The story of computer graphics—visual images made with computers—is long, stretching back to the late 1940s, in the earliest era of electronic digital computers. By 1984, computer graphics had gone commercial and gone global. There were thriving businesses in computer graphics in countries across the world. This commercial computer graphics imagery helped shape the distinctive global visual culture of the era.
Our series features promotional videos made by computer graphics firms in 1984, highlighting clips of their work for cinema, television, advertising, and their own demos of their technical abilities.
JCGL Demo—Japan Computer Graphics Lab, Japan
This selection is a promotional video by the Japan Computer Graphics Lab, established in Tokyo in 1980. Its work included computer graphics and support for several anime films and television shows.
Sogitec Showreel, France
This selection is a promotional video from 1984 by the computer graphics firm Sogitec Audiovisuel, a trailblazing firm in French computer graphics that emerged from efforts in advanced computer simulations for the aerospace industry.
Graphics at GLOBO, Brazil
This selection is a promotional video from 1984 by the computer graphics group of TV GLOBO, the Brazilian television broadcasting company that has grown to become one of the largest media companies in Latin America.
Cranston/Csuri Productions Demo Reel, USA
This selection is a promotional video from 1984 by Cranston/Csuri Productions, a computer graphics company in Columbus, Ohio, cofounded by the important early computer artist Charles Csuri.
