Directing
John Whitney Sr.
Born — Died
1917-04-08 — 1995-09-22
Place of birth
Pasadena, California, USA.
Known for
Directing
Credits
30 titles
John Whitney, Sr. (April 8, 1917—September 22, 1995) was an American animator, composer and inventor, widely considered to be one of the 'fathers' of computer animation.
Known for
NRIndependent filmmakers are given a chance to show and discuss their work on a commercial (ABC-TV) affiliate station.
Screening Room
1972
7.0Jonas Mekas assembles 160 portraits, appearances, and fleeting sketches of underground and independent filmmakers captured between 1955 and 1996. Fast-paced and archival in spirit, the film celebrates the avant-garde as its own “nation of cinema,” a vital community existing outside the dominance of commercial film.
Birth of a Nation
1997
6.8Experimental filmmaker Pip Chodorov traces the course of experimental film in America, taking the very personal point of view of someone who grew up as part of the experimental film community.
Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
2011
7.6John Whitney's pioneering work of computer animation, Arabesque, from 1975. This flowing, abstract short film is a wonder to behold, a work of art. Like many other computer graphics pioneers, this film suggests roots in psychedelics and spiritual quests as much as engineering and mathematics. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2007.
Arabesque
1975
NRHome movies shot on Super 8mm by W+B Hein over 10 years.
Home Movies 1971-81
1985
7.0An abstract computer-generated animation set to music by Terry Riley.
Matrix III
1972
Film credits
1990s · 3 titles
7.0Jonas Mekas assembles 160 portraits, appearances, and fleeting sketches of underground and independent filmmakers captured between 1955 and 1996. Fast-paced and archival in spirit, the film celebrates the avant-garde as its own “nation of cinema,” a vital community existing outside the dominance of commercial film.
Birth of a Nation
1997
NRA Personal Search For the Complementarity of Music and Visual Art (1992) uses the concept of complementarity to make sense of the confusion that existed between fine art and technology in the late 20th century.
A Personal Search For the Complementarity of Music and Visual Art
1992
9.0Several well-known and pioneering abstract filmmakers discuss the history of non-objective cinema, the works of those that came before them and their own experiments in the field of visionary filmmaking.
Abstract Cinema
1993
Series credits
Behind the camera
7.6John Whitney's pioneering work of computer animation, Arabesque, from 1975. This flowing, abstract short film is a wonder to behold, a work of art. Like many other computer graphics pioneers, this film suggests roots in psychedelics and spiritual quests as much as engineering and mathematics. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2007.
Arabesque
1975
7.0An abstract computer-generated animation set to music by Terry Riley.
Matrix III
1972
Short film by John Whitney. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005.
Mozart Rondo
1953
6.5Collection of Computer Graphic effects.
Catalog
1961
7.3A piece of abstract cinema by John Whitney. A series squares follow a 3-dimensional track, each one with a slight delay after the other.
Matrix
1971
Short film by John Whitney. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1999.
Hot House
1952
A UPA/CBS cartoon film by Ernest Pintoff and John Whitney, music by Shorty Rogers.
Blues Pattern
1956
NRMoon Drum offers an impressionistic evocation of the mood, color and feel of native American art created by computer graphics.
Moon Drum
1991
6.0An experimental short film by John Whitney Sr. which combines animated shapes and colors; Computer graphics as dynamic, swirling art. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2014.
Permutations
1968
A silent black and white computer graphic short film specially made to accompany John H. Whitney's Lecture on Digital Harmony at Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada, in 1973.
Hex Demo
1973
(ca.1949, 16mm, b/w, sound, 3min.)
Mahzel
1949
Two short fragments resulting from experiments in controlling the mechanical development of the instrument. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005.
Five Film Exercises: Film 2-3
1944
4.6The entire film is divided into four consecutive chosen approaches—the fourth section devoted to a reiteration and extension of the original material. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1999.
Five Film Exercises: Film 4
1944
5.2Early 'visual music' film by John Whitney. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1999.
Celery Stalks at Midnight
1951
5.1Begins with a three beat announcement drawn out in time which thereafter serves as a figure to divide the four sections. Each return of this figure is more condensed, and finally used in reverse to conclude the film. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2004.
Five Film Exercises: Film 1
1943
John H. Whitney Sr. explains the graphic art potential of the computer and the methods and philosophy involved in his computer filmmaking. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.
Experiments in Motion Graphics
1968
John H. Whitney Sr. explains the graphic art potential of the computer and the methods and philosophy involved in his computer filmmaking. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.
Experiments in Motion Graphics
1968
John H. Whitney Sr. explains the graphic art potential of the computer and the methods and philosophy involved in his computer filmmaking. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.
Experiments in Motion Graphics
1968
NROpens with a short canonical statement of a theme upon which the entire film is constructed. The canon is repeated in contrasting variations by means of color. A second section poses the same image in deep film space. The image unfolds itself repeatedly, leaving the receding image to continue on smaller and smaller. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005.
Five Film Exercises: Film 5
1944
First film by the Whitney brothers.
24 Variations on a Theme
1940
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Osaka 1-2-3
1970
Directed by John Whitney.
The Performing Painter
1955