An animator in action in 1982. Endre Friedmann/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1NKoMNy5bY
Check out this video of how they created that iconic introduction to the movies you would watch on HBO. It was the era of Star Wars and Jaws, so the production had to have that big cinema feel. Sometimes this intro was more entertaining than the actual movies HBO showed. Some of the special effects looked so high tech, but it'll surprise you when you see how they were done. Today, they would use green screen and CGI, but back in 1983 - the magic was created in a much simpler way. The part of this that struck me the most was how they created the starbursts. No computer-generated animation here. It was just transparent slides!
It's probably something your teenager could whip together now with a cell phone but back in the 80s when cable TV was new, it took a lot more effort.
Geno's 20 favorites movies that are always on TV
When one of these movies comes on, I'll gladly give up two hours of my weekend. Few of these are "great" movies. They're just always on. They're mostly mindless simple fun flicks to escape the world.
An animator in action in 1982. Endre Friedmann/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
