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Doug Chiang's Robota

Posted by michael on from the floyd-not-looking-where-he-was-going dept.

inherent writes "Doug Chiang's studio has released a trailer for his upcoming book. The book is a collaboration with Sci-Fi author Orson Scott Card of Ender's Game fame, and will include 75 pieces of Chiang's artwork. Chiang is the Concept Art Director at Industrial Light and Magic (and thus the concept art guy for the Star Wars prequels). Here is a previous slashdot story on him with a link to an interview."

15 of 66 comments (clear)

  1. Huh? by CGP314 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Since when do books have trailers?

    1. Re:Huh? by Tirel · · Score: 3, Informative

      RTFA, it's a book *and* an animated movie.

    2. Re:Huh? by MOtisBeard · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I just hope against hope that none of the 75 pieces of artwork mentioned in the article are a depiction of that oozing multipenised beast that appeared in one of Orson Scott Card's novels. Is it just me, or do a lot of his books feature adolescents and young teens being sexually assaulted by monsters?

    3. Re:Huh? by segment · · Score: 3, Funny


      Thats what i'm saying however I wouldnt mind reading 20 interviews with the publisher, the printer of the book, the person who did the film separations before the book went to press, plus 30 different angles of the word 'Read', followed by additional commentary by the delivery person. It's nice to see that sometimes overkill is just too much... DVD's 3 discs full of junk... Now books ... How sad

      --
      MoFscker
  2. Sounds familiar by grug0 · · Score: 2, Funny
    It is a time of conflict

    Of persecution

    Under robot rule

    A hero without memory

    A ragtag group of warriors

    Defy the robots to save humanity

    And discover the terrible secret of the robots

    Hold on a second, shouldn't that be the terrible secret of space?

  3. since it's a "film book"... by rokzy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is Robota a film or a book or what? What exactly is a "film book"?

    A "film book" is simply an art book story told in a film-like manner. Books allow the viewer to delve into the thoughts and motives of the main characters in ways film canOt. And films present drama in a linear time specific format that allows for a very controlled storytelling. I want to combine these two mediums, plus a third, the internet, to produce something different.

    Eventually, this web site will compliment the book and any other mediums that are developed for Robota. Each will be used to tell a different part of the Robota world. For example, the web site will tell more of the backstory and character development using animation, text, etc. while the book will be the actual story of conflicts and how they are resolved.

    This is one of the great things about telling the story in a variety of mediums. I can take advantage of the unique strengths of each medium to build a compelling world that couldn't otherwise be built in one medium.

    1. Re:since it's a "film book"... by grug0 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Why not link to the faq while you're at it?

  4. I feel cheated! by rehabdoll · · Score: 3, Funny

    Bender is supposed to be the only smoking robot!

  5. Re:very familiar by grug0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The reason that the hero with amnesia archetype is so common is because it solves the biggest problem of science fiction writing: exposition. Having the hero suffer from amnesia places him in the same position of unfamiliarity as the reader, and both can be "educated" at once by the writer.

  6. Trailer by Heartz · · Score: 4, Funny

    In other news, Slashdot will now be posting trailers for all their articles. Comment trailers will be introduced by 2005 where every comment will be preceded with a trailer first.
    The next trailer will be coming soon but subscribers get to beat the rush!

  7. Slashdot "news" by marvin2k · · Score: 2, Informative

    For those who have followed this Robota thing:
    This is *not* a new trailer. It's the same one that has been up there for six months now.

    And no I don't mean to complain about this story since we all know already that the definition of "news" on Slashdot is pretty wide :P

  8. I'm sorry, am I to be impressed? by way2trivial · · Score: 2, Funny
    this is they guy responsible for the look of jar jar Binks,

    and you want me to consider his book?

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
  9. Re:Matrix Reloaded Reloaded by Scrameustache · · Score: 4, Informative
    Is it just me, or does everything sound like a rehash of the Matrix/Terminator concept? Humans build robots, robots take over...

    Isaac Asimov (the guy who coined the term "robotics") gave that theme a name dozens of years ago, he called it the Frankenstein complex. That is why he wrote the 3 laws of robotics, to move away from that theme.

    BTW, the polish play in wich the name "robot" was coined (to mean mechanical anthropomorphic labourers) was also about "men make robots, men abuse robots, robots go awry and take over".
    Way, WAY before matrix/terminator (in the 20's IIRC).

    ...humans form a rebel team to fight the robots

    Battlestar Galactica! Again, before terminator/matrix.

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  10. Similarity... by Psychic+Burrito · · Score: 2, Interesting
    If you like independent 3d animated movies that look great and feature robots, you might also take a look at Rustboy.

    Cheers!

  11. Out of date info by malducin · · Score: 2, Informative

    Also as a reference, Doug Chiang is no longer at ILM. He worked on the 2 prequels but left last year. He is the Art Director for Robert Zemeckis' Polar Express. VFX by Imageworks under the supervision of Ken Ralston:

    Doug Chiang update

    Also in his place Feng Zhu has joined the art team for Episode 3. He is this incredible artist that worked at Blur Studios. You can see more here:

    Meet the Episode III Art Department
    Feng Zhu - Concept Artist