Edinburgh Castle will be used as a canvass for giant animated images during an event to launch this year's International Festival.

The outdoor display will bring together animation, lighting and music as it depicts 350 million years of Edinburgh's history.

Scottish band Mogwai have also composed a soundtrack for the ticketed free event, called Deep Time.

This opening to the festival season has been developed by 59 Productions, creators of the Harmonium Project, that launched the 2015 International Festival.

The event marks the first year of a three year residency for the group at the Edinburgh International Festival as artistic associates.

It also marks the start of Standard Life's three year sponsorship of the festival.

The producers said the display "reimagines the ancient site from which Edinburgh sprang", using Edinburgh Castle and Castle Rock as the canvas for the show.

The projections and illuminations are said to have been inspired by the deep geological history of the location.

It will look at the work of renowned Edinburgh scientist James Hutton, who is often referred to as the father of geology.

A viewing arena has been created on Castle Terrace for the show, which starts at 10.30pm on Sunday.

A spokesman for 59 Productions said: "Deep Time celebrates Edinburgh as the city that inspired our understanding of the world's deep history, and Hutton's ideas of discovery and logic through the prism of time and geology.

"And in Scotland's Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design, Deep Time also reflects on Edinburgh Castle, one of the longest continually inhabited sites in Scotland - from a Bronze Age settlement to the spectacular edifice we see today, across almost 3000 years of Scottish history.

"Blending trailblazing technology, narrative drama and emotional storytelling, Deep Time celebrates the wonders and beauties of the natural, the geological and the man-made, exploring the very foundations of Edinburgh itself."