# Videotape Tracking Error: motion graphics style

> A worn videotape playing back: tracking bands roll through the picture, the bottom lines tear with head-switching noise and color bleeds sideways. Recreates 80s–90s home video playback for music videos, retro edits and nostalgic intros.

- Category: [Analog Video & Glitch](https://aimotions.art/category/analog-video-glitch/)
- Also known as: vcr effect, vcr tape look, tape tracking error, analog video glitch, videotape distortion, head switching noise, home video look
- Demo built with: WebGL · Energy: Lively · Background: Dark bg
- Live demo: https://aimotions.art/styles/videotape-tracking/
- Spanish version: https://aimotions.art/es/estilos/videotape-tracking/

## Prompt (replace [TEXT] with your text)

```text
Make [TEXT] look like it is playing from a worn videotape on an old VCR. Start on a flat blue screen with a blocky white "PLAY" label and arrow, then cut to the picture rolling vertically and tearing while an on-screen tracking meter adjusts until it locks. Show [TEXT] in a heavy rounded sans, warm cream with a soft shadow, over a dim indigo scene with blurry party lights. Keep the playback imperfect: lines wobble sideways, the top of the frame bends, color smears a few pixels to the right of every edge, blacks are lifted and grainy, the bottom lines tear with head-switching noise, and a band of displaced lines and white dropout streaks rolls slowly upward. End with fast-forward noise bars, a stop label and the blue screen; loop every 8 seconds.
```

## Visual DNA

- Rolling tracking band of torn, displaced lines and white dropout streaks
- Head-switching noise tearing the bottom few lines sideways
- Soft smeared chroma bleeding to the right of every edge
- Blue screen, vertical roll and auto-tracking settle before the picture locks
- Blocky on-screen display: play arrow, tracking meter and tape counter

The prompts are free to copy, adapt and use in personal and commercial projects, with no credit required. Republishing the collection or a substantial part of it (for example as another library or a dataset) requires written permission.

How to cite: Videotape Tracking Error, aimotions, https://aimotions.art/styles/videotape-tracking/