[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Nov 19 2004, 10:55 PM\']
Say it takes three minutes to typeset and print and old-style Jeopardy! art card (for a piece of art which will be on screen for maybe five seconds tops).
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As someone who had TV graphics experience in the pre-computer age, I can tell you ... A card full of a wordy Jeopardy question would have taken much longer than three minutes to set.
Not sure which system they used for the show's graphics, but it prolly would have been one of the following:
A) What was known as a "hot press". Metal type is set into a tray, letter by letter. The whole thing is then slid into a heating mechanism. After a few minutes, once it's hot enough, a sheet of a special type of plastic -- which is the desired color of the text -- is placed over the blank card. Pull the lever, the tray comes down, the hot type is pressed into the plastic, and held there for a few seconds as the text melts into the card. Voila!
Or ...
B) Adhesive paper or vinyl letters, removed from a sheet and stuck to the art card, letter by letter.
I'd guess six or eight minutes per question, at least.