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Comment by aweiland | Hacker News Reader

I wonder when and why they stopped making films like these. I've been enjoying watching Behind the Attraction and The Imagineering Story on Disney+ with my kids. They are full of these old films of Walt going over their ideas and explaining the things they are and have built. It's a shame that stopped.

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Some technologies have been lost, even though they were superior to what is available today. Take, for example, the old “green/blue screen” technique using sodium vapor lamps, used by Walt Disney in film production in the pre-digital era: https://youtu.be/UQuIVsNzqDk (12 minutes long, but totally worth it).

This video was fascinating!

The video also highlights how finicky that technique is to work with. Especially when working on film, where you have to wait for the developed dailies to check the quality of the work, any reliability issues with the effects processes compound enormously. Re-shooting scenes days later because the camera or lighting was subtly inadequate is expensive.

They're very neat but if you think about why they were ever made at all its a bit more clear. I think a lot of these are 30s-50s style infomercials. One of my favorites explains how a differential works[1] but its more clearly a Chrysler commercial. Presumably this Disney clip was entertaining enough to have been part of a tv show but could have also been some promotional material.

These days we only get this stuff in recruiting material or SAAS ads.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYAw79386WI

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