Shot-on-video film

A shot-on-video (SOV) film, also known as a shot-on-VHS film or a camcorder film, is a film shot using camcorders and consumer-grade equipment, as opposed to film stock or high-end digital movie cameras.

Examples
Shot-on-video films emerged in the wake of the release of Sony's professional-grade Betacam and consumer-grade Betamovie camcorders in 1983. Many shot-on-video films were low-budget and belong to the horror genre, including Boardinghouse (1982), Sledgehammer (1983), Video Violence (1987),  555, Woodchipper Massacre (both 1988),  and The McPherson Tape (1989). Filmmaker siblings the Polonia brothers are known for their shot-on-video horror films, such as Splatter Farm (1987) and Feeders (1996).

Theatrically released examples
The scenes in Bill Gunn's 1980 film Personal Problems were shot using a videocassette recorder which was a new technology at the time (as most previous films were shot using film stock).

The 1994 documentary film Hoop Dreams was one of the first shot-on-video documentaries to receive a wide theatrical release. The 1999 film The Blair Witch Project was shot on both 16 mm film and the consumer-grade Hi8 video format, which was transferred to film for its national theatrical release. An international example is Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier's minimalist film The Idiots (1998; aka Dogme #2).

List of other notable shot-on-video films

 * 200 Motels (1971)
 * The Police Tapes (1977)
 * Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979)
 * The Reflecting Pool (1979)
 * Possibly in Michigan (1981)
 * The Emmy Award-winning Special Bulletin (1983)
 * Suffer Little Children (1983)
 * Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (1984)
 * Blood Cult (1985)
 * The Ripper (1985)
 * Cards of Death (1986)
 * Tales from the QuadeaD Zone (1987)
 * Rob Nilsson's Sundance-winning Heat and Sunlight (1988)
 * Tongues Untied (1988)
 * Things (1989)
 * Bossy Burger (1991)
 * The controversial 1992 BBC One TV movie Ghostwatch
 * Heidi, Midlife Crisis Trauma Center and Negative Media-Engram Abreaction Zone (1992)
 * Ozone (1993)
 * Conrad Brooks vs. the Werewolf (1994)
 * Without Warning (1994)
 * Polymorph (1996)
 * Bloodletting (1997)
 * Rollergator (1997)
 * Jan-Gel: The Beast from the East (1999)
 * August Underground (2001)
 * Gozu (2003)
 * The Columbine-inspired video diary Zero Day (2003)
 * Each Time I Kill (2007)
 * Harmony Korine's Trash Humpers (2009)