Shot-on-video film

Short description: Type of film shot on camcorder

The Sony Betamovie BMC-110, released in 1983 as the first consumer-grade camcorder.

A shot-on-video (SOV) film,[1][2] also known as a shot-on-VHS film[3][4] or a camcorder film,[2] is a film shot using camcorders and consumer-grade equipment, as opposed to film stock or high-end digital movie cameras.

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Examples
* 2.1 Theatrically released examples
* 2.2 List of other notable shot-on-video films
* 3 Legacy
* 4 See also
* 5 References
* 5.1 Bibliography
* 6 Further reading

## 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 process developed by film producer and entrepreneur H. William "Bill" Sargent, Jr. around 1964.[5] 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 high-band 2" Quadraplex-format video tape recorder (VTR), all configured to use the black-and-white 819-line 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 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),[6] Hamlet (1964),[7] and Harlow (1965).[8]

Around 1969, The Vidtronics Company, a division of Technicolor, 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).[9] The picture was shot by the crew from the TV series Death Valley Days, 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 (1971), the latter being shot using the 625-line PAL color video standard at Pinewood Studios in the UK.

In 1973, Hollywood actor/producer Ed Platt, made famous by his role as "The Chief" in the NBC-TV series Get Smart, raised the money to produce Santee, starring Glenn Ford. 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 in Hollywood. The film was not commercially successful.

Feminist filmmaker JoAnn Elam weaved together kinescoped video interviews of three women (each passing the handheld camera to one another) with 16mm film imagery on her 1975 experimental documentary Rape.[10][11]

## Examples

Shot-on-video films became more common in the wake of the release of Sony's professional-grade Betacam and consumer-grade Betamovie camcorders in 1983.[12][13] Many shot-on-video films were low-budget[14] and belong to the horror genre. Filmmaker siblings the Polonia brothers were known for their shot-on-video horror films, such as Splatter Farm (1987) and Feeders (1996).[2][13]

### Theatrically released examples

The scenes in Bill Gunn's 1980 film Personal Problems were shot using a videocassette recorder which was a new technology at the time (as most previous films were shot using film stock).[15]

The 1994 documentary film Hoop Dreams[16] was one of the first shot-on-video documentaries to receive a wide theatrical release.[17] The 1999 film The Blair Witch Project was shot on both 16 mm film and the consumer-grade Hi8 video format, which was transferred to film for its national theatrical release.[17] An international example is Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier's minimalist film The Idiots (1998; aka Dogme #2).[13]

### List of other notable shot-on-video films

* 200 Motels (1971)[18][19]
* Mayday Raw 1971 (1971)[20]
* Adland (1974)[21]
* The Amputee (1974)[22]
* Lord of the Universe (1974)[23]
* Julia Reichert's Academy Award-nominated Union Maids (1976)[24][25]
* The Police Tapes (1977)[26]
* Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979)[27]
* The Reflecting Pool (1979)[28][29]
* Boardinghouse (1982)[30][31]
* Possibly in Michigan (1983)[32][33]
* Sledgehammer (1983)[1][2][34]
* The Emmy Award-winning Special Bulletin (1983)[35]
* Suffer Little Children (1983)[36]
* Black Devil Doll from Hell (1984)[37][38]
* Blonde Death (1984)[39]
* Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (1984)[40]
* Rock My Religion (1984)[41]
* Screambook (1984)[42]
* Blood Cult (1985)[2][30][31]
* The Ripper (1985)[43][44]
* Cards of Death (1986)[45][31]
* Heavy Metal Parking Lot (1986)[46][47]
* Tales from the QuadeaD Zone (1987)[48][1][37]
* Video Violence (1987)[1][2][49][30]
* 555 (1988)[1][2]
* Rob Nilsson's Sundance-winning Heat and Sunlight (1988)[50][51]
* Tongues Untied (1988)[52]
* Twisted Issues (1988)[53]
* Woodchipper Massacre (1988)[1][2]
* Citizen Tania (1989)[54][55]
* Houseboat Horror (1989)[56][57][58]
* The McPherson Tape (1989)[2][59]
* Sir Drone (1989)[60]
* Bossy Burger (1991)[61][62]
* Wax or the Discovery of Television Among the Bees (1991)[63]
* The controversial 1992 BBC One TV movie Ghostwatch[59][64]
* Heidi, Midlife Crisis Trauma Center and Negative Media-Engram Abreaction Zone (1992)[65][66]
* Ozone (1993)[67]
* Conrad Brooks vs. the Werewolf (1994)[1]
* Without Warning (1994)[68]
* Spin (1995)[69][70]
* Polymorph (1996)[67]
* Bloodletting (1997)[67][71]
* Ernest Borgnine on the Bus (1997)[72]
* Premutos (1997)[34]
* Rollergator (1997)[73]
* Jan-Gel: The Beast from the East (1999)[1]
* Genghis Blues (1999)[74]
* Praise You (1999)[75]
* In the Dark (2000)[76]
* I Never Left The White Room (2000)[77]
* August Underground (2001)[59]
* Gozu (2003)[31]
* Red Cockroaches (2003)
* The Columbine-inspired video diary Zero Day (2003)[59]
* Each Time I Kill (2007)[1]
* Harmony Korine's Trash Humpers (2009)[1][13]

## Legacy

Union Maids, Tongues Untied and Hoop Dreams are each inducted into the National Film Registry.[78]

Possibly in Michigan first gained notoriety on social media in 2015, and has gained popularity among Gen Z teens.[79][80]

Some SOV films like Feeders and Rollergator were spoofed by RiffTrax, consisting of former Mystery Science Theater 3000 alumni Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett and Michael J. Nelson.[81]

Heavy Metal Parking Lot was positioned at #67 by Rolling Stone on their list of 70 greatest music documentaries.[82]

## See also

* 480i, the video mode used for standard-definition digital video
* Analog horror
* Found footage (film technique)
* Cinéma vérité
* Snuff film
* Mockumentary
* Postmodernist film and television
* Video art
* Vulgar auteurism
* Video essay

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Ziemba, Joseph A.; Choi, Annie (January 2, 2022). "Bleeding Skull 50: The Best Shot-on-Video Films". http://bleedingskull.com/bleeding-skull-50-the-best-shot-on-video-films/.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Albright 2012, p. 10.
3. ↑ Albright 2012, p. 50.
4. ↑ Piepenburg, Erik; Carlson, Zack (October 26, 2011). "Big Hair and Bad Blood: VHS-Era Horror Obscurities From A to Z". The New York Times. https://archive.nytimes.com/artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/big-hair-and-bad-blood-vhs-era-horror-obscurities-from-a-to-z/.
5. ↑ "H.W. Sargent Jr., 76; Impresario, Pioneer of Pay-Per-View TV". 26 October 2003. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-oct-26-me-sargent26-story.html.
6. ↑ Eagan, Daniel (March 19, 2010). "The Rock Concert That Captured an Era". Smithsonian Magazine. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-rock-concert-that-captured-an-era-11375757/?all. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
7. ↑ The Warner Bros. Story by Clive Hirschorn (Crown Publishers, 1979) p. 363
8. ↑ Bart, Peter (1965-07-23). "Year-Old Electronovision Film Company Closes, but Its President Promises a Comeback". p. 17.
9. ↑ Willis, Donald C. (January 1, 1985). Variety's Complete Science Fiction Reviews. Garland. p. 274. ISBN 9780824062637. https://books.google.com/books?id=kgMIAQAAMAAJ&q=Zachary+wheeler.
10. ↑ Rape : Film : Chicago Film Archives
11. ↑ The JoAnn Elam Collection at Chicago Film Archives
12. ↑ Albright 2012, pp. 9–10.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 The Evolution of Shot-On-Video Movies - MovieWeb
14. ↑ Bishop, Kyle William (2010). American Zombie Gothic: The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Walking Dead in Popular Culture. Contributions to Zombie Studies. McFarland & Company. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-7864-4806-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=VGkbEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA187.
15. ↑ Defore, John. "Personal Problems" Film Review". https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/personal-problems-1098743.
16. ↑ Hoop Dreams: The Real Thing|Current|The Criterion Collection
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Hurbis-Cherrier, Mick (2007). Voice and Vision: A Creative Approach to Narrative Film and DV Production. Focal Press. p. 352. ISBN 978-0240807737. https://books.google.com/books?id=93UqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA352.
18. ↑ World Radio History - Studio Sound (page 23)
19. ↑ 266\. 200 Motels (1971)|366 Weird Movies
20. ↑ MAYDAY RAW 1971 – Spectacle Theater
21. ↑ The Prime Time Survey · PRESERVING GUERRILLA TELEVISION - BAMPFA
22. ↑ The Short Films of David Lynch – IFC Center
23. ↑ Electronic Arts Intermix: TVTV : Biography
24. ↑ Aitken, Ian (2006). Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film. New York: Routledge. pp. 1110–1111. ISBN 1579584454. OCLC 59002598.
25. ↑ “Iron Man,” Marvel, Rocket Into the 2022 National Film Registry|Timeless
26. ↑ O'Connor, John J. (January 2, 1977). "Documentary on Police Strips Away Any Glamour". The New York Times: pp. 73.
27. ↑ Schreger, Charles (July 21, 1979). "Shelved TV Satire to Get Theater Release". Los Angeles Times. Part II, p. 6.
28. ↑ The Reflecting Pool, 1977-79|Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
29. ↑ 50 Great Works of Video Art That You Can Watch Online - Flavorwire
30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 VIDEO VIOLENCE - 13 Days of Shot on Video! (#13)|Camera Viscera
31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 31.3 Cards of Death (1986) - B&S About Movies
32. ↑ CECELIA CONDIT: EARLY VIDEO WORKS VHS - Lunchmeat
33. ↑ Plastic Masks: Possibly in Michigan as Urban Legend - Art & Trash
34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Shot On Video – Moviejawn
35. ↑ Special Bulletin - DVD Talk
36. ↑ The Right Place: Martyrs and Monsters in 'Suffer Little Children' - Split Tooth Media
37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Phantoms in the Family: Chester Novell Turner's Tales from the QuadeaD Zone - Art & Trash
38. ↑ Thompson, Nathaniel. "Black Devil Doll from Hell / Tales from the Quadead Zone". https://www.mondo-digital.com/blackdevildoll.html.
39. ↑ Ziemba, Joseph A.. "Blonde Death (BS-001) – Bleeding Skull" (in en-US). http://bleedingskull.com/blonde-death-bs-001/.
40. ↑ Scott, Jay (August 18, 1983). "PBS, Canadian firm co-produce film". The Globe and Mail: p. 19.
41. ↑ Dan Graham. Rock My Religion. 1983-1984|MoMA
42. ↑ SPECTACLE X CDFF PRESENTS JOE ZASO'S SCREAMBOOK I + II on Vimeo
43. ↑ Albright 2012, p. 284.
44. ↑ Szpunar, John (2013). Xerox Ferox: The Wild World of the Horror Film Fanzine. Headpress. ISBN 978-1909394100.
45. ↑ CARDS OF DEATH (Bleeding Skull! Video Promo Trailer) on official YouTube channel
46. ↑ Heavy Metal Parking Lot by John Heyn and John Krulik|Short of the Week
47. ↑ Revisiting Cult Film 'Heavy Metal Parking Lot' - Ultimate Classic Rock
48. ↑ Ziemba, Joseph A. (June 1, 2005). "From Betacam to Big Box: Shot-on-Video Trash in the 1980s (Part II)". http://bleedingskull.com/from-betacam-to-big-box-shot-on-video-trash-in-the-1980s-part-ii/.
49. ↑ Tinnin, Drew (June 2, 2022). "Homemade Horror: 5 Gross Out Shot-On-Video Shockers". https://www.dreadcentral.com/editorials/430464/homemade-horror-5-gross-out-shot-on-video-shockers/.
50. ↑ Heat and Sunlight (1987) - Turner Classic Movies
51. ↑ First 80s indie film fest shows that paved the way for the indie boom|Film|The Guardian
52. ↑ Queer & Now & Then: 1991 - Film Comment
53. ↑ Twisted Issues (1988)|Swampflix
54. ↑ THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING: As Told By Raymond Pettibon - Spectacle Theater
55. ↑ Electronic Arts Intermix: Raymond Bittibon
56. ↑ "Houseboat Horror (1989)" (in en-GB). 2024-06-20. https://warped-perspective.com/2024/06/houseboat-horror-1989/.
57. ↑ "Houseboat Horror Collector's Edition (1989) (Blu-ray +Rigid case +Slipcase +Poster +Book +Artcards)" (in en). https://shop.umbrellaent.com.au/products/houseboat-horror-collectors-edition-1989-blu-ray-rigid-case-slipcase-poster-book-artcards.
58. ↑ The Late Show. Houseboat Horror: Undiscovered Masterpieces of the Cinema. Retrieved 2025-06-08 - via YouTube.
59. ↑ 59.0 59.1 59.2 59.3 Six Shot-on-VHS Horror Movies to Watch After 'Frogman' - Bloody Disgusting
60. ↑ History Lesson - Part III: This Bland Could Be Your Life - Journal - Metrograph
61. ↑ Projects 51: Paul McCarthy|MoMA
62. ↑ Laughing His Way Into Character - Art21
63. ↑ 270\. WAX, OR THE DISCOVERY OF TELEVISION AMONG THE BEES (1991)|366 Weird Movies
64. ↑ Ghostwatch – Cinema – Queensland Art Gallery|Gallery of Modern Art
65. ↑ Paul McCarthy with Dan Cameron - The Brooklyn Rail
66. ↑ “Paul McCarthy and Mike Kelley: Heidi, Midlife Crisis Trauma Center and Negative Media-Engram Abreaction Zone”|Time Out New York
67. ↑ 67.0 67.1 67.2 Gingold, Michael (December 20, 2018). "Exclusive Comments, Plus Trailer and Posters: SOV Veteran Turns Director with "Her Name Was Christa"". https://rue-morgue.com/exclusive-comments-plus-trailer-and-posters-sov-veteran-turns-director-with-her-name-was-christa/.
68. ↑ Without Warning - Variety
69. ↑ Spin|Video Data Bank
70. ↑ CRITIC'S CHOICE/VIDEO; Festival of an Art for Life's Dirtier Nooks – The New York Times
71. ↑ Bowen, John W. (September–October 2001). "The Three Ms of Serial Murder". Rue Morgue (23): 44. ISSN 1481-1103. https://ia800605.us.archive.org/3/items/Rue_Morgue_023_2001/Rue_Morgue_023_2001.pdf.
72. ↑ QUIT YOUR DAY JOB: THE WORLD OF JEFF KRULIK - Spectacle Theater
73. ↑ Rollergator|RiffTrax
74. ↑ Lewis, Anne S. (October 10, 2003). "Finding Their Tuva". http://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/2003-10-10/181055/.
75. ↑ The Music Video Is Dead, Long Live The Music Video – Patrick (H) Willems on YouTube
76. ↑ 'In the Dark' (2000): Temptation and the Willing Victim – Split Tooth Media
77. ↑ 366 UNDERGROUND FROM THE READER-SUGGESTED QUEUE: I NEVER LEFT THE WHITE ROOM (2000)|366 Weird Movies
78. ↑ Brief Descriptions and Expanded Essays of National Film Registry Titles|Library of Congress
79. ↑ Chiaverina, John (6 November 2019). "How This 71-Year-Old Video Art Pioneer Became a TikTok Star". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/t-magazine/possibly-in-michigan-tiktok-artist.html.
80. ↑ Gat, Orit (26 July 2019). "How Cecelia Condit's Video Art Became a Viral Curse for Teens on TikTok" (in en). https://www.frieze.com/article/how-cecelia-condits-video-art-became-viral-curse-teens-tiktok.
81. ↑ SOV HORROR: Review - Feeders (1996)
82. ↑ 70 Greatest Music Documentaries - Rolling Stone

### Bibliography

* Albright, Brian (2012). Regional Horror Films, 1958–1990: A State-by-State Guide with Interviews. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0786472277. https://books.google.com/books?id=39jxgdy3IhcC.

## Further reading

* Coleman, Robin R. Means (2022). Horror Noire: A History of Black American Horror from the 1890s to Present (Second ed.). Routledge. p. 226. ISBN 978-0367704407.
* Mogg, Richard (2018). Analog Nightmares: The Shot On Video Horror Films of 1982–1995. RickMoe Publishing. ISBN 978-1999481704.

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