• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Home videos aren't a thing anymore are they?

KAMI-SAMA

KAMI-SAMA

Banned
Aug 25, 2020
5,496
Anyone feel kind of sad that people really don't record their home/family life anymore? I remember when I was a kid, my dad would sometimes set up a tripod with a camcorder and just record us in our natural habitat, doing our thing. This was like every dad that we knew back in the day 80's/90's/early 2000's. There would be hours of tape that we had recorded that my dad keeps in his closet to this day and once in a while sit down to watch. Just rewatching the simple slower life we had back then was always nostalgic.

But now with smartphones, no one does that anymore. It's more like 30 seconds to 5 minute videos of something happening in that particular moment. Like if a kid is doing something crazy, they'll pull the phone up, record for a few seconds and then put it away. I feel like it won't be as nostalgic down the road.
 
Squarehard

Squarehard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
25,895
People do it all the time, they're just on phones now, and they're called TikTok, or something else.

It's a new evolution of "home videos".
 
Redcrayon

Redcrayon

Patient hunter
On Break
Oct 27, 2017
12,713
UK
To be fair, people are way more likely to sit and watch a dozen short funny clips of their kids than settle in for an unedited 2 hours. On the plus side, you've permanently got a camera and videocamera in your pocket as a parent so you capture more gold comedy/amazing material, even if it's less 'lengthy slice of life home video' stuff.
 
Calamari41

Calamari41

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,099
People with kids at least still do this, just with their phones. The fact that the camera is always with you means that kids these days actually tend to have a lot more moments captured on film, and especially more "everyday" moments.

For example, I have tons of minute or less long videos of my kids doing normal silly stuff, because when they start acting crazy I can be recording within five seconds. 20 years ago, you just couldn't get stuff like this because you'd have to go find the camera and the moment would pass. You also capture everyday outings, as well. Nobody was taking their camcorder to the mall or to the park or to see Santa, etc, in the 90s. But today, everyone is.

I think your situation where your dad recorded you for hours at a time on random days is more unique than you think. Most people only did that during events.

And the shorter clips are incredibly nostalgic. I recently consolidated a few years worth into one folder, and watched through them all with the family. It was amazing.
 
kaputt

kaputt

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,205
Cameras were not really popular here in my country, but IMO short clips are way better. Long home made videos doesn't seem really exciting to watch
 
Tawpgun

Tawpgun

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,861
The main difference is no one watches their home movies on the tv.

Relatives visit? Show them some baby videos on your phone.

Or they can find them on FB
 
Zoe

Zoe

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,266
KAMI-SAMA said:
Anyone feel kind of sad that people really don't record their home/family life anymore? I remember when I was a kid, my dad would sometimes set up a tripod with a camcorder and just record us in our natural habitat, doing our thing. This was like every dad that we knew back in the day 80's/90's/early 2000's. There would be hours of tape that we had recorded that my dad keeps in his closet to this day and once in a while sit down to watch. Just rewatching the simple slower life we had back then was always nostalgic.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

That's not how many family used our camcorder at all... just the big events.
 
inner-G

inner-G

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
14,473
PNW
It's amazingly easier to edit 'in camera' now that we have smart phones and digital cameras.

No one wants to watch hours of 'set it and forget it' footage
 
timshundo

timshundo

CANCEL YOUR AMAZON PRIME
Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,162
CA
We have a bunch of those 20-40 min long home videos but they're such a slog, we know all the parts to fast forward on by now. Even now that they're digitized we have to good moments chopped up into bits for easy sharing so 🤷🏻 I think where we are with home video today is where we were always trying to get to technologically but working with VHS, MiniDV, MiniHDDs was such a hassle.
 
Kyrios

Kyrios

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,659
Well gone are the days where you watch home videos on TV for the most part. But recording videos on phones and uploading them and whatnot are still going strong. I'd argue that more memories are being recorded by families since they can just whip out their phones and go.
 
Pwnz

Pwnz

Member
Oct 28, 2017
14,279
Places
People post personal videos on social media all of the time. People just don't gather around a projector to view it.
 
teruterubozu

teruterubozu

Member
Oct 28, 2017
7,896
People still record more than ever, but nobody takes the time to edit and put together a full sit down video anymore. Just hours and hours of video on your phone that nobody will ever see.
 
Nacho

Nacho

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,115
NYC
Its kind of an artifact of no one really owning video cameras anymore. photo/video as a popular medium has been co-opted by how people use phones which is for short bursts of attention.
 
Orayn

Orayn

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,973
I remember when a video taken late at night in a convenience store in the 80's made the rounds on Reddit, people were surprised at how friendly the folks in the video were, because recording was a sort of novel, special event back then, which required its own equipment. Now everyone is carrying a camera, camcorder, and more almost 24/7 and it's lost some of that special feel.

I still do shoot goofy videos around the house on occasion, like when my roommates and I all decided to try The End, one of the spiciest commercially available hot sauces.
 
Squarehard

Squarehard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
25,895
KAMI-SAMA said:
Good point. Maybe, in my mind I assumed people would still like to watch old videos together in front of a tv haha.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Everyone basically has their own devices now too, so if anything, they'll just send it to them to look on their own device instead to not just watch, but they can keep it.

Having to do that back then meant you had to copy it onto another VHS, and then they'd have to take the VHS home, not to mention, that took forever because you had to copy it in real time, etc.

Who wants to deal with that anymore? lol.
 
OP
OP
KAMI-SAMA

KAMI-SAMA

Banned
Aug 25, 2020
5,496
NinjaScooter said:
OP what do you think social media is?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

True. I got off social media a while ago but yeah I guess this is the new way to share videos.

Everyone basically has their own devices now too, so if anything, they'll just send it to them to look on their own device instead to not just watch, but they can keep it.

Having to do that back then meant you had to copy it onto another VHS, and then they'd have to take the VHS home, not to mention, that took forever because you had to copy it in real time, etc.

Who wants to deal with that anymore? lol.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I guess my nostalgic ass lmao
 
napkins

napkins

Member
Nov 18, 2017
1,920
pretty sure you can find channels that document people growing up in extensive detail on youtube
 
Squirrel Killer

Squirrel Killer

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,128
KAMI-SAMA said:
I remember when I was a kid, my dad would sometimes set up a tripod with a camcorder and just record us in our natural habitat, doing our thing.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Uh.... that sounds kinda creepy. We never did that growing up, although I was from a single parent family.

What we do nowadays is just take videos and photos and either just save them between ourselves or post them to social media. Then at the end of the year, I pull the best ones in to a 5-7 minutes video, which reminds me I need to finish up the 2020 video.
 
Lace

Lace

Member
Oct 27, 2017
904
Squirrel Killer said:
Uh.... that sounds kinda creepy. We never did that growing up, although I was from a single parent family.

What we do nowadays is just take videos and photos and either just save them between ourselves or post them to social media. Then at the end of the year, I pull the best ones in to a 5-7 minutes video, which reminds me I need to finish up the 2020 video.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Not really. My dad was a stay at home and would record us so my mom could watch our shenanigans when she got home. Added benefit was we now have great memories recorded.

Although he didn't just set it up on a tripod. He would hold it and be an active participant telling us to "say hi to mom, tell her what you're up to." She worked long days so it helped her feel connected to us even though she was gone most of the time. Nowadays this would just be cell phones.
 
Rhomega

Rhomega

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,640
Arizona
I've seen old home videos from the '80s uploaded to YouTube. It's cool to have a genuine window to the past but...nothing really happens in them.
 
Christor

Christor

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,573
Good lord, my family parties are always someone recording and taking photos. Because of technology, we don't do it with camcorders anymore but with our phones now. It's amazing
 
Kthulhu

Kthulhu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,670
With home video you kind of had to keep it rolling otherwise you wouldn't get those moments as easily. Now that it's easier to capture it kind of makes sense that people don't have long rolling footage of themselves.
 
Senator Toadstool

Senator Toadstool

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
16,651
I still see some people (mostly non-North Americans) take them at vacation hotspots.
 
Mcfrank

Mcfrank

Member
Oct 28, 2017
15,219
As others have mentioned, we have exponentially more "home videos" than ever before.
 
OP
OP
KAMI-SAMA

KAMI-SAMA

Banned
Aug 25, 2020
5,496
Squirrel Killer said:
Uh.... that sounds kinda creepy. We never did that growing up, although I was from a single parent family.

What we do nowadays is just take videos and photos and either just save them between ourselves or post them to social media. Then at the end of the year, I pull the best ones in to a 5-7 minutes video, which reminds me I need to finish up the 2020 video.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It's only creepy if you want to take that way. It was a tripod in a obvious location in the living room. It was sometimes taken off and my dad would also just film randomly tell us to say hi to the camera.
 
Calamari41

Calamari41

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,099
KAMI-SAMA said:
It's only creepy if you want to take that way. It was a tripod in a obvious location in the living room. It was sometimes taken off and my dad would also just film randomly tell us to say hi to the camera.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It's not creepy at all. Not standard by any means, but your dad is great for doing it and providing you all with those memories forever.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.