Wasn't it HBO where they had a camera on the front of a bicycle going through parks and such with music to kill time between shows? That was a long time ago! lol
Great find, @ktwdallas! Makes you appreciate the artistry and craftsmanship that went into creating that intro. As for the song "Illusions"...it sounds like a weird mix between the main riff of Prince's song "Do it All Night" and Billy Joel's "My Life", covered in a layer of cheesy lyrics. But the songwriter managed to get it in a HBO documentary, so good for them...I guess. LOL.
That theme song still exists... And like the NBC chime, you hear anyone humming it, you know it's HBO! They should do a CGI version with the same music for the Anniversary coming soon!
People that don't know about C.G.I. and the craftsmanship it takes to do something whitin a "few clicks" with a mouse, are completely ignorant. Computers are just tools, it was same back then. If certain technology allows more speed and quality, you're bound to use it
05:08 If that inhuman monster was smoking that pipe in the workplace nowadays, we'd have browbeaten him like the animal he was and had him booted out of the building! Savages the 1980s had, savages!
i LOVE THAT COMPOSER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE'S MY HEROE!!!!!!!!!!!! just beautiful music(incuding the artist playing throughout parts of the video!)
_____Over at 8:14, now that's some ROCKIN' piece of comptuer hardware right there! Mmmm-hmm... Nice monochrome monitor, some hefty keys that ya hafta practically BANG with yer fists (or claws, or whatever the case may be), makin' some hefty BOOPS and BEEPS, you can practically HEAR the freakin' vacuum tubes hummin' in the next room. Probably hafta take up the whole floor below just for data storage... JUST KIDDIN'! I know they had transistors back then. Damn, were computers HEFTY back then.
_____At 3:40, they put a lightbulb...in EVERY room...of EVERY house? Hey, geniuses! Why didn't cha just make jagged HOLES in the BOTTOMS of every model building and just shine ONE FREAKIN' BULB from BELOW? Just put variations of some darned WAX PAPER in the WINDOWS for variations in amounts of lighting? No wonder why it took three months to get sh... Stuff done! Coke and syphilis sure mess up some dudes' thought processes, don't they?
_____Three freakin' months...just to make models, huh? Damn, dude! Why is it that EVERYTHING done by studios in NEW YORK or LA takes one hundred times longer than it should? Maybe if they stopped snortin' COKE every night and gettin' over their next bouts of bonnorhea after bangin' the INTERNS, they'd get stuff done. But noo-OO-oo... They wanna live the 1980s like they're the 1960s--sex and drugs for EVERYBODY! Slow bastards, you'll NEVER catch me takin' more than a year to get a book done.
Holy shit, I remembered watching this and had been thinking about it after seeing the old intro here a while back. Was looking for something else 'behind-the-scenes' and this came up on the list. This is one of the things that got me interested in becoming a filmmaker... pure magic.
They should use that same footage, touch it up a little with today's new technology and use it again. It would be really cool to use when they play older movies. Is there an HBO classic channel? Anyways, I forgot all about that intro. Still very cool.
I so loved that intro as a kid. And I saw this making documentary at the time. I had to wait for the Internet to come around to see it again. Brings back very fond memories. :) Interesting to find I'm not the only one who was so enthralled with it.
Amazing for it's time ... 25 to 30 years ago there was NO 3D animation as today. Everything Had to be done painstakingly by hand at great cost. We come a long way, and such sets are almost a lost art.
Congratulations to this beautiful idealistic work of art, all who are involved in this project will escape the computer graphics. Experience the evolution of vignettes and congratulations to the members of producer HBO.
@robken0174 "They'd CGI the sh*t out of this now. "
And they did. :)
watch?v=bbW6bIFAJRg
I'm sure they could faithfully "refurbish" this version, though. Not sure how people would react, though. Many Star Trek TOS (The Original Series) fans didn't appreciate their show being "CGI'ed".
@tsntana Not the creation of the streets, cars, trees, lights, buildings etc. They show 'em putting them in place by hand. No computers did that here.
@tsntana Yes, but my point WAS, these guys did all that by hand. That's pretty fantastic. Of course a computer can replicate it, but it wouldn't be the real deal.
As a model railroader, I was **always** interested in this clip. All you need is the budget and you can get a profesionnally built model city! I have often wondered what scale it was and what happned to it.
I was a subscriber to HBO for 30 years. Since the Sopranos ended I cannot justify the expense.
I remember seeing this when it aired! (this video describing the making of the intro). And of course, I remember the intro itself. I get chills even now watching that chrome HBO approaching. Damn that was a good intro. As for the special, the one thing o remembered above all else (before watching it just now) was that they put a prostitute on one of the corners. That music at 2:50 - wow, glad I didn't remember that..
Such a damned good intro (esp the chrome HBO). Bring it back, HBO! :)
Thanks for making this available. It's important for budding fx/motion graphics artists to really understand all the creative ways things can be done. All these years I had thought the interior streaks on the O were hand-drawn, but the fiber optics are so classy. Kudos to the pioneers who made this.
Wow, now that was quite interesting. Must've taken months 2 do EVERY little thing!! Even the cars lit up!! Yet alone this was the making of the "HBO in space" clip-which was REALLY awesome, when U think about it...& what ABOUT the letters 'HBO' in which it goes inside the 'O' with all those colour rays?! Excellent. This should definitely re-surface!!
My Friend, Anthony Lover, owns Liberty Studios. He is talented & very friendly to all. He was nominated for an Oscar for his short film, DE DUVA (The Dove), in which Madeline Kahn made her film debuet. My friend, Jo, was the camera-person. I got to see the model city set before they broke it down (it might be preserved somewhere now). It was HUGE and very impressive in person. I'll never forget it!
Wow.... Just for an opening for a channel... All this beautiful work, for a simple minute clip. Outstanding and breathtaking. I really wish HBO would reinstate this on current HBO. This is just timeless. Granted, the model does resemble something from the 80's, but it's so beautiful I can accept it. I'd love to turn on the HBO, and see this. Now it's just the boring TV turning on. (Granted, I do like it... But this is just so much superior)
Assuming this work was done almost without computers, nowdays it can be recreated with CGI. The city (and the HBO logo) can be reconstructed with 3D Modeling programs. The stars, the lights, the text and the blast effect can be made with AfterEffects or so. Not critizing but making a statement of how an intro made by many people in over a year can be remade by some CGI artists in a couple of months.
@logostrikebeta2 Good point. But it seems that the computer has made many effects too monolithic and flat while effect of the sort depicted in this video have depth and character to them. CGI is really great and I will defend it to no end, but there is also a special magic to physical/optical effects that is missing from many CGI effects.
@USTUBE4000 Maybe you're right. Despite the "low complexity" of making this HBO intro via CGI, it could possibly lack the depth and character you mentioned... if that's your point of view. Well, i'd say "go grab some papers, wood and tools (for example), and make an intro for HBO!"... but some CGI enhancements could be useful if necesary (if i'm wrong, google "joint movie epix the 3 launches", first result).
Fantasic stuff! I'm an aspiring filmmaker and I hope to do effects JUST LIKE THIS and only use the computer to enhance it and not replace it. I hope that's still possible.
For stargate effect, it was said that animation was done, but does anyone know how the actually art work was made? I can't really tell.
This intro still gives me chills... Yeah I know I may sound like a dork/geek/nerd whatever. I still love it. It take me back to when I was a kid. (10 years old to be precise)
@darkwave90 Well I disagree, you see you can't learn from the future because that hasn't happened yet so all we have is the past. I don't see how an advancement in the way shots like this are executed can decrease the level of creativity as a story is a story and the way it's portrayed is a whole other thing.
@darkwave90 Computer animation is another option. This means we have more choices as creators.. which in return means we can be more creative. THAT'S A LOGICAL PROOF. Just because art and science are coming together, it does not make us less creative!
@darkwave90 imo that's a pretty ignorant thing to say. To make it into the 'A' list of compositors, animators etc these days, you really have to push the boundaries of the technologies available. And if your work looks like this now a days, no one's gonna pay you for it.
@Zhylo again thats something someone who is uneducated about computer visual effects would say. pixar works harder on a project and spends more time than any animation film before the advent of cgi. The amount of technology we have doesnt stifle creativity, it allows much more room for doing whatever the imagination can come up with, the room for detail is immense.
im getting the feeling people think a movie like transformers just gets typed into a program and is spat out with these graphics.
@Zhylo again thats something someone who is uneducated about computer visual effects would say. pixar works harder on a project and spends more time than any animation film before the advent of cgi. The amount of technology we have doesnt stifle creativity, it allows much more room for doing whatever the imagination can come up with, the room for detail is immense.
im getting the feeling people think a movie like transformers just gets typed into a program and is spat out with these graphics.
cg fx are just the the most logical next step, obviously your not a big believer in progress. I've done my share of 3d and its extremely time consuming. there's alot of people who see these "behind the scene documentaries" and still believe the computer does all the work and that's just plain ignorant.
people have infatuation with the past because there so accustomed to it and feel some sort nostalgia but im sorry we have to move forward the limits of past techniques have been met.
@darkwave90 wrong, Computers make us more creative since we need less time building stuff, we can spend more time on makeing stuff up. computers are a tool that help us work more effecient.
@apenneukende Wrong, computers have nothing to do with creativity. People are creative. computers can also be seen as tools for the lazy. Case in point: The old first 3 Star Wars movies vs. the newer last 3 which where a horrible mess of cgi. I bet if they remade this intro entirely in cgi it would lose the effect, not to mention not as creative and awesome. Checkmate!
this is when real talent existed, Now its all just CGI bullshit made in a few days. This is kinda like the video how the star trek enterprise was made here,
I just saw this, and I really enjoyed being taken inside how HBO's most famous title sequence was created. If there was something like this available for how ABC's Star Tunnel was created, I'd be a happy man. Why don't they make title sequences like this nowadays?! It evidently reflected well on HBO for Liberty Studios in NYC to take all this time and effort to make it look great on the air, and for the musicians (Ferdinand J. Smith and others) to compose the title track that defined a network.
@FLABandit They have it on their website (the "Feature Presentation" version since the sequence is most recognized for that). It's a clear complete version starting with the "typical HBO viewer" at the beginning.
HBO had the greatest and most dramatic opening to its program at that time. HBO was graphically way ahead of everybody else, who had that cartoon looking lettering that looked like it was out of a coloring book.
As a kid, the openings alone made me want to watch anything that was coming on HBO.
The cussing and nudity did as well, but that's another story.
man oh man things were so much better,artistic,realistic and interesting before CGI came in and wrecked everything....i miss those days and i'm hoping for a resurgence.TOM SAVINI AND GEORGE ROMERO ARE MY FILM IDOLS.
@Django5198 "All this work went into a tv intro! "
And it worked. It set HBO apart from everything else, & drew viewers to its programming
Maybe if you were around in the 80s you'd understand. All this stuff you see now didnt exist back then, it was just being invented; by people like this, doing innovation like this.
HBO was hugely successful. They clearly had the right vision.
But with the crap you've been fed as all your short life, I can see why you'd be against striving for excellence
So cool to see how they did this! Amazing what a painstaking process it was as opposed to how it would be done now. I can't believe even the light effects were mechanical!
As a kid I used to sit up close to the screen when this intro would come on and pretend I was piloting a ship to the HBO station. Good times.
It may be easier to do nowadays, but this is classic because they didn't have that tactical advantage today's animators have. That's not a dis to today's people; it's props to the old-timers who did a spectacular intro without it.
I'm very impress the old days they can create a 3d space HBO logo and Camera illusion very awesome and well done totally respect the creator of this HBO intro
first off i love the "one guy and a computer", more like a bunch of guys and a bunch of computers, for major cg work many more, many many many long hours and tons of hard work!, i love the idea that amazing cg work is always done by a 14 year old and an old dell pc, gees,
@edgeninja They sort of already have. The extended version of the current HBO intro contains a CGI rendition of the city towards the end. Still, it would be cool to see this intro be remade.
Craftsmen, welcome to the democratization of media. Cameras are cheap. Computers are cheap. The film oligarchy has broken down and there isn't much the old guard can do about it.
I's been years since I had HBO as part of my cable package, but I remember this opening. When they got to the segment on the music and those first few notes played, I realized I sill remember that music 25+ years later!
Continuation. While jobs where lost, jobs where also created. Driven with computer knowlede and creativity they can produce a stunning visual effect the consumer would enjoy at a cheaper price. I agree its a shame its also the evolution of the business practice and a very healthy evolution. Its a cycle. If these methods stayed think of all the great movies that would have been impossible. In the end we take nothing from the man because its still ,man that controls everything behind the scenes
@weathersh09 I agree with u that it is a shame that CGI has ruined the jobs of those craftsman. But in many ways that is what is beautiful about it. Those men and woman where being paid twice or more alltogether what 1 or 2 can do with CGI that means that now we have a more cost efficient method of reproducing these scenes in higher qualaty. The second aspect of it is that with the extra money saved other employees from other departments and specialties see an increase in pay.
CGI has ruined a lot of jobs. Yes, CGI is easeir to pull off, and is easier to make corrections, but think of the paid man power that was needed for a project like this. When you allow a machine to do the job of a man, you take something away from the man.
This would absolutely be easier to do in CG, no question. That's not to say one is better than the other. Personally, I would have preferred to film this set than to work in a room full of computers. But economically, this would break any budget, CGI would get it done within the budget.
Paranormal did you even watch the video? Six people working on the model for 3 months. CGI isn't easy, but any kid with Blender could do something like this in a week. The point is... this wasn't CGI it was /handcrafted/. Do you think that is easy?
I'm not so sure that I would say building something in CGI is all that much easier than building it as physical models. However the lighting and environmental effects are certainly much easier in CG, and it's certainly easier to shoot... For something that scale, though, I doubt even a trained professional could create and animate that whole thing inside a week, and wouldn't be amazed if it took six people three months to do in CG.
It drives me crazy! People think that animation is done by a computer, not with an aid of a computer. Like this magic box will magically draw and animate for you. WTF?
Wasn't it HBO where they had a camera on the front of a bicycle going through parks and such with music to kill time between shows? That was a long time ago! lol
rickrolltide 1 month ago
holy shit.
elemental47 1 month ago
i grew up on this shit .. crazy how things have changed:)
BoundToFail 2 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
In the old days its 2011 now bud, u r the old days..nice nice work still
pititimebibi1 2 months ago
Great find, @ktwdallas! Makes you appreciate the artistry and craftsmanship that went into creating that intro. As for the song "Illusions"...it sounds like a weird mix between the main riff of Prince's song "Do it All Night" and Billy Joel's "My Life", covered in a layer of cheesy lyrics. But the songwriter managed to get it in a HBO documentary, so good for them...I guess. LOL.
BoredVAChick 2 months ago
now this technology is in my home
Baraquiel62 2 months ago
@Baraquiel62 I think most people have it. But few know how to use it.
tsntana 2 months ago
I've got this somewhere, too. It was amazing! Now CGI may look more real, but there is no ingenuity like this.
artfrankmiami 3 months ago
I want today's behind the scenes to have thematically accurate music.
simpleton7 3 months ago
I hate everyone involved with cgi effects!
BikiniDeathSquad 4 months ago
Anyone ever notice the dent or crimp in the "B" (just before the circling color rays in the "O")? That always caught my eye.
Wonder where that original HBO 'starship' is now?
dagwort 4 months ago
That theme song still exists... And like the NBC chime, you hear anyone humming it, you know it's HBO! They should do a CGI version with the same music for the Anniversary coming soon!
ElectricYangNYC 4 months ago
Back when models had to be built and cameras used. Love the pre CGI times.
headmouse 4 months ago
hehe he is not political correct he call it bums and hooker hehe
mroboiz 5 months ago
very talent good mens
mroboiz 5 months ago
mmm, tease and tantalize. Yes please
deadballo 5 months ago
People that don't know about C.G.I. and the craftsmanship it takes to do something whitin a "few clicks" with a mouse, are completely ignorant. Computers are just tools, it was same back then. If certain technology allows more speed and quality, you're bound to use it
micoromico 5 months ago
@micoromico Yes CGI takes work, but is child's play compared to the way things used to be.
headmouse 4 months ago
It would be totally C.G.I today, look at that craft!! So cool, man.
jazz4 5 months ago
"... hookers on the corner..." - the downfall of HBO.
Redmon05 5 months ago
05:08 If that inhuman monster was smoking that pipe in the workplace nowadays, we'd have browbeaten him like the animal he was and had him booted out of the building! Savages the 1980s had, savages!
chibidw 5 months ago
7:56 holy render time! :D
videomissionary 6 months ago
This is a days work in 2011 with a couple clicks on a mouse lol
BurgessGaming 7 months ago
The HBO logo bursting in with the music is my favorite part! And I agree, they should definitely bring something like this back!
sonofKyrios 7 months ago
08:13......"In the old days"....its 2011 now bud, u r the old days..nice work still :D
jawadeelibox 7 months ago 9
Comment removed
backinthecrystal 4 months ago
Oh, don't be a moron. This was recorded 30 years ago. This was state-of-the-art back then. Next time, try to hear yourself speak.
backinthecrystal 4 months ago
Thank you for posting this. I remember watching this as a kid, what memories.
parisdiamond2000 7 months ago
If they were going for an impressive, stunning intro, they sure acheived it!
phoenixtimes2 8 months ago
This is the best production of the 80'!
BedededeII 8 months ago
...went to favorites :D
crackmaster88 8 months ago
i m going make my own hbo modle city movie
alienhddna 8 months ago
i LOVE THAT COMPOSER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HE'S MY HEROE!!!!!!!!!!!! just beautiful music(incuding the artist playing throughout parts of the video!)
h8aification 8 months ago
i have only one word for this... amazing
melvinpapichulo 9 months ago
_____Over at 8:14, now that's some ROCKIN' piece of comptuer hardware right there! Mmmm-hmm... Nice monochrome monitor, some hefty keys that ya hafta practically BANG with yer fists (or claws, or whatever the case may be), makin' some hefty BOOPS and BEEPS, you can practically HEAR the freakin' vacuum tubes hummin' in the next room. Probably hafta take up the whole floor below just for data storage... JUST KIDDIN'! I know they had transistors back then. Damn, were computers HEFTY back then.
Egglesplork 9 months ago
_____At 3:40, they put a lightbulb...in EVERY room...of EVERY house? Hey, geniuses! Why didn't cha just make jagged HOLES in the BOTTOMS of every model building and just shine ONE FREAKIN' BULB from BELOW? Just put variations of some darned WAX PAPER in the WINDOWS for variations in amounts of lighting? No wonder why it took three months to get sh... Stuff done! Coke and syphilis sure mess up some dudes' thought processes, don't they?
Egglesplork 9 months ago
_____Three freakin' months...just to make models, huh? Damn, dude! Why is it that EVERYTHING done by studios in NEW YORK or LA takes one hundred times longer than it should? Maybe if they stopped snortin' COKE every night and gettin' over their next bouts of bonnorhea after bangin' the INTERNS, they'd get stuff done. But noo-OO-oo... They wanna live the 1980s like they're the 1960s--sex and drugs for EVERYBODY! Slow bastards, you'll NEVER catch me takin' more than a year to get a book done.
Egglesplork 9 months ago
Holy shit, I remembered watching this and had been thinking about it after seeing the old intro here a while back. Was looking for something else 'behind-the-scenes' and this came up on the list. This is one of the things that got me interested in becoming a filmmaker... pure magic.
FrankPerrotto 9 months ago
Oh God!
I find this kind of tuff interesting now...
I must be getting old.
shanustheanus 9 months ago
@shanustheanus
Nop, no matter what age. It just is interesting, due to the core elements of animation and fx which are shown ^^
grasplag 9 months ago
@shanustheanus No you're not your just appreciating the past
09bonita09 8 months ago
They should use that same footage, touch it up a little with today's new technology and use it again. It would be really cool to use when they play older movies. Is there an HBO classic channel? Anyways, I forgot all about that intro. Still very cool.
bradcuewalker 10 months ago
I so loved that intro as a kid. And I saw this making documentary at the time. I had to wait for the Internet to come around to see it again. Brings back very fond memories. :) Interesting to find I'm not the only one who was so enthralled with it.
robertadiskin 10 months ago
i hope that hbo stil has this little city project somewhere in the storage /// so nice
xadekpl 10 months ago
DAMN, I miss models...
AK74inCali 11 months ago
@AK74inCali i agree, movies like 2001 and star wars still look good 40 years later whereas 3d models cant hold up for 3 years at most
Legokink1 11 months ago
Amazing for it's time ... 25 to 30 years ago there was NO 3D animation as today. Everything Had to be done painstakingly by hand at great cost. We come a long way, and such sets are almost a lost art.
cdcollura 11 months ago
Congratulations to this beautiful idealistic work of art, all who are involved in this project will escape the computer graphics. Experience the evolution of vignettes and congratulations to the members of producer HBO.
fernandolapis 1 year ago
This is so awesome! I love how they painstakingly created everything by hand. They'd CGI the sh*t out of this now. Oh well.
robken0174 1 year ago
@robken0174 "They'd CGI the sh*t out of this now. "
And they did. :)
watch?v=bbW6bIFAJRg
I'm sure they could faithfully "refurbish" this version, though. Not sure how people would react, though. Many Star Trek TOS (The Original Series) fans didn't appreciate their show being "CGI'ed".
tsntana 1 year ago
@tsntana Not the creation of the streets, cars, trees, lights, buildings etc. They show 'em putting them in place by hand. No computers did that here.
robken0174 1 year ago
@robken0174 With a little time, it can be replicated. Right down to the "Liberty Ave" street sign.
tsntana 1 year ago
@tsntana Yes, but my point WAS, these guys did all that by hand. That's pretty fantastic. Of course a computer can replicate it, but it wouldn't be the real deal.
robken0174 1 year ago
@robken0174 I apologize then. I misunderstood you. Of course you're right. And I agree it is pretty fantastic how they did all that.
tsntana 1 year ago
at 5:20 That's the 1975-82 version of the HBO logo with the "B" behind the "O".
videonut33 1 year ago
I remember watching this on HBO lol.
Shamnambul 1 year ago
I like that "A Closer Look" theme song.
"All the things you're taking for granted are just as important as what you see."
tsntana 1 year ago
Comment removed
videonut33 1 year ago
Great! i often miss this small model city and creativity now!!
TKTnetwork 1 year ago
Strange what you grow nostalgic for as you get older...
Nexus974 1 year ago
for the love of god can someone find a copy of this in hd? hahaha That would kick ass!
jedimastercreech 1 year ago
they worked so hard for this 1982-1999 logo opening! its good!
xShesSoRecklessx 1 year ago
Haha. "A few hookas on da corna."
roboshuffle 1 year ago
I want this
snappy452 1 year ago
What is that song?
yex13 1 year ago
As a model railroader, I was **always** interested in this clip. All you need is the budget and you can get a profesionnally built model city! I have often wondered what scale it was and what happned to it.
I was a subscriber to HBO for 30 years. Since the Sopranos ended I cannot justify the expense.
crazyman762 1 year ago
i think this is the best presentation in earth!!!!!!!!!!!!
digitalicful 1 year ago
When this was on, H.B.O. & Cable T.V. was at it's very best!
Yesterdays92 1 year ago
I remember seeing this when it aired! (this video describing the making of the intro). And of course, I remember the intro itself. I get chills even now watching that chrome HBO approaching. Damn that was a good intro. As for the special, the one thing o remembered above all else (before watching it just now) was that they put a prostitute on one of the corners. That music at 2:50 - wow, glad I didn't remember that..
Such a damned good intro (esp the chrome HBO). Bring it back, HBO! :)
jlkeegan 1 year ago 2
I would love to be part of a project that works this way TODAY!
Old school is cool!
otas32 1 year ago
its interesting how they worked around the computer limitations at the time
gardnerbm 1 year ago
Oh God! Please bring back the 80s! Please!
phillygal215 1 year ago
that was all i needed
alexandre14182 1 year ago
NEATO!
Gpalmer16 1 year ago
Comment removed
gooddaysunshine74 1 year ago
Anthony Lover is my new alias.
gooddaysunshine74 1 year ago
Thanks for making this available. It's important for budding fx/motion graphics artists to really understand all the creative ways things can be done. All these years I had thought the interior streaks on the O were hand-drawn, but the fiber optics are so classy. Kudos to the pioneers who made this.
pvck 1 year ago
@ 7:38 Looks like a typical California forest fire.
SteelCity1981 1 year ago
Wow, now that was quite interesting. Must've taken months 2 do EVERY little thing!! Even the cars lit up!! Yet alone this was the making of the "HBO in space" clip-which was REALLY awesome, when U think about it...& what ABOUT the letters 'HBO' in which it goes inside the 'O' with all those colour rays?! Excellent. This should definitely re-surface!!
25phillycheesesteak 1 year ago
Epic
redpillftw 1 year ago 2
so friggin cool
OfLittleOrNoPrestige 1 year ago
4:58 Bums and Hookers FTW!
YouDoober 1 year ago
at 2:45 the song sounds exactly like a south park 'triumph' songs.
"...pay a little closer attention to DETAIL (tail, tail, tailll)
all the things you're talking for granted are just as important to what. you. see."
ksw33n3y 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
My Friend, Anthony Lover, owns Liberty Studios. He is talented & very friendly to all. He was nominated for an Oscar for his short film, DE DUVA (The Dove), in which Madeline Kahn made her film debuet. My friend, Jo, was the camera-person. I got to see the model city set before they broke it down (it might be preserved somewhere now). It was HUGE and very impressive in person. I'll never forget it!
DainaZazie77 1 year ago
a few bums on the street a few hookas at the corner lol!!! 4:58
lyokomasterxx 1 year ago
Wow.... Just for an opening for a channel... All this beautiful work, for a simple minute clip. Outstanding and breathtaking. I really wish HBO would reinstate this on current HBO. This is just timeless. Granted, the model does resemble something from the 80's, but it's so beautiful I can accept it. I'd love to turn on the HBO, and see this. Now it's just the boring TV turning on. (Granted, I do like it... But this is just so much superior)
kirbyyasha 1 year ago
Adobe After Effects Made 24 Pages To DISLIKE.!
cakemaster3000 1 year ago
@cakemaster3000 The new 3 are pages from Sony Vegas :)
KeTeVemCovers 1 year ago
Assuming this work was done almost without computers, nowdays it can be recreated with CGI. The city (and the HBO logo) can be reconstructed with 3D Modeling programs. The stars, the lights, the text and the blast effect can be made with AfterEffects or so. Not critizing but making a statement of how an intro made by many people in over a year can be remade by some CGI artists in a couple of months.
logostrikebeta2 1 year ago
@logostrikebeta2 Good point. But it seems that the computer has made many effects too monolithic and flat while effect of the sort depicted in this video have depth and character to them. CGI is really great and I will defend it to no end, but there is also a special magic to physical/optical effects that is missing from many CGI effects.
USTUBE4000 1 year ago
@USTUBE4000 Maybe you're right. Despite the "low complexity" of making this HBO intro via CGI, it could possibly lack the depth and character you mentioned... if that's your point of view. Well, i'd say "go grab some papers, wood and tools (for example), and make an intro for HBO!"... but some CGI enhancements could be useful if necesary (if i'm wrong, google "joint movie epix the 3 launches", first result).
logostrikebeta2 1 year ago
Would anyone agree that the narrator is the same guy that does the BMW commercials today?
railgun1369 1 year ago
I thought it was cgi
thesailormercury1 1 year ago
what happed to the hbo city
thesailormercury1 1 year ago
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ahmd1431 1 year ago
This is a great video, but good god almighty, the singing between segments - WHY?
I feel so educated by this.
ruphia 1 year ago
Does anyone know who the head designer or creator for this was? Like, who came up with the concept and sketched it out?
kachunski 1 year ago
Fantasic stuff! I'm an aspiring filmmaker and I hope to do effects JUST LIKE THIS and only use the computer to enhance it and not replace it. I hope that's still possible.
For stargate effect, it was said that animation was done, but does anyone know how the actually art work was made? I can't really tell.
EsperPictures 1 year ago
This intro still gives me chills... Yeah I know I may sound like a dork/geek/nerd whatever. I still love it. It take me back to when I was a kid. (10 years old to be precise)
DerFunkNoid 1 year ago 2
@DerFunkNoid I feel you 100%.Seems almost every movie was a scary one though when I'd see this intro...
DanielDumile 1 year ago
Computer animation makes us so less creative!
darkwave90 1 year ago 54
@darkwave90
EastBroadTop 1 year ago
@darkwave90 Well I disagree, you see you can't learn from the future because that hasn't happened yet so all we have is the past. I don't see how an advancement in the way shots like this are executed can decrease the level of creativity as a story is a story and the way it's portrayed is a whole other thing.
ACDCSMITH 1 year ago
@darkwave90 That's stupid. If you think computer animation is easy you should try it.
viniciusb 1 year ago
@darkwave90 Computer animation is another option. This means we have more choices as creators.. which in return means we can be more creative. THAT'S A LOGICAL PROOF. Just because art and science are coming together, it does not make us less creative!
-A Motion Picture Engineer ;)
etfometit 1 year ago
@darkwave90 It also makes us lazy :)
KeTeVemCovers 1 year ago
@darkwave90 imo that's a pretty ignorant thing to say. To make it into the 'A' list of compositors, animators etc these days, you really have to push the boundaries of the technologies available. And if your work looks like this now a days, no one's gonna pay you for it.
JaysonX5 1 year ago
@darkwave90
I don't think so...
HansTheGeek 11 months ago
@darkwave90 thats probably the dumbest thing i have heard in a while.
were making films now that they wouldnt even dream up back in the 80s. Ideas are changing, not becoming less creative you derp.
Reijerkolle 11 months ago
@Reijerkolle. I think he meant the way they made stuff back then. Nowadays, there's no challenge, "just make it CGI"
Zhylo 11 months ago
@Zhylo again thats something someone who is uneducated about computer visual effects would say. pixar works harder on a project and spends more time than any animation film before the advent of cgi. The amount of technology we have doesnt stifle creativity, it allows much more room for doing whatever the imagination can come up with, the room for detail is immense.
im getting the feeling people think a movie like transformers just gets typed into a program and is spat out with these graphics.
Reijerkolle 11 months ago 2
@Zhylo again thats something someone who is uneducated about computer visual effects would say. pixar works harder on a project and spends more time than any animation film before the advent of cgi. The amount of technology we have doesnt stifle creativity, it allows much more room for doing whatever the imagination can come up with, the room for detail is immense.
im getting the feeling people think a movie like transformers just gets typed into a program and is spat out with these graphics.
Reijerkolle 11 months ago
@darkwave90
cg fx are just the the most logical next step, obviously your not a big believer in progress. I've done my share of 3d and its extremely time consuming. there's alot of people who see these "behind the scene documentaries" and still believe the computer does all the work and that's just plain ignorant.
people have infatuation with the past because there so accustomed to it and feel some sort nostalgia but im sorry we have to move forward the limits of past techniques have been met.
donp244 10 months ago
@darkwave90 wrong, Computers make us more creative since we need less time building stuff, we can spend more time on makeing stuff up. computers are a tool that help us work more effecient.
apenneukende 7 months ago
@apenneukende Wrong, computers have nothing to do with creativity. People are creative. computers can also be seen as tools for the lazy. Case in point: The old first 3 Star Wars movies vs. the newer last 3 which where a horrible mess of cgi. I bet if they remade this intro entirely in cgi it would lose the effect, not to mention not as creative and awesome. Checkmate!
SaturdayMorningAlive 7 months ago
I remember watching this as a little kid....
JessOnTheRun 1 year ago
I have always thought the whole thing was animated.
MTLTV1765 1 year ago
this is when real talent existed, Now its all just CGI bullshit made in a few days. This is kinda like the video how the star trek enterprise was made here,
youtube.com/watch?v=eYPvH6LW_uY
JISINSANE3 1 year ago
I just saw this, and I really enjoyed being taken inside how HBO's most famous title sequence was created. If there was something like this available for how ABC's Star Tunnel was created, I'd be a happy man. Why don't they make title sequences like this nowadays?! It evidently reflected well on HBO for Liberty Studios in NYC to take all this time and effort to make it look great on the air, and for the musicians (Ferdinand J. Smith and others) to compose the title track that defined a network.
bmasters1981 1 year ago
HBO really needs to bring this intro back. Even if only for respect to those that built it.
FLABandit 1 year ago 24
@FLABandit They have it on their website (the "Feature Presentation" version since the sequence is most recognized for that). It's a clear complete version starting with the "typical HBO viewer" at the beginning.
tsntana 1 year ago
so much respect!
lizardizzle 1 year ago
Garit Keil has lice.... and Hemorrhoids!
jajense 1 year ago
wow at starglow thing
GunSlingerXAi 1 year ago
nothing beats this!!! NOTHING!
crucialconflict02 1 year ago
I like the fact that it can take something as simple as some science, math, art, and a mind, and...well...watch. At least that is what I think.
v10lini5t19921993 1 year ago
They achieved their goal.
HBO had the greatest and most dramatic opening to its program at that time. HBO was graphically way ahead of everybody else, who had that cartoon looking lettering that looked like it was out of a coloring book.
As a kid, the openings alone made me want to watch anything that was coming on HBO.
The cussing and nudity did as well, but that's another story.
Yobachi2007 1 year ago
Brilliant men and women creating amazing art without CGI. These are heroes.
joecassara 1 year ago
Dear god, the music in this is bad.
stavrogen 1 year ago
strong
ivanwyn 1 year ago
man oh man things were so much better,artistic,realistic and interesting before CGI came in and wrecked everything....i miss those days and i'm hoping for a resurgence.TOM SAVINI AND GEORGE ROMERO ARE MY FILM IDOLS.
dimebagdave77 1 year ago
At 1:14 he looks like Tim Burton... maybe it's him?
AccessVirus71 1 year ago
@AccessVirus71 By that time I think Burton was off writing but it could have been him...though so many people had that goofy hair back in the 80s...
Polystyrene11 1 year ago
they used have used sony hd video camera to day to film this hole thing in hd
jasonhdvideoman 1 year ago
i like the old simple 1 more but i gotta respect the work
mrpapafunky7879 1 year ago
All this work went into a tv intro!
Django5198 1 year ago
@Django5198 "All this work went into a tv intro! "
And it worked. It set HBO apart from everything else, & drew viewers to its programming
Maybe if you were around in the 80s you'd understand. All this stuff you see now didnt exist back then, it was just being invented; by people like this, doing innovation like this.
HBO was hugely successful. They clearly had the right vision.
But with the crap you've been fed as all your short life, I can see why you'd be against striving for excellence
Yobachi2007 1 year ago 2
So cool to see how they did this! Amazing what a painstaking process it was as opposed to how it would be done now. I can't believe even the light effects were mechanical!
As a kid I used to sit up close to the screen when this intro would come on and pretend I was piloting a ship to the HBO station. Good times.
kway745 1 year ago
I remember seeing this little doc when it ran on HBO years ago. It was cool to see it again. Thanks for posting!
WonkaVator72 1 year ago
This is cool stuff.
TheGreatMozeek 1 year ago
It may be easier to do nowadays, but this is classic because they didn't have that tactical advantage today's animators have. That's not a dis to today's people; it's props to the old-timers who did a spectacular intro without it.
DownsA530 1 year ago
Thank you for this, it's awsome!
glenh75 1 year ago
I'm very impress the old days they can create a 3d space HBO logo and Camera illusion very awesome and well done totally respect the creator of this HBO intro
kenth65 1 year ago
today i could do this in maybe 20 hours with 3D and After effects
joachim2464 1 year ago
@joachim2464 shut up you amateur.
pixelbat 1 year ago
this video really help me understood what really effect animations are all about...
aparach 1 year ago
respect the old ways...
aparach 1 year ago
They were so creative! Wow..
soolyOnE 1 year ago
hats off!!!!
dhirajsharma17 1 year ago
Old-fashioned effects = Star Wars.
Over-reliance on CG = Jar-Jar Binks.
Bobaklives 1 year ago
fantastic thanks!
homebuiltindoorplane 1 year ago
wow look how far we've gone
dumpkernel 1 year ago
Haha, I never knew there were hookers on the corners. To think at how many movies the family and I sat around the tube watching without knowing.
Danbo342 1 year ago
first off i love the "one guy and a computer", more like a bunch of guys and a bunch of computers, for major cg work many more, many many many long hours and tons of hard work!, i love the idea that amazing cg work is always done by a 14 year old and an old dell pc, gees,
fresh6517 1 year ago 3
All made in hand, no software guys held him to be very professional and very creative ideas, sensational!!
leandroloves 1 year ago
They should totally remake this intro in CG for HBO's 40th anniversary.
edgeninja 1 year ago
@edgeninja They sort of already have. The extended version of the current HBO intro contains a CGI rendition of the city towards the end. Still, it would be cool to see this intro be remade.
BetaForTheLossIsBack 1 year ago
Craftsmen, welcome to the democratization of media. Cameras are cheap. Computers are cheap. The film oligarchy has broken down and there isn't much the old guard can do about it.
judonerd 1 year ago
hard work can do any thing
haroonqiyam 1 year ago
I's been years since I had HBO as part of my cable package, but I remember this opening. When they got to the segment on the music and those first few notes played, I realized I sill remember that music 25+ years later!
populous2 1 year ago 2
id never say that logo was made of metal
cyberyanmar 1 year ago
Continuation. While jobs where lost, jobs where also created. Driven with computer knowlede and creativity they can produce a stunning visual effect the consumer would enjoy at a cheaper price. I agree its a shame its also the evolution of the business practice and a very healthy evolution. Its a cycle. If these methods stayed think of all the great movies that would have been impossible. In the end we take nothing from the man because its still ,man that controls everything behind the scenes
iggsta3o5 1 year ago
@weathersh09 I agree with u that it is a shame that CGI has ruined the jobs of those craftsman. But in many ways that is what is beautiful about it. Those men and woman where being paid twice or more alltogether what 1 or 2 can do with CGI that means that now we have a more cost efficient method of reproducing these scenes in higher qualaty. The second aspect of it is that with the extra money saved other employees from other departments and specialties see an increase in pay.
iggsta3o5 1 year ago
CGI has ruined a lot of jobs. Yes, CGI is easeir to pull off, and is easier to make corrections, but think of the paid man power that was needed for a project like this. When you allow a machine to do the job of a man, you take something away from the man.
weathersh09 1 year ago
ruined alot of jobs? Also created hundereds more
asre2001 1 year ago
This would absolutely be easier to do in CG, no question. That's not to say one is better than the other. Personally, I would have preferred to film this set than to work in a room full of computers. But economically, this would break any budget, CGI would get it done within the budget.
newplasticmachine 1 year ago
Fear!
didioskywalker 1 year ago
man, this is old, realy old.
andeciuala 1 year ago
When you have limitations, you have to come up with innovative solutions. Awesome stuff.
The music, I had forgotten how cool it was.
I grew up then, heavy nostalgia factor. Brilliant.
HollywoodWags 1 year ago
It seem like at the time they were sort-of spinning the music off of the Superman Movie (with Christopher Reeves) that was real popular at that time.
philiptwood 1 year ago
Jezus Wat a sick ass heavy duty techniqeu!!
GREAT!!
MarkZwambag 1 year ago
its funny how anyone can make that star-burst effect with AE nowadays. And back then it took years of training.
BrightstormFilms 1 year ago
But will it blend?
0871Atta 1 year ago
Utterly beautiful.
elizabethkillian 1 year ago
Paranormal did you even watch the video? Six people working on the model for 3 months. CGI isn't easy, but any kid with Blender could do something like this in a week. The point is... this wasn't CGI it was /handcrafted/. Do you think that is easy?
npatricksmith 1 year ago
I'm not so sure that I would say building something in CGI is all that much easier than building it as physical models. However the lighting and environmental effects are certainly much easier in CG, and it's certainly easier to shoot... For something that scale, though, I doubt even a trained professional could create and animate that whole thing inside a week, and wouldn't be amazed if it took six people three months to do in CG.
tomplunket 1 year ago
you all think CGI is easy?.. sound to me that you guys think it is..
ParanormalGaming 1 year ago
It drives me crazy! People think that animation is done by a computer, not with an aid of a computer. Like this magic box will magically draw and animate for you. WTF?
InYourFaceNewYorker 1 year ago
Well, like they say, CGI will do whatever you tell it to, but you have to tell it everything
meekrob 1 year ago