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  1. Video
  2. Post-Production
  3. Color Grading

How to Create the VHS Look and VHS-Style Transitions in After Effects

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In the past few years, the retro "VHS Look" has become quite popular. In this tutorial, we explore how to add a VHS look to our footage in After Effects, without using any third-party plugins.

We will also look at how to create a "VHS style" transition that can be used to accent a video. I see this VHS-style transition quite often on a Youtube show called The Modern Rogue, for example. You can see the VHS transition here at 2:33.

You won't need any third-party plugins to create this effect. However, you can achieve a much better result using footage of actual VHS static combined with this effect. You can find lots of VHS static clips on VideoHive. Here are a few of my favorite VHS static clips:

If you don't have access to any static clips, you can create your own using the Fractal Noise effect in After Effects. Just stretch the width out really far to create lots of black and white lines. Then animate the evolution to make the static move. I've included some fractal noise static in the project file for this tutorial.

Finally, sound design also plays a big role on any VHS look. Use VHS and retro sound effects from AudioJungle to accent the static and transitions on your video. Here are a few of my favorite VHS sound effects:

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