Industrial Light & Magic
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| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Founded | May 1975 |
| Headquarters | Letterman Digital Arts Center, Presidio of San Francisco, California, United States |
| Key people | George Lucas Dennis Muren Chrissie England |
| Industry | Visual effects, computer-generated imagery |
| Parent | Lucasfilm Limited |
| Website | ILM.com |
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is a motion picture visual effects company that was founded in May 1975 by George Lucas and is owned by Lucasfilm. Lucas created the company when he discovered that the special effects department at 20th Century Fox was shut down after he was given the green light for his production of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. The studio originated in Van Nuys, California, later moved to San Rafael, and is now based at the Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio of San Francisco.
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[edit] History
Lucas wanted his 1977 film Star Wars 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 Star Wars. Alongside Dykstra other leading members of the original ILM team were Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston, Richard Edlund, Joe Johnston, Phil Tippett, Steve Gawley, and Jeff Mann.
When making 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 series, the Harry Potter franchise, the Jurassic Park franchise, the Back to the Future trilogy, many of the Star Trek films, Ghostbusters II, and the 2007 live-action Transformers movie.
In addition to their work for George Lucas, ILM also frequently collaborates with Steven Spielberg for nearly all films that he directs, and for many that he produces as well. Dennis Muren acts as Visual Effects Supervisor on these films.
Additionally, the company has created less noticeable effects - such as widening streets, digitally adding more extras to a shot, and inserting the film's actors into famous photos - in movies such as Schindler's List, Forrest Gump, Snow Falling on Cedars, Magnolia, and several Woody Allen films.
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.
ILM, rather than hide behind barbed wire and high fences, operated from an inconspicuous property in San Rafael, California until 2006. The company hid in plain sight and was known to locals as the Kerner Optical Company. In 2006, when Lucas decided to move locations and focus on digital effects, a management-led team bought the five physical and practical effects divisions of Industrial Light and Magic. The new company, home to the George Lucas Theater, is called Kerner Optical and continues to provide physical effects for major motion pictures, often working with Industrial Light and Magic.
As of 2006[update], ILM has received 16 Best Visual Effects Oscars and 20 additional nominations. It had also received 22 technical Oscars.
[edit] Milestones
- 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: The Wrath of Khan)
- 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 cartoon-like effects in The Mask
- 1995: The first fully synthetic speaking computer-generated character, with a distinct personality and emotion, to take a leading role in Casper
- 1995: First computer-generated photo-realistic hair and fur (used for the digital lion and monkeys) in Jumanji
- 1996: First completely computer-generated main character, Draco in Dragonheart
- 1999: Used motion capture to create the undead form of the character, Imhotep in The Mummy.
- 1999: Second completely computer-generated main character, Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
- 2002: First feature film completely shot and exhibited in digital HD video in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
- 2003: Used most extensive projects and animation techniques yet to create a large, human-like, green monster in Hulk
- 2006: Develops "iMocap" system, which uses computer vision techniques to track live-action performers on set. Used in the creation of Davy Jones and ship's crew in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- 2009: The most complicated visual effects done in entire ILM history on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's character "Devastator".[citation needed]
[edit] ILM Selected filmography
Upcoming projects:
- Star Wars (TV) (2010 / 2011)
- Endhiran
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
- The Last Airbender (2010)
- Iron Man 2 (2010)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2010/2011)
- Interstellar (2011)
- Rango (2011)
[edit] Recent films
ILM worked on three major 2005 releases, George Lucas' Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds and Warner Bros. Pictures' Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Revenge of the Sith features around 2400 CGI shots created in three years (by stark contrast, the groundbreaking blockbuster Jurassic Park has only 52 CGI shots). War of the Worlds was completed on a much faster timetable, with Dennis Muren supervising. ILM was also the effects studio utilized to work on Eragon which was released in December 2006.
Industrial Light & Magic also worked on battle creatures for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; the wave and underwater effects for Poseidon, a remake of The Poseidon Adventure; the majority of (invisible) effects for Mission: Impossible III and Eight Below; and most of the creature effects for Lady in the Water. ILM also created the visual effects and animation in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Transformers and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix among others.
ILM also worked on the "Light My Candle" number in Rent. The crew could be seen in the TV screen so Chris Columbus sent the reel over to ILM and they edited the reflection out.
[edit] Trivia
It was in the late 1980s when Adobe Photoshop made its first appearance on the world stage. It was used at the Industrial Light & Magic studios as an image-processing program. Photoshop was created by ILM Visual Effects Supervisor John Knoll and his brother Thomas as a summer project.
Adam Savage, Grant Imahara and Tory Belleci of Mythbusters fame have all worked at Industrial Light & Magic.
Industrial Light & Magic is also famous for their commercial work. Their clients include Energizer Holdings, Nike, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Budwiser and other companies.
ILM is also the largest voice recording studio. It is used for Anime dubbing and non Anime voice work.
[edit] External links
- Official ILM website (with detailed information in PDF format)
- Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) at the Internet Movie Database
- Alternative credits list from the Unofficial ILM site
- Small entry at Lucasfilm's site
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