It’s fun to compare early VHS tapes to later tapes. The older is on the left, from 1982, the newer on the right from 2003.
First off, the early tape is in a sleeve of glossy cardstock paper, that feels durable and solid. The newer release is on cheaper materials.
The older release has a much more uniform look to it; it fits the theme Warner Bros was going with at the time, with a grey background and a coloured band running around the top depending on the genre. The more modern tape is much more its own thing, with the branding from the front poster continuing. The newer release is also more similar to modern DVD and Blu-Ray releases in its design that the old one, featuring more pictures and a quote.
Both have synopsis’, but they differ. The old one talks about the movie, describing it; it almost feels like a review about the film you’d see in a newspaper. The modern one instead tries to get the viewer to watch the tape, talking about the film and promoting it. It has far more exploitation on it.
The tapes themselves have many differences. The new tape feels cheaper than the old one, it’s poorer quality. It also weighs a lot less, and is less glossy.
Both tapes have labels; while the old tape gets a large sticker (which is actually too big for the label space), with the title, company name and copyright info, the new tape gets the info screen-printed onto the tape itself. The orientation is also different, one being vertical and the other horizontal. It makes for a different aesthetic that shows off the age gap well.
That’s all thanks for coming to my TEDTalk