If you were watching HBO in the early Eighties, this program intro will be ingrained deep in your memory. It always promised excitement, entertainment, and the then-revolutionary idea of seeing recent Hollywood films from the comfort of your own home.Even if you weren't watching HBO in the early Eighties, you might find this little documentary to be rather interesting. It shows how the above intro was created, and shows how much more complicated and expensive it was to produce a short clip that today could be done on a home computer in a few weeks with software off the shelf. Here we have miniatures, acetate-based optical effects, motorized tracking cameras, fiber optics (!), an airbrushed mural, actual construction of a simple three-d logo shape, and what now looks like the most primitive computer ever produced. I found it fascinating, and somewhat inspiring. (And you gotta love the horrendous lyrics for the song they used for the documentary--although I still love the uberdramatic music used in the intro itself.)
2 comments:
Looking at this makes me remember when my family first got cable. At the time, HBO only came on late in the afternoon through the early morning. I think weekends they were 24 hrs. The first movie I remember watching on HBO was "The Buddy Holly Story". Another cool thing was that we got a station from L.A. so after dinner I could watch the cartoons since it was only 4 or 5 'o clock on the West Coast. They would show "Spiderman" from the sixties.
Somebody get me my cane....
great post, Mr. Hobgood.
When you get a chance, email me. I have a thing to forward onto you.
Cheers,
Biddle
Post a Comment