1. + James & John Whitney By Kyle Krivitsky & Morgan Libruk FILM344 Presentation Thursday, March 15, 2012

2. + 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

3. + 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

4. + 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

5. + The Whitney Brothers Legacy Experimental filmmaking Recognized power of computers Abstract art Hypnosis Indian sitar music Kaleidoscope Multiple angles Oscillation Trance

6. + Links “Lapis” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzniaKxMr2g “Film Exercise #1” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuZbgM8yxtY&feature=result s_video&playnext=1&list=PLB247FE10BCEBC67B http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuZbgM8yxtY&feature=result s_video&playnext=1&list=PLB247FE10BCEBC67B “Yantra” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvWwlZSXaR0&feature=relate d http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvWwlZSXaR0&feature=relate d

7. + References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Whitney_(filmmaker) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Whitney_(filmmaker http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Whitney_(animator) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Whitney_(animator http://www.siggraph.org/artdesign/profile/whitney/early.ht ml http://www.siggraph.org/artdesign/profile/whitney/early.ht ml http://blog.unl.edu/dixon/2011/09/14/john-and-james- whitney/ http://blog.unl.edu/dixon/2011/09/14/john-and-james- whitney/