The Wonder Cinema
Join hosts, filmmaker Brian Henry Martin and historian Dr. Sam Manning as they wonder about cinema in Northern Ireland. Series One reveals the remarkable story of the Ritz cinema in Belfast, while Series Two explores the rise and fall of videotape in Northern Ireland.
The Wonder Cinema
Say Yes To VHS, Ep 1: Rewind - Format Wars, Video Boom and the Home Entertainment Revolution
The second series of the Wonder Cinema podcast turns its attention to the remarkable story of the rise and fall of videotape in Northern Ireland. In this first episode, Brian and Sam press rewind to discuss the format wars, the video boom and the home entertainment revolution that took place from the mid-1970s to the early ‘80s
The arrival of VHS, and to a lesser extent its rival format Betamax, came at the perfect time for cinema lovers in Northern Ireland, who were often unwilling to leave their homes due to the ongoing conflict of the Troubles. In spite of difficult economic circumstances, Northern Ireland had the highest concentration of VCRs in the United Kingdom. Video rental dealers sprang up to accommodate demand and films such as Alien, Superman, Airplane and An American Werewolf in London were all big video hits in the early 1980s. The introduction of home video forever changed our relationship with cinema and television, with people now able to record content and to play, pause or rewind at their own leisure.
Links
The Northern Ireland Screen Digital Film Archive, '80s Tech!' collection
Written and presented by Dr Sam Manning and Brian Henry Martin
Music by Score Draw Music
https://thewondercinema.buzzsprout.com
Welcome to the Wonder Cinema Podcast.
where we wonder about cinema.
I'm filmmaker and film critic Brian Henry Martin.
and I'm Cinema Historian and author Dr. Sam Manning.
Welcome to Series 2, where we'll be wondering about the remarkable story of home video in Northern Ireland.
The rise and fall of videotape, from format wars to video nasties, piracy, paramilitaries and the wonder of the video shop.
So we want you to...
SAY YES TO VHS.
Dr Sam, great to see you again and everything's been happening. You got married, you went to Japan, you're looking like a million dollars.
I'm very well Brian, I'm very excited to be back for series 2 of the Wonder Cinema podcast.
Yeah, I'm shocked that you're back, but you are here. And Sam, we're looking at video and this first episode rewind.
As you all know, the last series was about the history of the Ritz cinema and we focused on the cinematic history of Belfast, but we wanted to take a bit of a sideways step and look at the history of VHS in Northern Ireland, the emergence and eventual decline of that format and why it's still relevant today.
And Sam, this was a profound moment in all our lives, certainly in my young life, the arrival of video. I mean, it's the start of a revolution, a home entertainment revolution. And I have personally so much love for video. The shops, the tapes, the artwork, the freedom that it gives us.
I had a bit of an epiphany. I think I realized that I actually saw all my favorite films, not in the cinema, but on video. And that's what kind of made me think, wow, there's a whole story here that feels untold.
Yeah I'm a little bit younger than you, Brian. I wasn't there right at the start of VHS but it's something I definitely grew up with and we didn't go to the cinema a lot of times when I was growing up.
I think most of my, shall I call it, my cinematic education came through VHS from watching videos at home.
And I think Sam, video needs more love. For me, it is the vinyl of cinema. Let's show it more love. And Sam, the big question we're asking here, and the reason why we are going to rewind, is how did we get here from there?
Yeah, absolutely. We live in a world of streaming and on-demand entertainment, but I think this is something that really began in the late 1970s with the emergence of the VHS and Betamax, which we'll talk about coming into people's homes for the first time.
And when we think of Northern Ireland in the late 70s, early 1980s, it was the midst of the conflict. It was the middle of the troubles.
And there was something incredible about video arriving at that time. The UK had the highest video per household in Europe and Northern Ireland had the highest video per household in the UK. So effectively, Sam, we had the highest in Europe, which is incredible. But it obviously happened at a very significant time for Northern Ireland.
