How to make video look like VHS or old film

For a VHS or old film look, start with the film and retro effects in Video by Zaweba. The group includes VHS, old film, scan lines, film grain, glitch and chromatic aberration. Drop the one that suits your style onto a clip from the Effects tab, adjust its settings in the Inspector, then finish the look with a colour grade, since faded colour does as much to sell an old look as any scratch or noise.

Retro looks are popular for music videos, nostalgic edits, flashbacks and comedy. They work best when they are a little restrained: the aim is to suggest an old tape or film reel, not to make the picture hard to watch.

A VHS look

Apply the VHS effect to the clip. Add scan lines for the horizontal lines of an old television, and a touch of chromatic aberration so the colours separate slightly at the edges. A short burst of glitch here and there, at a cut or a beat in the music, adds the sense of a worn tape.

Then grade. Home video from that era tends to have soft contrast, lifted blacks and colour that bleeds a little. In Inspector > Colour, lift the bottom of the master curve and drop saturation slightly. A slight shift in tint can help too.

Framing helps. Old home video was 4:3, so cropping the sides in, or placing the clip on a black background in a 4:3 shape, makes the effect far more convincing than a full widescreen frame.

An old film look

Apply old film, and add film grain if you want more texture. Grade warm or towards sepia; the colour effects include sepia, tint and faded film, and black and white with filters is there for a silent era feel. Vignette darkens the corners as old lenses and projectors did.

Old film also moved differently. A clip played at a slightly odd rhythm adds to the feeling. The time effects include posterise time, which holds frames for a jerkier, older motion.

Applying it to a whole section

Rather than adding the same effects to every clip, use an adjustment layer. Graphics > Adjustment layer creates a clip whose effects change every track below it, so one VHS or film treatment covers a whole montage. Trim the adjustment layer to cover just the flashback and the rest of the film stays clean.

Effect presets save settings you like. Save a finished stack as a preset (an .ozfx file) and apply it again on another project.

Keeping the look believable

Start subtle and build up. Each retro effect adds damage, and they stack quickly. If the picture is hard to read, take something away.

Match the sound. An old look with crisp modern sound feels wrong. The old radio sound effect, or a high or low pass filter from the sound effects library, thins the sound like a small television speaker.

Use transitions to match. The glitch and light leak transitions fit retro edits, and a dip to black between scenes feels right for old film.

Keep a clean version. If a client or platform wants a clean copy, duplicate the timeline from its tab before adding the look, or simply switch off the adjustment layer with Shift+E before exporting.

Video by Zaweba is free software that runs offline on Windows, so these looks cost nothing and need no account or upload.