20 YEARS OF MADNESS features a lot of VHS footage shot in the 90s, culled from hundreds of hours of material, but our doc also highlights modern-day VHS video shot for the new episode of 30MOM. And show director Jerry White Jr. isn’t the only one embracing the so-called “consumer” and “obsolete” format. From Tim & Eric to Harmony Korine, VHS refuses to die.
One of the latest directors to embrace VHS is Academy Award® Nominated director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel, 21 Grams). He chose to shoot his recent experimental short “Naran Ja” with the same cheap VHS camera your parents still have in their attic (or basement). In an article at nofilmschool, Iñárritu waxes poetic about the medium:
“VHS texture is for digital what grain used to be for film…Digital and most film stock is so sleek now, that everything looks very plastic and unnatural. We have lost the skin of the images. Cameras reproduce reality much more sharply than my eyes can see and that’s why it looks fake…I thought this $39 VHS camera reproduced and exquisite, moshy-moshy, beautiful, horrific greeny-yellowish skin that triggered my emotional memory of TV series from the 70s. I loved it.”
While the short won’t be for everyone, it’s clearly not intended to be. “Naran Ja” is nevertheless confident in its exploration of movement and location while being a thorough contemplation of content transcending media.
For the full article, see:
Alejandro González Iñárritu Goes VHS with His Experimental Short ‘Naran Ja’ at nofilmschool.