How did they do graphics in old movies?

Question

I recently watched “Citizen Kane” from 1941. The whole thing has graphics (credits, flashbacks and flash forwards.) Did they use computers?

Edit: it also had those graphics fade in/out.

In: Technology

Answer 1

No computers. Just text filmed direct onto film, then edited into the movie as needed. A variety of methods could be used to produce the text.

There are a number of old-school effects covered on the youtube channel corridor-crew. Highly recommend checking some of them out. I couldn’t find the episode quick, but one in particular covers a lot of old-school effects in some really old movies. But they often randomly touch on various techniques.