"Vertigo" (1958, Hitchcock) title sequence

Saul Bass (May 8, 1920 — April 25, 1996) was a graphic designer and filmmaker, perhaps best known for his design of film posters and title sequences.

During his 40-year career Bass worked for some of Hollywood’s greatest filmmakers, including Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, and Martin Scorsese. He became well-known in the film industry after creating the title sequence for Otto Preminger’s The Man with the Golden Arm in 1955. For Alfred Hitchcock, Bass designed effective and memorable title sequences, inventing a new type of kinetic typography, for North by Northwest, Vertigo (working with John Whitney), and Psycho.

Bass also designed some of the most iconic corporate logos in North America, including the original AT&T “bell” logo in 1969, as well as their later “globe” logo in 1983. He also designed Continental Airlines’ 1968 “jetstream” logo and United Airlines’ 1974 “tulip” logo which have become some of the most recognized logos of the era.

Bio from Art of the Title.

The Lissajous curves were created by John Whitney, who for some reason remained uncredited.

"Westworld" (1973, dir. Michael Crichton) pixelation sequences

This is a montage of sequences from Michael Crichton's film Westworld (1973), which was followed by Futureworld (1976, dir. Richard T. Heffron) and the television series Beyond Westworld (1980, prod. Lou Shaw).

John Whitney Jr. used a pixelation technique to graphically illustrate the robot gunslinger's point of view. He completed the effect in four months, using the mainframe computer of Information International. Each frame was digitized individually. Now a common technique, this was the first time pixelation had appeared in a film.

"Matrix III" (1972) and by John Whitney

Produced at Information International Inc. Programming by by Dr. Dean Anschultz. The music is "Poppy Nogood and the Phantom Band", composed and performed by Terry Riley.

We may assume that a time will come when that which I am about to describe will name itself—but for now:
'Computational periodics' is a propositional and tentative term which may help to designate a new unified field for a heterodimensional art; a field whose special dimension is time. An art which is temporal, as music itself; being, that is, spatio-temporal. An art whose time has come because of computer technology and an art which could not exist before the computer. Even though this art will be found in the notebooks of Leonardo and has been in the collective imagination, like the flying-machine, since his epoch it was a technological impossibility until the development of computer graphics.

Rhythm, meter, frequency, tonality and intensity are the periodic parameters of music. There is a similar group of parameters that set forth a picture domain as valid and fertile as the counterpoised domain of sound. This visual domain is defined by parameters which are also periodic. 'Computational periodics' then is a new term which is needed to identify and distinguish this multidimensional art for eye and ear that resides exclusively within computer technology. For notwithstanding man's historic efforts to bridge the two worlds of music and art through dance and theatre, the computer is his first instrument that can integrate and manipulate image and sound in a way that is as valid for visual, as it is for aural, perception.

-- John Whitney, 1975

"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) stargate sequence

Stanley Kubrick's masterwork 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) combined both realistic scenes of space exploration with the the metaphysical. No sequence is more famous than the stargate approach, which was credited to Douglas Trumbull. However the slit-scan process was invented by John Whitney Sr. ten years earlier, used first in the title sequence for Vertigo (1958, dir. Alfred Hitchcock). Whitney had sent test footage to Kubrick, who apparently preferred not paying an outside contractor.

"Catalog" (1961) by John Whitney

"Catalog" (1961) is essentially Whitney's demo reel, and he did not consider it a film in itself. Though the graphics seem computer-generated, Whitnet began his work on an analog machine of his won devising, the Motion-Control Animation device (patented 1967). This was created from a WWI Anti-Aircraft gun (!) that Whitney had bought for less than 1% of its original cost.

Music is an excerpt from "Electric Etudes for Cello and Computer Generated Sounds", composed and performed by Tod Machover. Computer tape realised at IRCAM, Paris.

"Permutations" (1968) by John Whitney

"In each of John's next five films [Permutations(1968), Osaka 1-2-3 (1971), Matrix I (1971), Matrix II (1971), Matrix III (1972), Arabesque (1975)], he demonstrated the principle of "harmonic progression." For example, in Arabesque (programmed by Larry Cuba), Whitney experimented with the eccentricities of Islamic architecture, which, though ultimately harmonic, contain many characteristic reverse curves in its embellishments. Whitney also made three documentary films on the subject of digital harmony. In 1979 he completed Experiments in Motion Graphics. His 1973 Hex Demo for a lecture at Cranbrook was included on a laserdisc of his works issued by Pioneer in 1984. He also completed in 1993 A Personal Search for the Complementarity of Music and Visual Art which is available through Pyramid Film and Video.

In the later 1980s, Whitney concentrated on developing a computerized instrument on which one could compose visual and musical output simultaneously in real time. His first piece on this new instrumentation, which was improved and updated constantly, appeared as Spirals in 1987. Although the compositions were linked to the particular computer set-up, and defied many attempts to copy them onto film and video, Whitney continued to compose new visual-music pieces until his death in 1995. The Moon Drum series in 12 sections based on Native American ceremonial art was most notable. Although less brilliant than the original computer monitor display, a satisfactory video version of Moon Drum was released.

John Whitney's active filmmaking career endured over 55 years, and 40 of those years were devoted to computer work. This is a remarkable record for any independent filmmaker, but particularly astonishing for the continued quality and vision of Whitney's films."

-- William Moritz, "Digital Harmony: The Life of John Whitney, Computer Animation Pioneer"

"Three Space" (2013) by Lewis Sykes

A live audiovisual performance linking the melodies and sonic textures within a minimal techno soundscape directly to abstract visualisations inspired by experimental animators Larry Cuba and John Whitney Sr.

This is documentation of a work that originally featured as part of a performance at Seeing Sound 3, Bath Spa University, UK, 24th November 2013.

The set featured four, short, abstract audiovisual works created as part of Lewis Sykes’ Practice as Research PhD and recent collaborative practice with Ben Lycett - all of which attempt to show a deeper connection between what is heard and what is seen by making the audible visible. By looking for similar qualities to the vibrations that generate sound in the visual domain, they try to create an amalgam of the audio and visual where there is a more literal ‘harmony’.

Lycett & Sykes built a real-time, music visualisation system - integrating the algorithms used by seminal experimental computer animators Larry Cuba and John Whitney Sr - in openFrameworks, the open source C++ toolkit for creative coding. This video is an edit of several live recordings made using the software. While it may lack the natural 'flow' of a live performance, it better demonstrates the overall capabilities of the system - which is still a little tricky to control. Development is ongoing and future iterations will address these issues.

artist website

A Personal Search For the Complementarity of Music and Visual Art (1992)

Documentary that was included on the The John Whitney Collection DVD (2009).