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Earlier today I stumbled across this online article taken from The Boston Phoenix.  In this article, Michael Neel sees VHS as the new vinyl, being surprised by the high prices that a number of old video tapes are commanding at film conventions.  We saw instances of this at our recent visit to the Memorabilia event at Birmingham NEC (£20 for a Betmax tape of Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1976?). 

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Thanks to Rob from the Home of Metal for bringing this to our attention.  Greg Moffit talks about collecting Black Sabbath VHS tapes.

Never Say Die - Black Sabbath live concert video by Home of Metal.com

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Introduction

One cannot underestimate the significance that the video rental shop had for those who grew up in the 1980s and early 1990s. After numerous discussions between the authors about the role of the video shop in our own lives and the decline of the independent video rental industry, we decided to undertake a research project called Video Cultures. Started in July 2010, the main purpose of the project is to collect the memories of those who value the video shop as a key part of their lives and collate materials from the era such as video cover art and promotional ephemera. Whilst it is too early to draw any significant conclusions from the material gathered to date, this article outlines the early stages of the Video Cultures project and includes some of the multimedia content that we have received thus far. It concludes with a short case study that focuses on an interview we conducted with a VHS collector.

Why research Video Culture?

A Google search for the term ‘VHS’ shows that we are not the only ones who have such fond memories of the video store. There are numerous fora devoted to video, such as the heavily populated Pre-Cert Forums, websites, Facebook groups and Twitter feeds. The popular auction website eBay has a high number of listings for VHS titles, with many reaching high prices. The cultural significance of the video shop is also demonstrated in film. The films of Kevin Smith have many references to the video shop, particularly the movie Clerks (1992), which highlight his experiences of working in a video store during his youth. Also, Quentin Tarantino’s similar experiences of working as a video store clerk prior to his rise to fame are demonstrated by the intertextual references found in all of his output. This experience has led to him being viewed as a cult film expert, his knowledge being drawn upon in the recent ‘Ozploitation’ documentary Not Quite Hollywood (Mark Hartley, 2008).

Despite this clear cultural significance it is surprising that very little academic attention has been awarded to the video shop, and particularly video shop culture. Aside from studies into the economics of the video rental industry (Dana Jr. and Spier, 2001; Van der Veen and Venugopal, 2005), perhaps the most significant area of literature that makes mention of video shop culture is work that gives attention to the ‘video nasties’ moral panic in the United Kingdom during the mid 1980s. Kerekes and Slater’s (2000) exhaustive work See No Evil discusses the development of home video technology, the rise of the video shop and the subsequent trouble faced by video shop owners who rented the uncertified nasties. Similar works such as Barker (1984), Martin (1997) and Egan (2007) also award attention to the video rental shop during the moral panic but offer no detailed exploration of its cultural significance.

Video Cultures

The video cultures project intends to address this lack of academic enquiry into video shop culture. Firstly, we established this website using Posterous as the hub for all of our primary material. We selected this particular platform because of its ability to accept user contributions through email and its handling of multimedia attachments. As moderators we are then able to publish this material and any comments as they are received.

Examples of user contributions thus far include a multi-media piece that discusses the disappearance of the video shop apprenticeship. Using the examples of directors Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino, the contributor interrogates how the video shop acts as an informal film school. Another contributor examines how the high street charity shop has become a repository for unwanted VHS tapes. Note the five comments from other contributors that engage in a debate around this issue.

Another important contribution to the site has been a digital archive of scanned VHS artwork that was sent directly to us. These covers have been organised alphabetically and were published to the website in a daily series of posts. There are a number of publications that are devoted to video cover art, particularly those from the ‘video nasties’ and pre-certification era (Bryce, 2000 and 2001; Morris, Brewster and Fenton, 2005; Wingrove and Morris, 2009). This demonstrates the cultural significance of video cover art and this has been reflected in the video cultures website.

We also connected a Twitter account to the Video Cultures website so that all material published to the website would automatically be posted to Twitter. This has helped to establish a community of followers interested in video culture. Through Twitter we are also able to call for contributions and have conversations with these individuals. At the time of writing, the Twitter account has 232 followers, several of whom have submitted written material and multimedia content to the Video Cultures website.

A search for the word ‘VHS’ on Twitter reveals that at any given moment people are publishing their memories and/or feelings about video culture. Through a process known as ‘retweeting’ (republishing the Tweets of others that are relevant or interesting) we are able to draw on similar conversations and discussions already occurring on Twitter and incorporate them into our research. Here as an example of a Tweet that was recently retweeted by us. It demonstrates the nostalgia that surrounds videotapes and the emotional resonance that they can possess.

One of the preeminent Twitter users in the area of video fandom is Dale Lloyd, who uses the Twitter handle ‘VivaVHS’. Dale is a VHS collector from the West Midlands who contributed a series of multimedia posts to our website in which he categorised his VHS collection according to the video companies that published the tapes. As a result of his enthusiasm for the video cultures project we recorded the following video interview with Dale at his home in front of his large collection of VHS tapes:

Case Study: VivaVHS

As a short case study, it is worth unpacking some of the issues that are raised out of this video interview. One of the earliest words used by Dale in the video is ‘nostalgia’. The VHS tape reminds Dale of his youth, a carefree time in his life when he was discovering his tastes and interests in the company of friends. For Dale, the Friday night ritual of renting tapes from a local video shop still seems ‘incredible’. Given his age at the time he was actively renting videotapes, it is likely that Dale was legally too young to watch the sort of explicit horror entertainment that he was frequently seeking out. There is a sense that the exhilaration of breaking the rules has contributed to Dale’s fond memories of locating and viewing this sort of adult content. Dale has clearly spent long periods of time searching for particular films, researching the details of their production (cast, crew, production companies and video labels) and has become an expert in a small but significant strand of popular culture. His authority in this area is also a key part of how he is empowered by his fandom.

Another interesting aspect of Dale’s commentary is the notion of authenticity. Dale tends to collect VHS tapes that represent the first issue of a film in the VHS format. For Dale, the VHS tape is an original artefact from a bygone era and by owning the ‘original’ tape, Dale recaptures an essence of the excitement he felt during that time period. Dale views modern day products as ‘disposable’ and lacking in the sorts of production values (sturdy cases, vivid art work printed on heavy paper) associated with the vintage media that he collects. Dale favours the so-called ‘soft cases’, which are larger and protect the tapes more effectively. It is not the technical advances of new products, such as improved picture quality, scene selection options, audio commentaries or other bonus features, offered by DVD and Blu-ray, that Dale covets. Rather, it is the rarity of the obsolete object and the emotional attachment he has to them that makes them desirable. Dale is aware of the popularity of pre-cert tapes, which have become increasingly valuable as collectors items and he factors these criteria into his purchases. Although Dale own and enjoys DVD and Blu-Ray releases, it is finding, buying and owning specific VHS cassettes that Dale describes as his ‘main priority’.

As a further expression of his videotape fandom, Dale used to run a weekly quiz on Twitter for which he uploaded an image of a word that had been constructed from letters taken from VHS art work. Film aficionados from all over the world took part in the quiz, guessing the films based on their memories of the individual fonts that were used in the video cover art. The response was so great that Dale no longer has time to administer the quiz. Evidently, there is a large community of films fans online who have strong memories of the artwork associated with the sort of low budget genre movies that were produced during the 1980s and are also engaged with the VHS cassette tape as a signifier of these memories.

Conclusion

In this article we have outlined the early stages of the Video Cultures research project and our methods for gathering primary material. The material that has been collated thus far, such as the interview with Dale Lloyd, shows that there are a number of interesting strands that are worthy of further investigation. For example, the distinction between the VHS tape as a desirable object, the shop as a space and the rituals that surround renting and the impact of digital culture on collectors of VHS tapes. We welcome contributions to the video cultures website by email at post@videocultures.posterous.com. We can also be contacted privately via videocultures@gmail.com.

Bibliography

Barker, M (1984) The Video Nasties, London: Pluto Press.
Bryce, A (2000) Video Nasties, Devon: Stray Cat Publishing.
Bryce, A (2001) Video Nasties 2, Devon: Stray Cat Publishing.
Brewster, F Fenton, H and Morris, M (2005) Shock Horror!, Surrey: FAB Press.
Dana Jr, J.D. and Spier, K.E (2001) Revenue Sharing and Vertical Control in the Video Rental Industry, The Journal of Industrial Economics, 49(3), pp223-245.
Egan, K (2007) Trash or Treasure?: Censorship and the Changing Meanings of the Video Nasties, Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Kerekes, D and Slater, D (2000) See No Evil: Banned Films and Video Controversy, Manchester: Headpress.
Martin, J (1997) Seduction of the Gullible, Nottingham: Procustes Press.
Van der Veen, J.A.A and Venugopal, V (2005) Using revenue sharing to create win– win in the video rental supply chain, Journal of the Operational Research Society, 56(7), pp757-762.
Wingrove, N and Morris, M (2009) The Art of the Nasty, Surrey: FAB Press.

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Here is a video I found recommened on digg.com recently.  So far, we have made many mentions about collections about video tapes but what about collections of VCR's?  This chap appears to have quite the collection.

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Many thanks to Dave from Cardiff for this response.  Please keep the contributions coming.

Do you have any memories of video shops? 

Morriston near Swansea was where I grew up , and my main memory is of finding a shop which would let me buy many of their older titles on the basis that people didn't rent them out anymore. I would have been about 15, around 1987. I remember Death Race 2000, Insemenoid, but they wouldn't let me buy Texas Chainsaw Massacre because I was under 18 (never mind that they shouldn't have had the film out on display in those days … ! )

Another one with a friendlier owner let me have a promo poster for Evil Dead 2 , which I should never have got rid of , it's probably worth something today.

It never occurred to me at the time, but the people in the shops obviously had a record of what people rented, since I was a big horror / cult fan especially back then, it was cool when I went in, to be told in advance that, for instance 'Maniac Cop is due out after Xmas' , pretty good personal service really, and that was in a chain also, not an independent shop.

Do you know of any shops that currently stock video tapes?

Not currently , although it's interesting to see VHS versions of House of the Devil and Trash Humpers appearing as part of the marketing approach.

Do you have photographs of video shops or photos of your collection of video tapes?

No, I might be a film geek, but I do have limits ! 

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Thanks to Jay H for his answers below to our recent batch of questions looking for your video shop memories. Jay tells us that his interest in VHS tapes has been renewed in recent months because of the work of VivaVHS and Video Cultures! Thanks for the compliment!

What was your local video shop called?

Video Mania. Best deal: rent 4 tapes for 4 days for $4 USD! Did that one often.

Do you remember the owner?

Yes, the same woman always worked the checkout desk, which was rather uncomfortable whenever I rented "questionable" videos. Although, I'm sure she didn't think badly of me based on most of the people that would frequent this place.

Did you collect or buy ex-rental tapes from video shops that closed down?

Yep, I've bought several tapes from that place (wish I had bought more!) and from other places when available. Even bought a bunch of tapes from Hollywood Video when they began clearing out their VHS.

Did your video shop keep a few rare items under the counter?

Not this particular location.

Did you manage to get 18 certificate films when you were still a youngster?

Yeah, no problem. Rented Rated R or even NC 17 from middle school on. Had a marathon when I was 16 that included Dog Day Afternoon, Gates of Hell, and Nightmare on Elm Street.

Did you design your own art work or VHS covers?

Occasionally, but not for films. Mostly compilation tapes I created from recording videos or programs from TV.

Have you imported video tapes from Europe and further afield?

I have not imported VHS from outside of North America.

Do you have and still use a VHS player?

Of course!

Are you thinking of dusting off the VCR, Betamax or Video 2000 player? What old formats do you still enjoy?

I do need to dust off and reconnect my LaserDisc player. I have so many LDs to watch and so many I still wanna buy for cheap; some that contain features not present on their DVD/BD cousins..

Have you been a video shop owner, or are you still?

Never.

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This is the final post in our video cover art series! Do you have any VHS artwork that you'd like to contribute to our galleries? Please email them to post@videocultures.posterous.com.

See the full gallery on Posterous

If you own the copyright to any of the images included in these galleries and don't feel that they should be displayed for the purposes of cultural research and education, please feel free to contact us privately at videocultures@gmail.com.

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Thanks to Karen for answering our recent batch of questions!

What was your local video shop called? 

'Video Den' in my hometown (Va), 'Photoplay' and 'Kim's' were the ones I used as an adult, and then there was one I forget the name of, maybe 'JAF videos'. All three of those were in NYC. Oh, and 'Heads Together' in Pittsburgh.

Do you remember the owner?

The last two I knew the owners by sight and to say hello to.

Did you collect or buy ex-rental tapes from video shops that closed down?

Yes, lots. Mostly from stores I didn't frequent as a renter. Heads Together was the only one that closed while I was using it, and then I bought a bunch of their tapes.

Did your video shop keep a few rare items under the counter?

Not that I know of. I was there mostly to rent.

Did you manage to get 18 certificate films when you were still a youngster?

No, not my scene.

Did you design your own art work or VHS covers?

No.

Have you imported video tapes from Europe and further afield?

No.

Do you have and still use a VHS player?

Yes, and often.

What old formats do you still enjoy?

VHS tapes. (Also vinyl records, cassette tapes.)

Have you been a video shop owner, or are you still?

No.

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Do you have any VHS artwork that you'd like to contribute to our galleries? Please email them to post@videocultures.posterous.com.

See the full gallery on Posterous

If you own the copyright to any of the images included in these galleries and don't feel that they should be displayed for the purposes of cultural research and education, please feel free to contact us privately at videocultures@gmail.com.

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Do you have any VHS artwork that you'd like to contribute to our galleries? Please email them to post@videocultures.posterous.com.

See the full gallery on Posterous

If you own the copyright to any of the images included in these galleries and don't feel that they should be displayed for the purposes of cultural research and education, please feel free to contact us privately at videocultures@gmail.com.

 

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Well it's mid-week, so to get your weary brains ticking, we thought we'd put out a call for your video shop memories. If you have answers to any of the following questions, email your responses to post@videocultures.posterous.com. You can attach pics and videos too if you like.

Questions for fans of video culture

What was your local video shop called?

Do you remember the owner?

Did you collect or buy ex-rental tapes from video shops that closed down?

Did your video shop keep a few rare items under the counter?

Did you manage to get 18 certificate films when you were still a youngster?

Did you design your own art work or VHS covers?

Have you imported video tapes from Europe and further afield?

Do you have and still use a VHS player?

Are you thinking of dusting off the VCR, Betamax or Video 2000 player? What old formats do you still enjoy?

Have you been a video shop owner, or are you still?

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Do you have any VHS artwork that you'd like to contribute to our galleries? Please email them to post@videocultures.posterous.com.

See the full gallery on Posterous

If you own the copyright to any of the images included in these galleries and don't feel that they should be displayed for the purposes of cultural research and education, please feel free to contact us privately at videocultures@gmail.com.

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Do you have any VHS artwork that you'd like to contribute to our galleries? Please email them to post@videocultures.posterous.com.

See the full gallery on Posterous

If you own the copyright to any of the images included in these galleries and don't feel that they should be displayed for the purposes of cultural research and education, please feel free to contact us privately at videocultures@gmail.com.

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Do you have any VHS artwork that you'd like to contribute to our galleries? Please email them to post@videocultures.posterous.com.

See the full gallery on Posterous

If you own the copyright to any of the images included in these galleries and don't feel that they should be displayed for the purposes of cultural research and education, please feel free to contact us privately at videocultures@gmail.com.

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Do you have any VHS artwork that you'd like to contribute to our galleries? Please email them to post@videocultures.posterous.com.

See the full gallery on Posterous

If you own the copyright to any of the images included in these galleries and don't feel that they should be displayed for the purposes of cultural research and education, please feel free to contact us privately at videocultures@gmail.com.

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My sister rented the film The Craft upon its video release, and then lent it to her friend. A day later, they both fell out and her friend refused to return the tape. My Mom and Dad didn’t know about this and about a month later my Dad decided to rent another film from the same store. The woman explained to him upon check out that there was an £80 late charge for not returning The Craft. Apparently we were charged for the actual ownership of the tape, and if he didn’t pay the fee the matter would be taken to court.  

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Do you have any VHS artwork that you'd like to contribute to our galleries? Please email them to post@videocultures.posterous.com.

See the full gallery on Posterous

If you own the copyright to any of the images included in these galleries and don't feel that they should be displayed for the purposes of cultural research and education, please feel free to contact us privately at videocultures@gmail.com.

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Do you have any VHS artwork that you'd like to contribute to our galleries? Please email them to post@videocultures.posterous.com.

See the full gallery on Posterous

If you own the copyright to any of the images included in these galleries and don't feel that they should be displayed for the purposes of cultural research and education, please feel free to contact us privately at videocultures@gmail.com.

Permalink | Leave a comment  »

Do you have any VHS artwork that you'd like to contribute to our galleries? Please email them to post@videocultures.posterous.com.

See the full gallery on Posterous

If you own the copyright to any of the images included in these galleries and don't feel that they should be displayed for the purposes of cultural research and education, please feel free to contact us privately at videocultures@gmail.com.

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