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Comment by npinguy | Hacker News Reader

Is it just me or is stuff like this way harder to appreciate these days (with the ubiquity of CGI), unless you work in the industry, or see a behind-the-scenes look like this?

This is simply incredible, and yet I don't normally pay the title sequence any attention at all...

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A personal favorite: the motion graphics in this "making-of" video for a 1983 HBO intro:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqzihgR_-SI#t=309

This is the pre-Tron era, where the easiest way to get a picture of a chrome logo is to build one out of brass. The starburst and light ribbon effects later in the video are similarly brilliant examples of pre-CG CG.

Thanks for sharing that! That really brings back some memories.

Now I'm reminded of the video to Justice's DVNO, which is almost entirely made of homages to '70s and '80s title effects, including a huge reference to the HBO logo sequence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiDsLRQg_g4

How many shows have opening credits this long anymore?

You have some shows, like The Good Wife, that use a five-second title card.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rOhzdWZS7E

Some have more elaborate titles, but still only go 15 seconds (e.g. The Mindy Project)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HarfyFwRfhA

Compare with an 80's show like Dallas, where the credits went a whole 1:10! That's like lost real estate for two or three commercials!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iYjgMygIag

And Twin Peaks, which went 2:36:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2lkvrMa27c

Cable shows still have long title sequences. For instance, most of HBO shows.

Which confirms why broadcast shows scrapped longer titles in favor of cramming in another commercial or two, I suppose.

...then there's Too Many Cooks: https://www.youtube.com/embed/QrGrOK8oZG8

;)

The perfect setup.

<facepalm> Beautiful comeback.

Thanks :)

Homeland's intro is about 1:20 I believe. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x17tp3q_homeland-intro_shor...

I was going to add this to the list, because I think the Homeland intro is really interesting and well done. Usually I fast forward through them, but I notice something new everytime with this one.

There's this cool trade off between how much you can charge for commercials, and for how long you can take up an audiences interest. The cable shows have longer intros. I think this is because of how expensive it is to shoot the footage, but they know they can capture the audience for a full hour, so they'll grab any way to get to that full hour cheaper.

Cartoons are an extreme example, being very very expensive to animate, many cartoons in Japan have an intro of almost 15 minutes, then ~25 show, then 5 minutes outro! (these are cartoons targeted at teens/adults)

True Blood is something like 1:30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjooosDIFgQ

Dexter is even longer with ~1:47

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIqBQWB7IUM

Game of Thrones is a good 1:30 as well.

The most impressive things are often the hardest to appreciate because they seem so effortless and don't stand in the way of an overall experience.

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