Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 3: Analog Era (1950s)
1958
John Whitney Sr. Makes the Vertigo Titles with an Analog Computing Device
After Hitchcock hired John Whitney to create the opening animation for his film, Vertigo, Whitney used a WWII-era “M5 gun director” targeting computer that required five people to operate. This device was used because it could rotate endlessly and was thus able to move in relation to a pendulum that was generating the spiral compositions. Saul Bass collaborated with Whitney to design the analog-computed animated sequence.
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.
Sources
- Ozturk, Selen. "Vicious Circle: John Whitney and the Military Origins of Early CGI." Bright Lights Film Journal, March 15, 2023.
People
Alfred Hitchcock, John Whitney, Saul Bass
Movements
Analog Computer Art, computer animation, Motion Graphics
Filed under
- Ideas
- Analog Computer Art, collaboration, film, title sequence
- Technologies
- analog computing, computer animation, Director, M5 gun director
- People
- Alfred Hitchcock, John Whitney, Saul Bass
- Works
- Vertigo
Related moments
Echoes across time
- 1984 · Robert Abel and Associates Produce the First Computer-Generated Commercial, Brilliance
- 1970 · Gene Youngblood Publishes the Seminal Expanded Cinema
- 1970 · Generación Automática de Formas Plásticas Exhibition at the Centro de Cálculo of the University of Madrid
Le Random editorials
- Casey Reas on the History of Generative Art - Part 1, Peter Bauman, June 22, 2023
- Le Random: An Origin Story, thefunnyguys, June 22, 2023
- Larry Cuba on Choreographing Form, Peter Bauman, July 1, 2024
- Colette Bangert on Growing Visually, Peter Bauman, May 7, 2024
Le Random podcast
- Timeline Ch 3—Analog Era (1950s) with Georg Bak — listen with transcript on Le Random (10 Aug 2023, 65 min). Transcript mentions John Whitney. Chapter 3’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Timeline Ch 4—Digital Era Pt I (1960s) with Dr A Michael Noll — listen with transcript on Le Random (07 Sep 2023, 60 min). Transcript mentions John Whitney. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Timeline Ch 6—Personal Computer Era (1980s) with Mark Wilson, Copper Giloth, Dan Sandin, David Em, William Latham, Stephen Todd, Darcy Gerbarg & Geoff Davis — listen with transcript on Le Random (08 Feb 2024, 85 min). Transcript mentions John Whitney. Apple Podcasts · Spotify