The 1983 HBO Feature Presentation Intro Is Responsible For My Obsession With 3D Letters

Andrew Kramer is a ridiculously talented motion designer who lands gigs like animating the closing credit sequence of the Star Trek reboot. He is also like 26 which is insane. He runs a website called Video Co-Pilot which, in addition to being a well-known motion graphics resource, is also a repository for random nerd boner shit like vintage HBO channel IDs. 

He posted this gem which really takes me back:

Do you remember this? As a kid HBO always represented the paradoxical combo of lurid subject matter and parental consent; Home Box Office inexplicably had the family-friendly vibe while Showtime and Cinemax seemed so seedy by comparison. The soundtrack from this spot always brings about memories of movies like Bachelor Party and Revenge of the Nerds (two movies that for some reason I was allowed to watch as a 7-year old) both of which featured wholesome and respectable actors (Tom Hanks, Anthony Edwards) AND boobies (nice).

More importantly, this spot made me really, really, really want to go inside of a large three-dimensional letter O. I love that this sequence is so plain (we get it: City>Suburbs>Country) and then the last 10 seconds goes totally sci-fi acid trip. Like why on Earth would we go into HBO's O? Exactly.

Now check this shit out. How they done did it:

If you were a kid in the late 80s and early 90s you had to know how to draw block letters. It went along with knowing how to cuff your jeans and - if you were a boy - drawing a ninja turtle. It's kind of like how 100 years ago a kid had to know how to throw a tomato and yell a good headline and lean away from his drunk pa's hay-maker to avoid getting a black eye.

Block letters, bitches. Same thing. HBO knew what was up. This was like Block Letter God coming down from outer space telling you how shit is supposed look. 

Also, my fixation on Being In The O might also have something to do with the video for Out of Touch by Hall & Oates where Oates is continuously and literally In The O. All while they repeatedly sing "Oh-Oh-Oh." These things resonate in the mind of a child.

And the minds of the occasional French DJ duo.