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Behind the scenes of HBO’s Effects Circa 1982
Back in the day the special effects that we take for granted in movies and TV took MONTHS for what worked out to be about a minute of footage.
In 1982 HBO created an introductory segment for its special movie events and they spared no expense. Check out this mini behind the scenes feature:
Granted, the techniques were “state of the art” and required back then, but it blows my mind how simple it is to do a lot of these effects that they had to labour for ages to do what your average Highschool student can now do on his dog’s website.
Imagine how people will mock what we do now in 25 years?
Computers? Seriously? They used computers for that? I had my virtual reality hologram handle that job for me!!
Wow Rodney – fantastic find!! This really brings back childhood memories, but I never gave a second thought o how it was created.
I particularly loved the explananation on how they do the star field look. I completely forgot about how intricate this whole process was, but at the time, never realized that the most powerful computer we had was an Apple II+ to do the work.
This was great.
Rodney: Are you sober?! Holograms are run by computers! Or did you think that people will use nonputers in the future??
I love that song they use throughout the clip. Why would anyone write a song like that?
This logo still gets me all teary eyed when I see and hear it. I think emotionally we can tune into the level of detail in any project; so, even today it’s important to spend the extra time brush stroking those 1’s and 0’s.
Forget the outdated effects, that song they play throughout this video is the find! Hilarious….
the HBO theater intro is still fucking awesome, so awesome in fact that the documentary about it comes off as super gay… whats up w/ that music???? LMAO
No wonder George Lucas waited so long to come out with the new Star Wars movies. He knew everything looked liked crap even when it was “state of the art”. I think I’m gonna stop raggin’ on him for using all that blue screen.
Holy crapshit, that looked awfull
Thanks, Rodney, I think. I have to admit, that was exhausting to watch. The awkwardly-descriptive song was embarrassing to listen to. And I can’t believe the minds behind that project were SATISFIED with having churned out something roughly on par with the smoldering remains of a train set.
@bobsyeruncle….
Keep in mind that was 1982. NO ONE had anything that elaborate to introduce a movie of the week.
Anyone know where that song can be found??? I want to hear it when im killing myself.
I remember that opening and remember this little making of featurette from when I was a kid. It was pretty awesome at the time, and there wasn’t anything like on TV. It’s easy to sit back a poke fun at this stuff given our technological advances, but I would prefer to focus on the creativity and craftsmanship that went into accomplishing this in an age without computer animation.
Remember that the Lord of the Rings films used miniatures too.