A shot-on-video (SOV) film, also known as a shot-on-VHS film or a camcorder film, is a film shot using

camcorder A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-sw ...

s and consumer-grade equipment, as opposed to

film stock Film stock is an analog medium that is used for recording motion pictures or animation. It is recorded on by a movie camera, developed, edited, and projected onto a screen using a movie projector. It is a strip or sheet of transparent pl ...

or high-end

digital movie camera A digital movie camera for digital cinematography is a motion picture camera that captures footage digitally rather than physical film, known as film stock. Different digital movie cameras output a variety of different acquisition formats. Camera ...

History

The first theatrically-released films shot on videotape pre-date the invention of the camcorder and related consumer video technology, starting with the

Electronovision Electronovision was a process used by producer and entrepreneur H. William "Bill" Sargent, Jr. to produce a handful of motion pictures, theatrical plays, and specials in the 1960s and early 1970s using a high-resolution videotape process for produc ...

process developed by film producer and entrepreneur H. William "Bill" Sargent, Jr. around 1964. Electronovision used conventional analog Image Orthicon-based studio video cameras (RCA TK-60 cameras in Electronovision's case), recording video from them to an

Ampex Ampex Data Systems Corporation is an American electronics company founded in 1944 by Alexander M. Poniatoff as a spin-off of Dalmo-Victor. The name ''AMPEX'' is an acronym, created by its founder, which stands for Alexander M. Poniatoff Excell ...

high-band 2" Quadraplex-format video tape recorder (VTR), all configured to use the black-and-white

819-line 819-line was an Analog television, analog monochrome television, TV system developed and used in France as television broadcast resumed after World War II. Transmissions started in 1949 and were active up to 1985, although limited to France, Bel ...

interlaced 25 frame per second (FPS) video standard, used in France for TV broadcasting at the time. The videotaped 819-line footage was then edited, with the final cut being transferred from tape to film stock via a

kinescope Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 1940s ...

process. The 819-line video standard was chosen by Electronovision over the regular 525-line 30 FPS video standard in use in the US at the time, due to its higher resolution and closer frame rate to motion picture film's 24 FPS, making it a better fit for transfer to film. A few films were shot and released using the Electronovision process, such as '' The TAMI Show'', (1964), ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'' (1964), and ''

Harlow Harlow is a town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a Planned community, new town in 1947, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire, and occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the ...

'' (1965). Around 1969, The Vidtronics Company, a division of

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

, had also developed a process for transferring color videotape to film, this time using standard 525-line NTSC color video gear. To demonstrate the potential of their process, they produced '' The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler'' (1971). The picture was shot by the crew from the TV series ''

Death Valley Days ''Death Valley Days'' is an American Western (genre), Western anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was ...

'', transferred and processed by Technicolor, and distributed by a Technicolor subsidiary, Gold Key Entertainment. It was not successful in theatres, but was frequently shown in TV syndication and 16mm rentals. Other films using Vidtronics' tape-to-film process were ''Why?'' (1971), and ''

200 Motels ''200 Motels'' is a 1971 surrealist musical film written and directed by Frank Zappa and Tony Palmer, and featuring music by Zappa. An international co-production of United States and the United Kingdom, the film stars the Mothers of Invention, ...

'' (1971), the latter being shot using the 625-line PAL color video standard at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to t ...

in the UK. In 1973, Hollywood actor/producer Ed Platt, made famous by his role as "The Chief" in the

NBC-TV The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

series ''

Get Smart ''Get Smart'' is an American comedy television series parodying the Spy fiction, secret agent genre that had become widely popular in the first half of the 1960s with the release of the ''James Bond'' films. It was created by Mel Brooks and Bu ...

'', raised the money to produce '' Santee'', starring

Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006), known as Glenn Ford, was a Canadian-born American actor. He was most prominent during Classical Hollywood cinema, Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-office draws of th ...

. Platt saw the advantages of using videotape over film, and used the facilities of Burbank's Compact Video Systems to shoot the western on location in the California and Nevada deserts. The motion picture was shot with Norelco PCP-70 portable plumbicon NTSC cameras and portable Ampex VR-3000 2" VTRs, then transferred to film at

Consolidated Film Industries Consolidated Film Industries was a film laboratory and film processing company and was one of the leading film laboratories in the Los Angeles area for many decades. CFI processed negatives and made prints for motion pictures and television. The ...

in Hollywood. The film was not commercially successful.

Examples

Shot-on-video films became more common in the wake of the release of

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

's professional-grade

Betacam Betacam is a family of half-inch professional videocassette products developed by Sony in 1982. In colloquial use, ''Betacam'' singly is often used to refer to a Betacam camcorder, a Betacam tape, a Betacam video recorder or the format itself. ...

and consumer-grade

Betamovie Betamovie is a series of consumer-grade camcorders developed by Sony for the Betamax videotape format. As a camcorder, each unit combined a video camera and a video recorder into a single device. Betamovie camcorders recorded onto standard Betam ...

camcorders in 1983.The Evolution of Shot-On-Video Movies - MovieWeb
/ref> Many shot-on-video films were

low-budget A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream circuit with inexperienced o ...

and belong to the horror genre. Filmmaker siblings the

Polonia brothers Twin brothers and filmmakers Mark Polonia and John Polonia (born September 30, 1968) founded Polonia Bros Entertainment and Cinegraphic Productions. Between them they have written, directed and produced over 40 feature films, often shot-on-vid ...

were known for their shot-on-video horror films, such as '' Splatter Farm'' (1987) and '' Feeders'' (1996).

Theatrically released examples

The scenes in Bill Gunn's 1980 film '' Personal Problems'' were shot using a

videocassette recorder A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other AV sources and can play back the recording after rewinding. The use of a VCR to reco ...

which was a new technology at the time (as most previous films were shot using

). The 1994

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

Hoop Dreams ''Hoop Dreams'' is a 1994 American documentary film directed by Steve James, and produced by Frederick Marx, James, and Peter Gilbert, with Kartemquin Films. It follows the story of two African-American high school students, William Gates ...

'' was one of the first shot-on-video documentaries to receive a wide theatrical release. The 1999 film ''

The Blair Witch Project ''The Blair Witch Project'' is a 1999 American psychological horror film written, directed, and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. One of the most successful independent films of all time, it is a " found footage" pseudo-docume ...

'' was shot on both

16 mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...

and the consumer-grade

Hi8 The 8mm video format refers informally to three related videocassette formats. These are the original Video8 format (analog video and analog audio but with provision for digital audio), its improved variant Hi8, as well as a more recent digit ...

video format, which was transferred to film for its national theatrical release. An international example is Danish filmmaker

Lars von Trier Lars von Trier (né Trier; born 30 April 1956) is a Danish film director and screenwriter. Beginning in the late-1960s as a child actor working on Danish television series ''Secret Summer'', von Trier's career has spanned more than five decad ...

's minimalist film ''

The Idiots ''The Idiots'' () is a 1998 black comedy drama film written and directed by Lars von Trier. It is his first film made in compliance with the Dogme 95 Manifesto, and is also known as Dogme #2. It is the second film in von Trier's '' Golden Hear ...

'' (1998; aka ''Dogme #2'').

List of other notable shot-on-video films

*''

'' (1971) * ''Mayday Raw 1971'' (1971) * '' Adland'' (1974) * '' Lord of the Universe'' (1974) *

Julia Reichert Julia Bell Reichert (June 16, 1946 – December 1, 2022) was an American Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, activist, and feminist. She was a co-founder of New Day Films. Reichert's filmmaking career spanned over 50 years as a director ...

's Academy Award nominated '' Union Maids'' (1976) * '' The Police Tapes'' (1977) * ''

Mr. Mike's Mondo Video ''Mr. Mike's Mondo Video'' is a 1979 American Mondo- Mockumentary film conceived and directed by ''Saturday Night Live'' writer/featured player Michael O'Donoghue. It is a spoof of the controversial 1962 documentary ''Mondo Cane'', showing peop ...

'' (1979)Schreger, Charles (July 21, 1979).
Shelved TV Satire to Get Theater Release
. ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. Part II, p. 6. *'' The Reflecting Pool'' (1979) * '' Boardinghouse'' (1982) * '' Possibly in Michigan'' (1983) * ''

Sledgehammer A sledgehammer is a tool with a large, flat, massive, often metal head, attached to a long wooden or solid handle. The long handle is combined with a heavy head which allows the sledgehammer to pick up momentum during a swing and applying a large ...

'' (1983) * The Emmy Award-winning ''

Special Bulletin ''Special Bulletin'' is a 1983 American drama television film directed by Edward Zwick and written by Marshall Herskovitz, based on a story by both. It was an early collaboration between the two, who would later produce such series as '' thirt ...

'' (1983) * '' Suffer Little Children'' (1983) * '' Black Devil Doll from Hell'' (1984)Phantoms in the Family: Chester Novell Turner's Tales from the QuadeaD Zone - Art & Trash
/ref> * '' Blonde Death'' (1984) * ''

Overdrawn at the Memory Bank ''Overdrawn at the Memory Bank'' is a 1984 science fiction television film starring Raul Julia and Linda Griffiths. Based on the 1976 John Varley (author), John Varley short story of the same name from the Eight Worlds series, the film takes pl ...

'' (1984) *'' Rock My Religion'' (1984) * '' Blood Cult'' (1985) * ''The Ripper'' (1985) * ''Cards of Death'' (1986)Cards of Death (1986) - B&S About Movies
/ref> * ''

Heavy Metal Parking Lot ''Heavy Metal Parking Lot'' is a 1986 shot-on-video documentary short produced by Jeff Krulik and John Heyn. The film features interviews with several small groups of young heavy metal fans gathered for a tailgate party in the parking lot ou ...

'' (1986) * '' Tales from the QuadeaD Zone'' (1987) * '' Video Violence'' (1987)VIDEO VIOLENCE - 13 Days of Shot on Video! (#13), Camera Viscera
/ref> * ''

555 Year 555 ( DLV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 555 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming y ...

'' (1988) *

Rob Nilsson Rob Nilsson (born October 29, 1939) is a filmmaker, poet and painter, best known for his feature film '' Northern Lights'', co-directed with John Hanson and winner of the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival (1979). He also is known for dire ...

's Sundance-winning '' Heat and Sunlight'' (1988) * '' Tongues Untied'' (1988) * '' Woodchipper Massacre'' (1988) * '' Citizen Tania'' (1989) * '' Houseboat Horror'' (1989) * '' The McPherson Tape'' (1989) * ''Sir Drone'' (1989) * '' Bossy Burger'' (1991) * '' Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees'' (1991) * The controversial 1992

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

TV movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a terrest ...

'' Ghostwatch''Six Shot-on-VHS Horror Movies to Watch After 'Frogman' - Bloody Disgusting
/ref> * '' Heidi, Midlife Crisis Trauma Center and Negative Media-Engram Abreaction Zone'' (1992) * ''

Ozone Ozone () (or trioxygen) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic molecule with the chemical formula . It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope , break ...

'' (1993) * '' Conrad Brooks vs. the Werewolf'' (1994) * ''

Without Warning Without Warning may refer to: Film and television * ''Without Warning'', alternate title selected by contest for ''The Story Without a Name'' (1924) * ''Without Warning!'', a 1952 film noir * ''Without Warning'' (1980 film), a film starring Jac ...

'' (1994) * ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

'' (1995) * ''Polymorph'' (1996) * ''

Bloodletting Bloodletting (or blood-letting) was the deliberate withdrawal of blood from a patient to prevent or cure illness and disease. Bloodletting, whether by a physician or by leeches, was based on an ancient system of medicine in which blood and othe ...

'' (1997) * ''

Ernest Borgnine Ernest Borgnine ( ; born Ermes Effron Borgnino; January 24, 1917 – July 8, 2012) was an American actor whose career spanned over six decades. He was noted for his gruff but relaxed voice and gap-toothed Cheshire Cat grin. A popular perf ...

on the Bus'' (1997) * ''Premutos'' (1997)Shot On Video – Moviejawn
/ref> * '' Rollergator'' (1997) * '' Jan-Gel: The Beast from the East'' (1999) * ''

Genghis Blues ''Genghis Blues'' is a 1999 American documentary film directed by Roko Belic. It centers on the journey of blind American singer Paul Pena to the isolated Russian Republic of Tuva to pursue his interest in Tuvan throat singing. Accolades It ...

'' (1999) * '' August Underground'' (2001) * ''

Gozu is a 2003 Japanese comedy horror film by Takashi Miike. Plot Ozaki (Aikawa), a mentally unstable yakuza, kills a chihuahua outside a restaurant after becoming convinced that it is actually an attack dog trained to kill gangsters. Seeing Ozak ...

'' (2003) * The Columbine-inspired video diary '' Zero Day'' (2003) * '' Each Time I Kill'' (2007) *

Harmony Korine Harmony Korine (born January 4, 1973) is an American filmmaker, actor, photographer, artist, and author. His methods feature an erratic, loose and transgressive aesthetic, exploring taboo themes and incorporating experimental techniques,Alicia Kn ...

's '' Trash Humpers'' (2009)

Legacy

''Union Maids'', ''Tongues Untied'' and ''Hoop Dreams'' are each inducted into the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...

. '' Possibly in Michigan'' first gained notoriety on social media in 2015, and has gained popularity among

Gen Z Generation Z (often shortened to Gen Z), also known as zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1990s as starting birth years and the early 20 ...

teens. Some SOV films like ''Feeders'', ''Things'' (later to be known as one of the worst movies of all time) and ''Rollergator'' were spoofed by RiffTrax, consisting of former ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on WUCW, KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. It then ...

'' alumni Kevin Murphy,

Bill Corbett William Daniel Corbett (born March 30, 1960) is an American writer and performer for television, film and theatre. He was a writer and performer on the cult television show ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K''), for which he voiced Crow ...

and Michael J. Nelson. ''Heavy Metal Parking Lot'' was positioned at #67 by ''Rolling Stone'' on their list of 70 greatest music documentaries.70 Greatest Music Documentaries - Rolling Stone
/ref>

History

Examples

Theatrically released examples

List of other notable shot-on-video films

Legacy

See also

References

Bibliography

Further reading