Back To VHS

I bought my first portable video recorder in 1997 at the Navy Exchange. It was a JVC compact camcorder on sale for $480, which didn’t include the mini VCR recording tapes. Those were an extra $25-$30 each. It was a lot of money, but at the time, I was stationed overseas with the Navy, and it was time to splurge on something that I could use to share this experience that I knew wasn’t going to last for long.

The tape could record about two hours of footage, but for some reason, I only had the one mini tape that I would just keep adding to the story. Sort of like Snapchat in the tech prehistoric times of the late ‘90s.

I had the camcorder with me everywhere — just in case there was something fun to record. When I got deployed to Sarajevo in December of 1998, it came along for the ride.

My gig was quite safe over there. I worked in a secure facility in a freshly engineered wood structure built on top of a resort hotel property. Most often, I was making sure everyone could communicate via these modern communication methods (i.e. e-mail) and share files over a secure network. It was a serious job, but in my downtime, I loved recording the fun we had.

My boss and co-workers were all hilarious, and it was their sense of humor and calm demeanor even in the most stressful situations that made the months I spent in Bosnia some of the best of my life. I loved participating in their games and theme parties and always had my camcorder on hand.

It’s funny now looking back at the technology we’d use, and that we’d considered technological advances. Secure phone or Windows Chat were how I communicated. No more phones with crazy feedback or tape-to-tape transmissions that you had to burn after reading. This was the ‘90s. This was the future.

With all the technology we have available now, it’s interesting that an app called VHS Camcorder has become wildly popular. The idea behind the app — created by film editor and cinematographer Thomas Worth — is to recreate the look and feel of an actual VHS camcorder. It’s a genuine recording app — but one that brings back a bit of nostalgia with features that will add the date and even the distorted tracking lines that children of the ‘80s would immediately recognize. (As Wired‘s David Pierce described it, “VHS Camcorder shoots terrible video. But it’s a very specific kind of terrible.”)

It might seem too simple, but it has had great success with the paid app last year, and the free app continues to be downloaded by nostalgic Gen Xers and curious Millennials who saw Wiz Khalifa’s video of being arrested on his hoverboard at LAX.

The memories that the VHS app provokes is worth the $3.99, or there is a free version with fewer features.

@SUPERCW

CHRISTA WITTMIER IS “SUPERCW” ON ALL SOCIAL MEDIA. FIND HER ON SNAPCHAT, SOUNDCLOUD, TWITTER, VINE AND INSTAGRAM. BY NIGHT, SHE IS KNOWN AS DJ SUPERCW. BY DAY, SHE IS KNOWN AS SENIOR MARKETING DIRECTOR FOR YOUNG’S MARKET COMPANY OF HAWAII. HER NIGHTLIFE BLOG SUPERCITY RUNS EVERY WEDNESDAY ON HONOLULUPULSE.COM