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James & John WhitneyBy Kyle Krivitsky & Morgan LibrukFILM344 PresentationThursday, March 15, 2012

+James Whitney (1921-1982)

Filmmaker Abstract cinema Classics in visual music Spent life in LA Studied painting, traveled in England before WWII Ceramics & pottery After 1946, became interested in spiritual aspects that

influenced later work Alchemy Jiddu Krishnamurti (psychological revolution, nature of mind,

meditation, human relationships, positive change) Jungian psychology (integrate unconscious

forces/motivations) Tao Yoga

+John Whitney (1917-1995)

Animator, composer, inventor Computer animation California Pomona College studied music & photography in England First works movies of lunar eclipse with homemade telescope 1937-38 spent in Paris studying twelve-tone composition Returned to America in 1939 & began collaborating with James

on abstract films 1960 – Motion Graphics Inc., mechanical analogue computer

Design templates placed on different layers of rotating tables & photographed by multiple-axis rotating cameras creation of simultaneous motions

1970s – faster digital processes 1980s-90s – audio-visual composition program called “Whitney-

Reed RDTD (Radius-Differential Theta Differential)” digital harmony

+Filmography

James Whitney “Variations on a Circle” (1941-1942) “Yantra” (1950-1957) “Lapis” (1963-1966)

“Twenty-Four Variations on an Original Theme” (1939-1940)

“Film Exercises” (1934-1944) Series of five (James 2-4, John 1 & 5) Prize for best sound (1949) at Brussels Experimental Film

Competition

+The Whitney Brothers Legacy

Experimental filmmaking

Recognized power of computers Abstract art Hypnosis Indian sitar music Kaleidoscope Multiple angles Oscillation Trance

+Links

“Lapis” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzniaKxMr2g

“Film Exercise #1” http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=kuZbgM8yxtY&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLB247FE10BCEBC67B

“Yantra” http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=nvWwlZSXaR0&feature=related

+References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Whitney_(filmmaker)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Whitney_(animator)

http://www.siggraph.org/artdesign/profile/whitney/early.html

http://blog.unl.edu/dixon/2011/09/14/john-and-james-whitney/