Does anyone know what exactly the two of them worked on between them? They both did effects for Dark Star, and went on to work on Star Wars, supposedly on computer displays. But what was the division of labor?
Kitbashed
Essays, videos and thoughts on the inspiration behind Star Wars.
Here's a relevant post and possible places to look for more info: http://forums.ilmfan.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1943&sid=fcbd37ff300f96bcc9e313aee2279206
Good stuff.
As far as I can tell, O'Bannon did the tactical displays, and John Wash part of the CG stuff for the death star, though since Larry Cuba supposedly also did that I'm a little confused as to whom did what. Perhaps Cuba did the trenchrun only, and Wash did the rest?
Kitbashed
Essays, videos and thoughts on the inspiration behind Star Wars.
John Wash's resume describes his work as:
http://washvfx.com/html/about.html
1976 - 1977
Graphic Animator - Lucasfilm, Ltd.
- Creation of graphic display imagery for use in the feature STAR WARS.
and
After graduating, Wash was approached by a fellow USC graduate, George Lucas, to design and produce graphic animation for a science fiction project that was to become the legendary classic, STAR WARS. During production, John utilized computer generated imagery for the first time, using the SCANIMATE analog computer to produce an animated display of the Death Star.
Purely speculation, but maybe shots like this:
Would be John Wash.
While:
maybe:
Were Dan O'Bannon?
and all the white on black stuff being Cuba:
That sounds like a pretty good bet actually. I'm not sure if some of the cell animation on the trench stuff wasn't someone other than Cuba though.
Kitbashed
Essays, videos and thoughts on the inspiration behind Star Wars.
This video used to be on YouTube, but I can't find it anymore, it's probably been taken down.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=08f_1258593020
Making of the Computer Graphics for Star Wars (Episode IV)
(1977) The computer graphics for the first Star Wars film was created by Larry Cuba in the 1970s at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) (at the time known as the Circle Graphics Habitat) at the University of Illinois at Chicago. For more information on the lab, visit our website -- http://www.evl.uic.edu
It's blocked by Fox on YouTube, ostensibly because it has contents from Star Wars. So much for automation...
Kitbashed
Essays, videos and thoughts on the inspiration behind Star Wars.