How to create VHS Effect in Premiere Pro

Hi, editors! Today we are going to figure out how to create a VHS or retro recording effect. This is easy and can make your video look interesting. Follow these simple steps and you will learn how to apply VHS effect to your video.

If you need content and media files, you can use EasyEdit Viewer - the plugin to search and apply videos, images or gifs. To get the file, you should click on Assets Tab.

With the help of this tool, we quickly found a great video for our tutorial. Click Import, and the video will appear on the timeline. Now, let’s create the effect!  

Creating VHS Effect

We start with arranging our video into three layers. Just duplicate the layer 2 times:

  Now we apply Color Balance(RGB) to all three layers:

  And choose Screen Blending Mode in the Opacity Settings:

  There are three colors in the Effect Sittings - red, green and blue. We created these three layers on the timeline for their customization. The first layer is for red color and we set the color setting to 100%. The rest will remain 0%. We repeat the same actions for other layers - the second layer will have 100% green, and 0% of others; the third layer will have 100% for blue and 0% for other colors:

  After playing the video, we’ll see no changes. Now, we select the first layer and change the Position of the video to see color distortions. The effect also can be achieved if we slightly Scale the video. We will repeat these actions for other two layers.  

Now we see how the three primary colors appear along the contours of the objects. This is one of the main ways of color reproduction in old cassettes. Let’s move forward to our next effects.

In the Project Window create new Adjustment Layer:

And overlay it over our videos:

  Go to the Effects Tab and find the Noise Effect. This effect created distortion, suitable for our video. We set the desired value of Noise Effect:

  Go back to the Effects and find Wave Warp. Select Square Wave Type and the direction of 180° degrees:

  Now we set the width of the stripe. As you know, at VHS recordings you can often see the wide line, moving from the top, to the bottom. By adding such line, we will enhance our effect:

  You can also correct Wave Speed and Wave Height:

  Great! Now we have an amazing video with VHS effect applied. Go to the Color Tab and decrease the Saturation values as we like:

  And finally, let’s add the inscription characteristic with Type Tool. You can use a suitable font just by googling “VHS fonts” and downloading the good one. In the top corner we will write the date, in the bottom - REC. 

  To place your inscriptions correctly, use Safe Margins tool. If you don’t see it on your panel, click on + and find it in the menu.

  Place the text layer below your Adjustment Layer. To remove the sharpness of the text, add the Gaussian Blur effect and set the small value:

To work further, you can combine your layers. Select all layers and right-click on them. Choose Nest. Now all our layers are packed into one. Congratulations! Your video is ready and you can render it by clicking Enter. 

Wrap Up

Hope this tutorial was useful for you! Come back any time you want to learn new effect or techique. Our Educational Blog contains guides for Premiere Pro, After Effects, Final Cut and Davinci Resolve; design, marketing and video editing tips. Don’t forget to check our YouTube Channel - you can find many useful tutorials on how to speed up your work and stranghten your editing skills. See you in a week!