Articles of faith, articles of doubt
I've got to the stage when the only live TV I watch is sporting events. That's not to say I don't watch TV. I probably watch rather too much. It's just not live, rather downloaded.
As you may be aware the major american TV shows have returned to the airs and you've now got to wait that week to watch each episode rather than see all of them in one go. There is therefore something of a need to fill the gaps in my viewing schedule. To that end I've started watching old documentaries. Currently it's the Ascent of Man and Life on Earth. Both of these date from the 1970s and it's interesting to see how they've changed. There are some obvious initial impressions. The picture quality isn't as good as currently, it's narrow screen and the colours have that slightly washed out look. In Life on Earth there's a younger looking (though still 53) David Attenborough.
The first episode of the Ascent of Man is interesting. This is a show that was first screened in 1973 which makes it the same age as I am. Interesting as it has a short sequence of computer graphics. One of the earliest uses. This is the same year as West World came out, which was the first use of CGI in a major motion picture. The use of the graphics wasn't major, merely showing the transitions in skull form over the millenium from our distant ancestors to our current shape. It was done as a basic monochrome outline, far different from the psuedo-lifelike views we get now but the interesting none the less. Especially since the scene has the narator sitting in the computer room controlling the model. The computer surrounds him, vast banks of components filling our view. The screen and keyboard are built into one of the cabintes and he sits there upright playing the keyboard like an organist would the keys of their organ. So different from today.
As you may be aware the major american TV shows have returned to the airs and you've now got to wait that week to watch each episode rather than see all of them in one go. There is therefore something of a need to fill the gaps in my viewing schedule. To that end I've started watching old documentaries. Currently it's the Ascent of Man and Life on Earth. Both of these date from the 1970s and it's interesting to see how they've changed. There are some obvious initial impressions. The picture quality isn't as good as currently, it's narrow screen and the colours have that slightly washed out look. In Life on Earth there's a younger looking (though still 53) David Attenborough.
The first episode of the Ascent of Man is interesting. This is a show that was first screened in 1973 which makes it the same age as I am. Interesting as it has a short sequence of computer graphics. One of the earliest uses. This is the same year as West World came out, which was the first use of CGI in a major motion picture. The use of the graphics wasn't major, merely showing the transitions in skull form over the millenium from our distant ancestors to our current shape. It was done as a basic monochrome outline, far different from the psuedo-lifelike views we get now but the interesting none the less. Especially since the scene has the narator sitting in the computer room controlling the model. The computer surrounds him, vast banks of components filling our view. The screen and keyboard are built into one of the cabintes and he sits there upright playing the keyboard like an organist would the keys of their organ. So different from today.