HBO Intro - Behind the Scenes

archivefilms · 1.3M views · 2007-07-23 · 10:38

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Overview

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.

On Hacker News

HN recommends it as a look at pre-CGI effects work that looks like CGI but was entirely physical.

Recommended by 3 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2019–2025

Topics

Animation & visual effects Filmmaking & video production

What people said

SoftTalker · 2025-07 · Recommendation
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 [VIDEO]
Read the original HN comment ↗

jcl · 2023-03 · Recommendation
Reminds me of the making of a pre-CGI HBO intro -- looks CGI but is entirely physical models, motion controlled cameras, and clever compositing: [VIDEO]
Read the original HN comment ↗

Bluecobra · 2019-11 · Recommendation
I loved that intro when I was growing up! There's a documentary about how they made it that can be found on Youtube: [VIDEO]
Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by archivefilms, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

Data and selection notes

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HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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