to figure this out I would need to look at films or media which can further help my idea. In finding the filming aesthetic to go along the 80’s style I was aiming for I decided to look into VHS recordings and what they are like. Contextually VHS’s where made around the 1970’s, unlike the modern day camera VHS film and photos run on a small magnetic tape:
“The cassette consists of two small spools of magnetic tape, including the supply reel and the take-up reel. The VCR (Videocassette Recorder) Pulls the supply reel around the rotating video head drum with the help of pins and rollers on either side. Due to the loose M-shape this creates in the magnetic tape, this process is referred to as M-lacing. Each 180 degree spin corresponds to the processing of one frame of video. The head drum rotates at a rate of 1798.2 rpm in NTSC machines and 1500 rpm in PAL machines.”
https://kodakdigitizing.com/blogs/news/vhs-what-does-it-mean
Looking at this staple filming method I decided to look at how to recreate this with my own equipment, to do this I looked at how the aesthetic is used in media and film:
I wanted to look at the type of filming that is done with VHS as well as what the look suggests to the viewer. In looking for a piece of media which showcases the style I want to go for I found this. To summarize my thoughts on it I felt the style of how it was recorded worked well: it wasn’t made with the intent of it being professional or with a specific purpose. It consists of people and places and the memories made surrounding that. What I particularly liked is the type of film it is being on vhs, it is able to showcase age as well as emphasize a nostalgic feeling which comes around with reminiscing.
For my cinema graph project story I want to focus on the idea of ‘bringing the past into the future’ this will be primarily shown through the visuals replicating the VHS style as well as an emphasis on bright vibrant colours seen in the 1960-80’s. An idea on how I can incorporate both together is taking shots on places and items which evoke a feeling of the past like that of old records or video game systems, modern places with a twist the twist being it would have the feel of it being filmed in the past or that of looking at old vhs recordings and watching the shows stored.