HBO Intro - Behind the Scenes on HackerTube: recommended by 3 Hacker News commenters across 3 separate months, 2019–2025.
documentary · evergreen
A 1983 behind-the-scenes film about making the HBO 'Feature Presentation' starship logo sequence. It shows the handcrafted miniature city, motion-control cameras and practical effects.
HN recommends it as a look at pre-CGI effects work that looks like CGI but was entirely physical.
“looks CGI but is entirely physical models, motion controlled cameras, and clever compositing”
6 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
The original HBO "Feature Presentation" intro was shot with minatures and similar sorts of effects, all before digital/CGI existed or was feasible. There's a documentary about it on YouTube ▶ this video
in “How was the Universal Pictures 1936 opening logo created?” · View on HN
Reminds me of the making of a pre-CGI HBO intro -- looks CGI but is entirely physical models, motion controlled cameras, and clever compositing: ▶ this video
in “CGI Renders Are Real Photos” · View on HN
I loved that intro when I was growing up! There's a documentary about how they made it that can be found on Youtube: ▶ this video
in “Sir Rod Stewart reveals his epic model railway city” · View on HN
Or this: ▶ this video (SD unfortunately but then it is old - impressive amount of model building to achieve something that would be a CGI nobrainer today)
in “Max Headroom and the World of Pseudo-CGI (2013)” · View on HN
Please don't tell me the handcrafted miniature city and practical effects used in the 1983 HBO intro was all a lie too... ▶ this video
in “The Netflix Logo with Yarn was a lie” · View on HN
I am reminded of the epic HBO "Feature Presentation" intro (insofar as it was physically constructed): ▶ this video
in “Windows 10 Desktop: Physically building and photographing the logos (2015)” · View on HN