From My Local Video Store to the Video Archives Podcast

It started with a simple idea: help an independent local video shop.

Galactic Video is my local video store, and like a lot of independent shops it has had to fight to stay open. I scanned the whole place in 3D and put it on Google Street View, so people could walk the store from their phone, and be more likely to come through the door. That was the first outcome, and it was not the last. One capture, many outcomes.

Because I am a fan of The Video Archives Podcast, Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary's show, named after the video store where they worked before they became Academy Award winning filmmakers, I built the scan up into an interactive Video Archives experience. You can move through the aisles, zoom in to read the spines, and find 11 Video Archives canon classics tagged on the shelves, with links through to the podcast, the New Beverly Cinema, and Tarantino's book.

Then I sent it to the podcast. They featured it in their newsletter, Spawn of Counter Talk, and on their website. This is what producer Josh Richmond wrote on 30 November 2022:

"Speaking of time capsules, this is the maddest Video Archives fan creation I've seen so far - Adelaide, Australia VR creator Michael Petros did a full 3D scan of his local video store, Galactic Video. In this interactive tour, you can browse the shelves, zoom in and out and find 11 Video Archives canon classics. Incredibly cool work, and makes me want to go rent some videos right this second."

Josh Richmond, The Video Archives Podcast, Spawn of Counter Talk, 30 November 2022

The same work later reached Troma, the longest-running independent film studio in the world, whose co-founder Michael Herz replied to my proposal personally, and was excited by it.

And that is the thing I love about this work. I set out to help one independent shop, and that single capture put my work in front of the independent filmmakers who came up in video stores just like it, and reached the studio that has flown the independent flag longer than anyone. One capture, many outcomes, and it all started with a local shop and a scan. If you can walk it, we can scan it.

Take a walk through the aisles yourself.