[HN Gopher] Ron Cobb - Filmography
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Ron Cobb - Filmography
Author : ExMachina73
Score : 73 points
Date : 2023-09-18 04:12 UTC (18 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (roncobb.net)
(TXT) w3m dump (roncobb.net)
| snide wrote:
| If you like this sort of thing I highly suggest checking out
| Light and Magic, which is a documentary by Lawrence Kasdan about
| the history of ILM. In specific, startup fans will appreciate the
| early days of the company. Just an insane rise of an industry in
| such a short period of time. It gave me a lot more respect for
| Lucas, who seemed less a Director, and more a powerhouse
| visionary of technology.
| kranke155 wrote:
| Lucas started digital effects with the original SW trilogy,
| changing the industry.
|
| He then started digital capture and exhibition in the prequel
| SW trilogy, changing the industry.
|
| He also built his own studio (Lucasfilm) which was the dream of
| all the 1970s New Hollywood filmmakers. He did it by himself,
| on the basis of pretty much original IP.
|
| George Lucas is absolutely a visionary.
| CharlesW wrote:
| Also, folks may not realize that EditDroid used _LaserDiscs_
| , making it a "computerized _analog_ NLE system ".
| lordfrito wrote:
| All of this and more is covered in _DroidMaker_ [1], a book
| that covers Lucas ' contributions to film and film
| technology. Star Wars may have had a huge impact, but it's
| clear that those contributions are dwarfed by his work on
| the digital and tech side of the industry. He not only
| started (what became) Pixar, but he completely
| revolutionized film editing moving it into the digital age.
|
| [1] https://www.droidmaker.com/
| ggm wrote:
| He died in 2020, the website stands as a tribute. I had no idea
| he did this kind of design work, knew the cartoon style but
| hadn't picked up on it's influence in set design.
| jonhohle wrote:
| I collect things related to Sega CD and one day I came across a
| set of press CDs from Rocket Science games along with some other
| Rocket Science swag. Several years later I was scanning the disc
| and covers and noticed that Ron had written "Heads Up! Ron Cobb"
| on the CD liner for an alpha build of Loadstar: The Legend of
| Tully Bodine.
|
| He had been one of the early employees of Rocket Science, whose
| goal was to being Hollywood quality movie experiences to console
| games. Several of his designs from Space Truckers were brought in
| for vehicle design and I believe he wrote the story.
|
| It's become one of my favorite bits in that collection.
|
| Throughout my research I also came across Elon Musk being an
| early contractor there who wrote their video compression
| algorithm for the PC versions.
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| Ron Cobb, Syd Mead, Joe Johnston. Amazing artists, designers,
| futurists. They stayed just close enough to plausibility and
| realism to sell their visions of other or future worlds. Along
| with the visual look of "2001: A Space Odyssey", this was the
| "visual code" that shaped and informed me.
| hlarsen wrote:
| I've watched "Robot Jox" countless times for its MST3K/RiffTrax
| vibe; I always really enjoyed the general world and the mech
| designs and now I know why. It's amazing to see it nestled
| between these sci-fi touchstones. I'd highly recommend watching
| it once if you're ok with (or love!) "bad" movies.
| kaveh808 wrote:
| His book "Colorvision" is a rich and wonderful book of design. I
| spent so many hours flipping through it.
| naillo wrote:
| Funny how there's a large gap between the first job and second
| between age 19 and 37. Most of the list is after 37. Makes you
| think that the best years of your life for some people doesn't
| come after your 40s.
| Workaccount2 wrote:
| Reminds me of how Samuel L. Jackson was a no-name actor until
| starring in Pulp Fiction at 46.
| naillo wrote:
| And the Robert Moses biography fills up his life up to age 40
| within only the first chapter.
| OfSanguineFire wrote:
| He was in _Do the Right Thing_ and _Jungle Fever_ , two of
| the most talked-about films in urban America in the late
| 1980s and early 1990s. Wikipedia claims that his role in the
| latter film even drew attention at Cannes, so he wasn't
| entirely no-name, even if _Pulp Fiction_ made him a big star.
| Julesman wrote:
| Friend of my father. Here's the thing most people don't get about
| Ron. I saw the literal blueprints for the Gun Star from The Last
| Starfighter on his drawing board when I was 8. He didn't just
| draw vehicles. He figured out entirely how they worked and had
| INTERNAL diagrams as well as external. He had an understanding of
| engineering that made his designs highly practical and realistic.
| Amazing talent. RIP.
| nvahalik wrote:
| The Star Fleet Technical Manuals were so cool as a kid. The
| Last Starfighter was an amazing movie and those ships were so
| cool.
|
| Inspired a lot of kids like me to draw their own ships.
| mihaic wrote:
| I've admired Ron's designs for a long time, especially his
| Conan and Alien work, and have to thank you for confirming what
| I sort-of wondered about.
|
| Designing an object in a fantasy world does seem to resemble
| building a great character that 90% invisible to the audience.
| emsign wrote:
| Oh, it's the same guy who also made the cover to Jefferson
| Airplane's After Bathing at Baxter's! I didn't know this guy was
| also responsible for some iconic sci-fi and movie artwork.
|
| It seems he was obsessed with cool vehicles. That cover art as
| well shows a hybrid between a WWI triplane and a San Francisco
| townhouse, flying over an American wasteland dropping confetti
| over it and probably blasting psychedelic music from its attached
| loudspeakers. Bathing at Baxter's was the group's code for taking
| LSD.
| xnx wrote:
| That's an amazing resume. Along with the pure sci-fi movie
| contributions, there were plenty of surprises like the laser
| system ("Crossbow") in Real Genius.
| mwexler wrote:
| This one guy touched so many of the cult sf films of the 80s and
| 90s. Impressive to see his style woven throughout these movies.
|
| Though, even with his design talent, Space Truckers was still a
| washout.
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(page generated 2023-09-18 23:00 UTC)