Creating a ghostly VHS effect with After Effects

Question

Hey all, my first post! Hopefully I'm in the right place.

I'm looking for some advice on how to recreate this effect in AE? I don't even know what to call it. My best descriptor is "ghostly, alien/angel light-figure captured on a distorted surveillance tape" – please see the gif I attached.

I'm also not sure how to approach shooting the original video. Would a blackbox/sound stage and a model dressed in all-white be ideal? Or maybe video of a backlit/silhouetted model would be better to work with? Any guidance would be appreciated, thank you!

Mylenium · Answer

Easy enough

a displacment map that randomly shifts pixels along the X axis
some extra particles for a few random dots
directional blur to create the streaks

All of this done on multiple duplicates of the source layer/ pre-comp. The rest entirely depends on what you have at hand. Ideally you'd simply shoot your talents in black clothes with very harsh, strong lighting from the left or right side to automatically get a noticeable rim light effect. Other thechniques are of course possible, but would require extra steps.

Mylenium

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