Fascinating stuff. So is this a combination of computer graphics on a vector screen, stop motion animation and Scanimate or similar tech? Not sure computers were up to doing stuff like this in realtime back in 1972.
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.
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.
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.
