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The Birth of Video Nation
As video cameras became smaller and easier to use during the Eighties and Nineties, Video Diaries became a popular format to take a look at people's lives.

In 1993 Chris Mohr and Mandy Rose of the Community Programmes Unit started Video Nation, using a series of cameras distributed across the UK. The contributors were given their Hi-8 camera for one year, during which time they filmed their everyday lives. The response to Video Nation was immediate:

	"A television gem of immense value"
	Polly Toynbee

	"The immediacy of these programmes is entirely different to anything shot by a crew. There seems to be nothing between you, not even the glass..."
	The Guardian

More than 10,000 tapes were shot and sent into the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½, from which approximately 1300 shorts were edited and shown on television, the first of which was Mirror by Gordon Hencher. The popularity of the format (viewing figures varied from 1 million to 9 million) led to some themed series of Video Nation shorts such as African Shorts, Hong Kong Shorts, Coming Clean (a ten part series on housework), Bitesize Britain (10 fifteen-minute programmes about what the Nation really eats), and many more.

The result was two awards - a Race in the Media Award and the European Prix Iris.

In the early 1990's Video Nation moved to ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½2 as a continuation of the early sociological photographic projects. During its first decade, ten thousand tapes were shot and 1,300 shorts were screened on TV.