Making videos wasn’t always easy. First, you had to go to the store and buy the film, which came in three sizes. There was 8mm, Super 8, and 16mm. The standard for most most people, if I remember correctly, was the 8mm format. Whatever kind you used depended on the video camera which was bought. The one used by my parents required 8mm film. The camera itself had a long rectangular shape with lots of buttons. Pressing one of them advanced the film forward, recording the scene in the process. Once you lifted your finger, the camera stopped immediately. After all the film was used up, it had to be removed and taken to a development lab at a grocery store or a kiosk in a shopping center parking lot. Regardless of the venue, it took two or three weeks to get developed.
When you got the film back, it always came in a plastic reel with a plastic cover. Because of the limited capacity of cameras, you often received several reels ands never knew what was on them until you reviewed them for the first time. This meant that a written catalogue and numbered labels were needed to keep track of the collection. An alternative was the use of masking tape on the plastic covers. After attaching the tape, you took a pen or marker and wrote the title or subject of the film.
In order to enjoy the home movies, you had to own a movie projector. A movie screen was helpful but not necessary. You could always point the projector toward the white wall. The picture would not be as good, but it would still be passable. The real difficulty of operating the projector involved threading the film and attaching it to the empty reel after the full reel was installed on the front arm. One mistake could result in damaging the the film, breaking the film, damaging a projector part, or worse. There was also the possibility of inserting the film upside down, backwards, or placing it in the wrong slot. Needless to say, you had to be careful when threading the the projector. This meant that I was not allowed to touch it, at least when I was young. And so, watching home movies was a family event. For my parents were the only ones who knew how to operate the thing, and it remained that way for years to come.