Blog

Early Motion Graphics

Notwithstanding the early forays into foto-dynamacism, the early poets enjoyed a foray into moving motion picture and accompanying sound (1913). A quick glance at some early motion graphics. First some early Dadaist expressionism from 1923 with added sound, (the sound was added as an afterthought). The Dada movement was very early mixing poetry with film; and some simple stopmotion which could be considered the beginning of motion on film.

[online video, set cookie for content]

George Lucas’ first version ‘Electronic Labyrinth’ (1967), with some stunning special effects and early motion graphics.

[online video, set cookie for content]

The one of the first big budget studio movies with motion graphics and how they went through the process of modeling and building in 1977. This clip explains some CGI (computer generated imagery) in it’s infancy, and for me this is a very early example.

[online video, set cookie for content]

Then further down the road the Atari Video Music box from 1977 which was a very simple but effective sound visualiser. It appears to be one of the first commercially available sound visualisers; quite a visual treat for visual jockeys.

[online video, set cookie for content]

“Larry Cuba, Star Wars’ Death Star CG, Arabesque, and the Dawn of Computer Animation“. 23.04.2008, Create Digital Media. Accessed 24 Sept. 2023.

“RetroTech: Atari Video Music – The Migraine Machine“. 26.04.2017, Techmoan. Online video. Accessed 18 Nov. 2022.

“Electronic Labyrinth“. 1967, INXISIV. Online video. Accessed 18 Nov. 2022.