Jot

Originally created in the mid-60s, “Jot” was an animated series presented by none other than the Southern Baptist’s Radio & Television Commission. Production ran until 1981, when either the money dried up or the show’s original creators relented to the rising tide of moral corruptibility.

Given the Bible-thumping tales it weaves, each episode is surprisingly psychedelic. (In the movie above, don’t miss the ink swirl sequences near the middle.) There are also some great type treatments and minimalist design, all making for a classic, entertaining little package. Love those cute Texas accents, too.

Here’s another one to remind you of your evil ways:

And for the truly curious, visit the Wikipedia page.

Big thanks to Cody Cobb for the tip!

About the author

Justin Cone

/ justincone.com
Together with Carlos El Asmar, Justin co-founded Motionographer, F5 and The Motion Awards. He currently lives in Austin, Texas with is wife, son and fluffball of a dog. Before taking on Motionographer full-time, Justin worked in various capacities at Psyop, NBC-Universal, Apple, Adobe and SCAD.

6 Comments

seanwehrli

Awesome post Justin, good stuff.

dek

Sweet… Maybe they’ve been recruited by Scientology? :P

ochyming

I read no reference to the Music.

… Regarding the animation,
Nice work.

As John Fahey put it, why nowadays no one sings about shame.

rhakes

Love the animation

…not sure why a classic moral tale equates to “Bible-thumping” though.

dicksmith

ok, i deleted all the movies and software i downloaded. thank you Southern Baptist’s Radio & Television Commission. i feel much better now.

_dick

monovich

From what I can gather there actually used to be quite a bit of innovation in religious media, especially during the 60s-70s (and maybe into the ’80s?). Perhaps the arts were seen as a natural way to express their beliefs and good work was a natural result of that.

At some point it seems they lost their way by deciding that culture and art were inherently evil, and of course gave into the almighty (pun intended) dollar and commercialism. Now everything religious media releases is “mee too” and watered down. Sad.

I fondly remember watching Superbook and The Flying Hosue when I was a kid. I haven’t seen any religous content with that much style in a while.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flying_House

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