
When TV Logos Were Physical Objects - adunk
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2017/05/when-tv-logos-were-physical-objects/
======
jameshart
Article seems to be under the mistaken impression that these tv idents were
built, put in front of a camera and _recorded_ and then the _recordings_
broadcast - possibly after even applying postproduction effects. Actually they
were generally broadcast live by pointing a camera at them. This is one of
those artifacts of digital era thinking which misunderstands the nature of
analog era technology.

These idents needed to be able to be shown on demand, in the event of a
breakdown in some other piece of equipment. They needed to be able to run for
arbitrarily long periods of time. They needed to be shown many times per day
during regular programming. And you couldn't just connect up a computer and
stream mpeg video - you would need some sort of a device that could generate
the TV picture.

TV was recorded on video tape and video tape wouldn't work for this
application - it would need to be rewound every time you stopped showing it;
it would wear out with continual use; it would have a fixed maximum duration.

Having a camera standing by pointing at the appropriate device, on the other
hand, was relatively easy.

Most tv stations just pointed a camera at a piece of card. The BBC obviously
had to go one better and use a crazy globe and mirror setup.

~~~
kbutler
Do you have a citation for that? Looping films have been around for a long
time.

Yes, physical films may wear out, but it seems like it would be easier to
produce and distribute copies than to produce physical devices in many places.

~~~
eddieroger
You do realize that recording video content was inherently created /after/ the
ability to transmit it in the first place, so even if looping has been around
for a long time, the ability to transmit video has been around longer. And, as
the other reference mentioned, much longer. The point of these systems was to
be an alternate to a failure, so it failing wouldn't be acceptable - and
rewinding or even replacing with a second tape would be a failure of a system
that has to constantly present an image to the viewer.

~~~
unclenoriega
I'm sure you're correct, but be warned that starting a response with 'you do
realize' is likely to make you sound like an asshole[0]

0\.
[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=you+do+realiz...](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=you+do+realize+..).

~~~
eddieroger
If your citation is Urban Dictionary, I think I'll take the risk. I could have
been more tactful, sure, but so could have the post I replied to.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
No, he's right. "You do realize" _always_ makes you sound like a jerk. You
know very well that the person doesn't realize whatever it is, and you're
rubbing their nose in it. If you intend to sound like a jerk, it's a fine go-
to, but if not it should be avoided.

------
tyingq
This Chive article has some movie effects from the silent movie era. Scroll
down for the Charlie Chaplin roller skating one, it's stunning.

[http://thechive.com/2017/01/10/how-movie-effects-were-
pulled...](http://thechive.com/2017/01/10/how-movie-effects-were-pulled-off-
during-the-silent-film-era-10-gifs/)

------
drblast
I loved the HBO animation when I was a kid, and I've seen that behind-the-
scenes video a number of times since.

Conceptually I get the idea, but I'm still baffled as to how they composite
all that together to get the final polished result, especially the fiber optic
spinning lights with "lens flare" effects at the end. It looks completely
computer generated.

~~~
jdboyd
I believe that predated digital compositing being used. However electronic
analog compositing is still much easier than film compositing (like what was
used to combine passes for Star Wars). For instance, blue and green screen was
originally for video. You would do it using an Ultimate brand device that was
completely analog. That device launched in 1976, but it's creator had been
building a analog compositing devices since at least 1964 when he won an Oscar
for it. If you are curious about how it worked, I would imagine patents can be
found and read. Ultimatte just generate an alpha channel (then called a key
and it was actually a separate b/w video signal). Other devices would act in
the key to combine the foreground and background together, etc.

------
throwanem
It's like the transition from physical models to CGI in space SF - I don't
think we've lost anything in the process, and certainly the quality of visuals
we can produce now so far outstrips the pre-digital days that a meaningful
comparison is hard to make, but all the same, there was a kind of physical,
manual craftsmanship in the old model shops that we rarely see any more, and
I'd love to know if there's anywhere that such techniques still survive
outside hobbyist and artistic pursuits.

~~~
mikestew
_It 's like the transition from physical models to CGI in space SF - I don't
think we've lost anything in the process_

I would argue that it depends on the money spent. Cheap CGI looks just as bad
as the physical models of a 70s _Godzilla_ movie, IMO. And the comparison to
movies about everyone's favorite fire-breathing lizard is apt because
_Godzilla 's_ model were cheap, too. But no one watches Japanese mutant
monster movies for the attention to detail in the model work.

OTOH, if you're going to argue that CGI bests the model work in _2001: A Space
Odyssey_ , then we're just going to have to agree to disagree.

~~~
13of40
I remember a sci-fi show that was on in the early 80s (Buck Rogers?) that had
a zooming-through-stars clip in the credits. It was pretty decent for the time
until my dad pointed out it was just someone dumping ping-pong balls on a
camera that was pointed straight up.

------
EvanAnderson
This made me think of the making of the "computer graphics" in the BBC TV
production of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy":
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbWAwynNf-0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbWAwynNf-0)

~~~
rhizome
See also: Scanimate

[https://vimeo.com/172607783](https://vimeo.com/172607783)

~~~
pram
This is really cool thanks for sharing.

------
abalone
The Justice DVNO video is a massive homage to old school titles. They do the
HBO one at 00:40. I can't believe the original was almost all practical!

[https://vimeo.com/30371091](https://vimeo.com/30371091)

------
jstanley
Here's the photo TFA speaks so much about but fails to include:

[https://i.redd.it/ecdccauglbxy.jpg](https://i.redd.it/ecdccauglbxy.jpg)

~~~
basch
do you have something blocking twitter embeds? i see that photo in the article

~~~
jstanley
I see it too now. I guess it either wasn't there before or just wasn't
loading.

------
kowdermeister
The Windows 10 logo animations were created in the same way:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL8BBOwupcI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL8BBOwupcI)

------
Eric_WVGG
My next-door neighbor’s entire career was this kind of stuff! He did a bunch
of recognizable animations for HBO, CNN, MTV… now he's in his sixties and
trying to retrain himself in digital 3D.

~~~
DanBC
He should do a Youtube series of physical effects - how they would have been
done then, improvements that can be made today without going full CGI.

~~~
covercash
I'd subscribe to this in a heartbeat!

------
ericwood
This somewhat related and equally fascinating look at Scanimate, a video
synthesizer used for all kinds of idents and motion graphics in the 70s and
80s is a fun watch:

[https://vimeo.com/172607783](https://vimeo.com/172607783)

------
rkachowski
on the same level - one of the intro "computer vision" scenes to Escape from
New York was performed by moving a camera over a model of a city landscape,
where each of the buildings was outlined in fluorescent paint, as CG was
outrageously expensive at that point in time

~~~
porsupah
Similarly, TRON's CG was only wireframes, which were then cel-painted by hand,
as performing that filling by computer would have been too expensive at the
time.

------
Lukas_Skywalker
I get pretty cool artifacts on the first logo when scrolling. Kind of looks
like a spotlight centering in on the line intersections.

------
Splendor
Related: How Saturday Night Live created their title sequence

[http://www.alex-buono.com/how-we-did-it-snl-titles-
sequence/](http://www.alex-buono.com/how-we-did-it-snl-titles-sequence/)

------
mixmastamyk
Wow, I remember enjoying the HBO intro as a kid. Never thought about how many
people and how much work it took to create. At the time I think I believed the
logo was computer generated as I'd seen Tron by then.

~~~
logicallee
I have a question for you! Back in the day, did the HBO intro give you the
same impression as Mr Roger's Neighborhood intro, of miniature models? Or did
it 'trick' you - did you think it was an actual helicopter flythrough?

~~~
jessaustin
I thought it was a drone!

~~~
logicallee
you got downvoted - as though this is not a serious response - but you're a
very high-karma user so let me ask - this is a joke, right?

~~~
jessaustin
I occasionally crack jokes on HN. More often, I write ironically with no
regard to humor. Sometimes these contributions are appreciated by HN voters. I
don't know enough yet to predict when this will be the case, but I'm happy to
experiment. HN voters might be wrong for a short time, but in the long run
they always have something to teach me.

I probably downvote attempts at humor more than I upvote, but typically I just
ignore them.

It seems this is the first time I've been referred to as "a very high-karma
user".

~~~
logicallee
I read your three-paragraph reply twice but did not get an answer to my
question.

------
digi_owl
Interestingly using smoke/fog to trick our brains into thinking the distance
is longer than it is, is done in computer games today.

------
gregschlom
This fastcodesign article from 5/19 is just a re-hash of the original article
from This Is Colossal published on 5/15:
[http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2017/05/when-tv-logos-were-
phy...](http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2017/05/when-tv-logos-were-physical-
objects/)

~~~
dang
Ok, we changed the URL to that from
[https://www.fastcodesign.com/90125752/the-ingenious-way-
tv-l...](https://www.fastcodesign.com/90125752/the-ingenious-way-tv-logos-
were-made-before-computers). Thanks!

