Stumbled onto this over the weekend (hat tip: I Watch Stuff) and thought you might like a gander. This classic HBO 1980′s logo animation is full-blown logo porn that sees a detailed cityscape morphing into the famous TV network’s text logo. Many of you may be familiar with the spot, but HBO wasn’t available at all in Canada during the 1980s, and could only be viewed in the mid-nineties and early 2000s through technically illegal (though not enforced) Direct TV dishes using hacked cards (not that I’d know anything about such nefarious activities). Even those watching HBO illegally saw their satellite feeds go dark after the introduction of supposedly unhackable R4 cards (not that I’d know anything about this either). After that, Canada remained a completely HBO-free zone until October of 2008, when HBO Canada was launched (though that version is owned by Astral Media and Corus Entertainment, owners of The Movie Network and Movie Central respectively, not Time Warner as in the US). Anyhoo, even though the clip is over twenty five years old, that’s why it’s relatively new to me and hope you’ll understand why I think it’s so cool.
What’s even cooler is this behind-the-scenes video that illustrates how the spot was made, sans any CGI special FX, using itsty-bitsy models created with an almost pathological attention to detail. The documentary is a little dated, especially the cheesy music that would do any retro porn movie proud. It is, however, worth a looksee for the pure craftsmanship and love that went into a logo spot that lasts less than 30 seconds. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. And if it’s a little old hat, please forgive me.
We don’t get out much up here.
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