Industrial Light and Magic

From Free net encyclopedia

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is a motion picture special visual effects company, founded in July 1975 by George Lucas and owned by Lucasfilm Ltd. Lucas created the company when he discovered that the special effects department at Twentieth Century Fox was shut down after he was given the green light for his production of Star Wars. The studio originated in San Rafael, California but is now based in The Presidio of San Francisco in California. ILM continues to maintain and use its large film studio building in San Rafael, which was built in 1991 specifically for ILM, for principal photography.

Lucas wanted his 1977 film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope to include visual effects that had never been seen on film before. He first approached Douglas Trumbull, famous for 2001: A Space Odyssey. Trumbull declined, but suggested his assistant John Dykstra. Dykstra brought together a small team of college students, artists and engineers who became the Special Visual Effects department on A New Hope. Alongside Dykstra other leading members of the original ILM team were Dennis Muren, Richard Edlund, Joe Johnston and Phil Tippett.

When making Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas reformed most of the team into Industrial Light & Magic in Marin County, California. They have since gone on to produce special effects for over two hundred films, including the Indiana Jones films, the Harry Potter films, the Jurassic Park films, many of the Star Trek films, as well as less dramatic effects in films such as Schindler's List, Snow Falling on Cedars, Magnolia, and several Woody Allen films. ILM also frequently collaborates with Steven Spielberg, with Dennis Muren acting as Visual Effects Supervisor.

ILM established their use of Computer Generated Imagery when they hired Edwin Catmull from NYIT in 1979. John Lasseter worked for ILM in the early 1980s as a computer animator. The computer graphics department, now known as Pixar, was eventually sold to Steve Jobs, which went on to create the first CG animated feature with Toy Story.

As of 2005, ILM has received 14 Best Visual Effects Oscars and 20 additional nominations. It had also received 22 technical Oscars.

1 Early accomplishments
2 Recent films
3 External links and sources
4 Quotes

[edit]

Early accomplishments

1977: Resurrected the use of VistaVision; first use of a motion control camera (Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope)
1982: First completely computer-generated sequence (the "Genesis sequence" in Star Trek II)
1985: First completely computer-generated character, the "stained glass man" in Young Sherlock Holmes
1988: First morphing sequence, in Willow
1989: First computer-generated 3-D character, the pseudopod in The Abyss
1991: First partially computer-generated main character, the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day
1992: First time the texture of human skin was computer generated, in Death Becomes Her
1993: First time digital technology used to create a complete and detailed living creature, the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, which earned ILM its thirteenth Oscar
1994:The cartoony effects in The Mask
1999: First completely computer-generated main character, Jar-Jar Binks in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace

[edit]

Recent films

ILM worked on two major 2005 releases, George Lucas's Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds. Revenge of the Sith featured over 2,000 visual effects shots created over a three year span. War of the Worlds was completed on a much faster timetable, with Dennis Muren supervising. Industrial Light and Magic also worked on visual effects in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

[edit]