John Whitney "Catalog" 1961
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- Опубліковано 2 жов 2024
- John Whitney's demo reel of work created with his analog computer/film camera magic machine he built from a WWII anti-aircraft gun sight. Also Whitney and the techniques he developed with this machine were what inspired Douglas Trumbull (special fx wizard) to use the slit scan technique on 2001: A Space Odyssey
Assisted by Whitney's two sons, John Jr. and Robert, original images were only black and white. And each element of the final composite was created separately, then transferred to high-contrast B&W 35mm film. Color was added to each element on a film contact (and/or optical) printer and combined via multiple passes thru the printer to create a single master negative from which final prints were made with a photographic optical soundtrack added to the edge of the film before development. This massive amount of work, creative decisions, and technical expertise was how they made all of their pioneering films, which were originally sold to colleges and libraries in 16mm by an "art-for-art-sake" distributer called "Pyramid Films" They were also the first to create fully-rendered shaded non-film color computer graphics in 1977.
Hey can I use this comment for a video? It explains what's going on so well and I can't really explain it any better.
Where In The Heck Is Anyone Talking About Much Lesser Known James Sr.?
Apparently the music is by Tod Machover, titled Electric Études for Cello and Computer Generated Sounds. He was one of the IRCAM composers, which is the French electronic music institute right across the square from the Pompidou Centre.
thank you!
The slit scan process wasn't used in this film. Based on what I've read in Whitney's book "Digital Harmony" slit scan was used on Doris Day's "Glass Bottom Boat" to get the titles to look like they were shot through water. However, his slit scan is tame compared to Trumbull's. Whitney didn't use camera zooms to get the exaggerated perspective, which is really where the magic is in slit scan. It seems like slit scan was just another move his camera could do--among all the hundreds of other.
Whitney studied music with Leibowtiz! For those who dont know who Leibowitz was, he was a pupil of Ravel, and teacher of Boulez!!
When I went to Venice around 1985, I dropped in on a Chapel recital. Turned out to be a student of Ravel in his 90"s. He needed some time to warm up...and I just find this wandering around...I was overwhelmed.
0:49 looks like the ps3 background
I can't believe this is from 1961! I remember the hand full of primative, computer generated TV promos they were still using when I was a little kid in the late 80s. There was this one where the word "SPECIAL" would swirl around the screen in pink, echoing letters with horn fanfare music playing. They were using this before Christmas specials after the usual "... (show title) will not be seen tonight" in 1988. I really miss the warm, glowing look of the older TV graphics.
I have responded with my video, not to compare it with this work, but as a demonstration of how I am using digital technology to capture, edit and distribute an analog "event", in this case three simple LED toy spinning fans. This was shot on a cheap Nikon still camera, on video setting, in the darkness of my bathroom, and combined with a piece of music that I created on my MacIntosh. I hope you enjoy it. You can also turn down the sound and use it with any other music. Thank you for watching.
It's astonishing how the graphics at 0:48 seemingly inspired modern day graphics like the PSP startup and some Microsoft Windows transitions. I love it.
It looks exactly like the PSP start screen.
But this looks like PlayStation one graphics.
I think it looks great, considering how early the work is and the piece at 0:48 was definitely directly lifted by the designer of the PSP start screen. No question.
Whitney's work inspired various intros to movie of the week, and others special programs on various networks from the late 60's and into the 70's... His work also influenced Stanley Kubrick and Douglas Trumbell in the special effects of 2001 A Space Odyssey
Yes. Some of it reminded me of 60s and early 70s NBC network ID's. The peacock and the colors
el génesis de mi próposito de vivir¡¡¡¡
voya llorar de aqui se desprende todo,, ni los videos de vitalic está tan puros y artisticos,, de aqui saldrá todo¡¡¡
Analogue Video Synthesis is lush ;) Thanks for posting...
Really great stuff. Some months ago I was looking for Whitneys' movies on-line and found none, so thanks very much for sharing this pioneering piece of computer animation.
John cena: Are your SURE about that?
fascinating! the influence of this piece has been felt for decades since!
get high and watch this--lifechanging
Idk kinda hurt eyes, but ill try it
Half a century old, yet still beautiful / brilliant.
that felt longer then 7 minutes
Still better explosion effects than Foodfight's.
5:58 this is how 3d thing looks like in 1961
trippy
Add some Tame Impala in the background and you just got yourself a ticket to Trippytown
Fun facts: Doug Trumbull's father also worked for John Dykstra at Apogee studios. John did the 'models' in 2001 - Space Odyssey and was Lucas's partner on the first Star Wars. John Whitney taught at UCLA in the early 1980's.
John was not involved with 2001. John worked on Doug"s Silent Running.
With my UA-cam channel, I'm working on bringing a similar artistic expression back but with a rather modern and current touch :) I was searching for inspiration and found that video. I didn't know John Whitney before. His work just blows me away!
The music is amazing, who's it by?
HI OG
where can i find / order the HD reproductions?? this stuff is amazing at full quality. thanks
This is the best use of a gun sight I have ever seen !!
Just because it doesn't use chips and whatnot like a modern day computer doesnt mean that its not a computer.
I wonder if any psychedelic groups from the mid/late 60's used such techniques in music vids or stage backgrounds, rather than the standard "oil plate" techniques.
My God. It's full of Stars..
Have the sound on ONLY up til 1:20...then crank up that Joe Meek! ;) (especially 'I Hear A New World')
Hell yeah!
the animation en sensation of organique is awesome that's i really call art ^^
analogue technique is so magic.
for the one who dont know about john, this guy is the Father of Motion graphics!!!
I personally think the Scanimate is more sophisticated than digital graphics today, why? Because it's analog, and it's real-time, just amazing stuff.
I regret that humanity choose to develop digital technology instead of analog technology.
You're personally wrong.
Digital technology can emulate analog systems very well, but the Scanimate of course has to be more complicated because of the limitations of analog processing. The Scanimate could be more superficially intricate in it's workings-- yes, but sophisticated--no.
I was going to say that
The dawn of electronic art which in turn has its roots in visual art (for example: Opus ua-cam.com/video/aHZdDmYFZN0/v-deo.html by Walter Ruttmann); To always remember, in our forgetful present.
Best LSD trip EVER
brilliant. Does anyone knows where it is possible to find all his works on DVD. The resolution here is too poor to be shared on a wide screen ! (not blaming the person who uploaded it !)
Do you know who currently owns the rights to this film? I'd like to licence a short clip of Whitney's work.
whats the music? his?
5:57 3D graphics!
Please can we get this classic uploaded to 480p!!! Thank you!
There are two guys that claim that have made the music on this video. Can anyone give us a link of the original composer for this Music?
Some good work here, that reminds me of the opening titles to Charade, which combined with that hot Mancini theme, was a kind of ecstasy.
i know that analogue computers consists of manny wheels,voltage para metrs and regulaters.
but how the hell do they generate graphics & sound.?
also if there,s no memory storage like tape or lp how will it ever calculate everything?????????
How was this never rectreated as a working winamp visualisation?
@Drwhofanindatardis Wrong. The optical line printing technology was a decade old, sometimes called dynamation, It involved the overlay of dozens of transparencies printed on plastic cells, which were often used as a primitive version of bluescreen rotoscoping in old films. What you see here is entirely optical, done with simple analog tricks over a light box using techniques like multiple exposure, slit-scan, kaliedoscopic mirroring, and careful frame by frame editing.
Indeed.
the fact that this is *analog* is mind blowing to me. if I didn't know better, I'd have sworn up and down this was CG. O_O
its created using an analog computer. in other words, a computer which still processes and utilizes integers and algorithms but is not the same as we are used to in the iphone age. CG stands for Computer Graphics. it is analog computer graphics.
artrageous. puts digital to shame, BUT we are getting better. yes, analog is cool but we can learn from it, and evolve digital vjing/processing to have these kind of fx. early work like this is crucial inspiration.
I have responded with my video, not to compare it with this work, but as a demonstration of how I am using digital technology to capture, edit and distribute an analog "event", in this case three simple LED toy spinning fans. This was shot on a cheap Nikon still camera, on video setting, in the darkness of my bathroom, and combined with a piece of music that I created on my MacIntosh. I hope you enjoy it. You can also turn down the sound and use it with any other music. Thank you for watching.
yea, no. Hippies didnt exist till about 1968 or 1969 at least where I lived
Impressive. Im guessing these types of images were not easily viewable 4mass consumption(ie. television, rock shows, high brow art shows). I mean, how in the hell do you even project an image like that?, without simply just filming it&showing them on a standard projector screen?,defeating the whole purpose? You could do something much more spectacular, just not as innovative/eye-catching, thru regular animation back then. What a fascinating time. Has anyone cleaned this stuff up for HD/BRdvd?
Fantastic example of Old New Media Arts. It is important in the digital age, not to forget our analog heritage.
3:26 The footage is used in the Daeyong Video Production logo
this + tripping = holy bajesus.
So, so far ahead of his time.
+
Psychadelic!
1961 was a few years before all that, ya know. It was basically still 1950s culture. People in 1961 who viewed this probably said "Golly! That's neat!" =P
0:56 Mac os x in 1966? lol analog graphics seem to have an organicness much like that of Analog Tape awesome :)
Very, very cool (a' la Marshall McLuhan)
via wikipedia: "The analogue computer Whitney used to create his most famous animations was built in the late 1950s by converting the mechanism of a World War II M-5 Antiaircraft Gun Director."...roughly sounds like a multi-planar camera, in which he'd use geometric cut templates to shoot overlays, then later augment via additional optical tricks & color filters.
Does anyone know what portion of the movie is specifically made using slit scan?
The spirals and flowers from 3:16 onwards
amazing stuff for 1961 looks cg
Great videos on your channel! Thanks!
Looks very much like Scanimate, a technology that was developed almost a decade later.
Hi Thomas, really liked what i saw, has some real potential! Thanks for posting
Awesome video.
Analog demo with analog mechanical sort-of-calculator.
Ciao Tano...
Gee,this was the year I was born! And they were doing this!! Incredible!
What's this genre of music called?
does analog do everything in realtime? it looks like it. i'm going into computer engineering and this could be our future along with digital computers!
It's alright we know where you've been.
Welcome to the machine.
Thanks for the tip, I bet that will be an interesting book/pdf to peruse. We take for granted now how cutting edge this stuff was.
You're talking about the intro CBS used for specials in the 1970s.
it looks like what we do on computers now but far more fluid...
The following program was brought to you in living color! And now, live from Beautiful Downtown Burbank, Here's Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In !!!
wspaniałe pierwszej połowy XX wieku awangarda jest bardziej nowoczesnych niż wszystkie inne rzeczy
素晴らしい 20 世紀アバンギャルドの前半任意の他のものよりもより現代です。
נפלא המחצית הראשונה של המאה העשרים אוונגרד הוא מודרני יותר מאשר כל דבר אחר
Hacia el fin de los años 50, John Whitney se
construyó una máquina de animación a partir
de componentes reciclados procedentes
de excedentes de la industria militar, un
aparato analógico y mecánico propio aún de
un estadio de bricolaje artesanal, pero en
definitiva un aparato preciso y lleno de posibilidades,
como se puede comprobar en su
film Catalog (1961) -concebido como una
especie de “bobina de demostración”-, o
aún más en el extraordinario Lapis (1963-66)
de su hermano James.
To vivach:
Thanks for Colleen´s. It reminded me of this marvellous feat, so I appended a link to your profile.
is this the actual soundtrack or did the uploader add this music to it
Damn, old comment. I was wondering the same thing.
some parts are annoying and ruin the presentation, but others (like the concentric circles) playfully match, so I’d assume it is vintage music and real from that era.
This is amazing... 1961.
atee
Was the music originally
made for this video?
Fascinating stuff. I'm also curius about the musical accompaniment. It fits perfectly and at times seems coordinated with the fim. Thanks for posting although the most recent comments seem to be from 10 years ago! I hope you're still posting.
i really loved it.
me encanto, la cago seco. maestro!
same guy.. i was hooked after seeing that exhibit too!
Just in the first couple minutes of this I detected the logo animation techniques for the TV networks. Wow, this is an amazing technique, much much better than anything that can be produced digitally. It hits you organically, that's why. I always knew that digital imaging, isn't. ...digi=crap.
Don't act like you can't do this on a computer, there's just a lot of lazy motion graphics floating around today.
you've obviously never fired a real gun
and i got this beat - check my page
Cool I'm high this is awesome
I respect evryoneone thats like this but when i see this and hear this sound. im dying inside. and i need to write about this crap to school! >:(
Well its good to know ppl think diffrent
people that make this kind of music do it at university and think they are really deep XD
i love this so much
The film version of the demoscene
exactly what I was gonna say!
love this thanks
its still pretty neat.
Experimental
Vintage *!*
Wow, wow, wow!
3:16 looney tunes
as beautiful as ever
Stunning images and great music!
this makes a nice screen saver.
fantastic stuff.