Parking lot and building of the first company headquarters of ILM in Van Nuys, where the special effects of the first Star Wars movie were produced
In late 1978, when in pre-production for The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas reformed most of the team into Industrial Light & Magic in Marin County, California. From here on, the company expanded and has since gone on to produce special effects for over three hundred films, including the entire Star Wars saga, the Indiana Jones series, and the Jurassic Park series.[16][17]
After the success of the first Star Wars movie, Lucas became interested in using computer graphics on the sequel. He contacted Triple-I, known for their early computer effects in movies like Westworld (1973), Futureworld (1976), Tron (1982), and The Last Starfighter which ended up making a computer-generated test of five X-wing fighters flying in formation. He found it to be too expensive and returned to handmade models. Nevertheless, the test had showed him it was possible, and he decided he would create his own computer graphics department instead. As a result, they started investing in Apple and SGI computers. One of Lucas' employees was given the task to find the right people to hire. His search would lead him to NYIT, where he found Edwin Catmull and his colleagues. Catmull and others accepted Lucas' job offer, and a new computer division at Lucasfilm was created in 1979, which technically belonged to another division than ILM, with the hiring of Ed Catmull as the first NYIT employee who joined the company.[18][19] Lucas' list for them was a digital film editing system, a digital sound editing system, a laser film printer, and further exploration of computer graphics.[20]John Lasseter, who was hired a few years later, worked on computer-animation as part of ILM's contribution to Young Sherlock Holmes. The Graphics Group was later sold to Steve Jobs, named Pixar Animation Studios, and created the first CGI-animated feature, Toy Story.[21] In 2000, ILM created the OpenEXR format for high-dynamic-range imaging.[22]
Logo used from 2005 to 2023
ILM operated from an inconspicuous property in San Rafael, California until 2005. The company was known to locals as The Kerner Company, a name that did not draw any attention, allowing the company to operate in secret, thus preventing the compromise of sensitive information on its productions to the media or fans.[23][24] In 2005, when Lucas decided to move locations to the Presidio of San Francisco and focus on digital effects, a management-led team bought the five physical and practical effects divisions and formed a new company that included the George Lucas Theater, retained the "Kerner" name as Kerner Technologies, Inc. and provided physical effects for major motion pictures, often working with ILM, until its Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2011.[25]
In 2005, ILM extended its operations to Lucasfilm Singapore, which also includes the Singapore arm of Lucasfilm Animation. In 2006, ILM invented IMoCap (Image Based Motion Capture Technology).[26] By 2007, ILM was one of the largest visual effects vendors in the motion picture industry and had one of the largest render farms (named Death Star).[27][28] In 2011, it was announced the company was considering a project-based facility in Vancouver.[29] ILM first opened a temporary facility in Vancouver before relocating to a new 30,000-square-foot studio on Water Street in the Gastown district in 2014.[30]
In October 2012, Disney bought ILM's parent company, Lucasfilm, acquiring ILM, Skywalker Sound, and LucasArts in the process.[31][32][33][34] Disney stated that it had no immediate plans to change ILM's operations,[1] but began to lay off employees by April of the next year.[35] Following the restructuring of LucasArts in April 2013, ILM was left overstaffed and the faculty was reduced to serve only ILM's visual effects department.[36][37] ILM opened a London studio headquartered in the city's Soho district on October 15, 2014.[38]
On November 7, 2018, ILM opened a new division targeted at television series called ILM TV. It will be based in ILM's new 47,000-square-foot London studio with support from the company's locations in San Francisco, Vancouver and Singapore.[39][40] In July 2019, ILM announced the opening of a new facility in Sydney, Australia.[41][42] In the same year, ILM introduced StageCraft.[43][44][45] Also known as "The Volume", it uses high-definition LED video walls to generate virtual sceneries and was first used in The Mandalorian.[46][47] Following Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Fox VFX Lab was folded into ILM, including the Technoprops division.[48][49] In October 2022, ILM opened a new studio in Mumbai.[50][51] In May 2023, ILMxLAB was rebranded as ILM Immersive.[52]
In August 2023, Lucasfilm announced it would close the ILM studio in Singapore due to economic factors affecting the industry and the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes. The closure affected 340 Singapore-based jobs. Employees continued working until the end of the year. Disney confirmed that it would be helping employees to either find work with local companies with similar skills requirements or relocate to ILM's other studios in London, Vancouver, Sydney and Mumbai.[53][54][55] An ILM Singapore employee confirmed that the closure of the Singaporean studio was linked to the strike.[56]
1982: First in-house completely computer-generated sequence— the "Genesis sequence" in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. (Previous computer graphics in Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope were done outside of ILM.)[60]
1985: First completely computer-generated character, the "stained glass man" in Young Sherlock Holmes[61]
1992: First time the texture of human skin was computer generated, in Death Becomes Her[68]
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[69]
1994: First extensive use of digital manipulation of historical and stock footage to integrate characters in Forrest Gump.[70]
1995: First fully synthetic speaking computer-generated character, with a distinct personality and emotion, to take a leading role in Casper[71]
1995: First computer-generated photo-realistic hair and fur (used for the digital lion and monkeys) in Jumanji[72]
1996: First completely computer-generated main character, Draco in Dragonheart[73]
1999: First computer generated character to have a full human anatomy, Imhotep in The Mummy[74]
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[26]
2011: First animated feature produced by ILM, Rango[76][77]
Photoshop was first used at Industrial Light & Magic as an image-processing program. Photoshop was created by ILM Visual Effects Supervisor John Knoll and his brother Thomas as a summer project. It was used on The Abyss. The Knoll brothers sold the program to Adobe in 1989.[80] Thomas Knoll continues to work on Photoshop at Adobe and is featured in the billing on the Photoshop splash screen. John Knoll continues to be ILM's top visual effects supervisor, and was one of the executive producers and writers of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.[81]
In addition to their work for George Lucas, ILM also collaborates with Steven Spielberg on many films that he directs and produces. Dennis Muren has acted as Computer Animation Supervisor on many of these films. For Jurassic Park in 1993, ILM used the program Viewpaint, which allowed the visual effects artists to paint color and texture directly onto the surface of the computer models.[82] Former ILM CG Animator Steve "Spaz" Williams said that it took nearly a year for the shots that involved computer-generated dinosaurs to be completed.[83] The film is noted for its groundbreaking use of computer-generated imagery,[84][85][86] and is regarded as a landmark for visual effects.[87][88][89] The company also works on more subtle special effects—such as widening streets, digitally adding more extras to a shot, and inserting the film's actors into preexisting footage—in films such as in Forrest Gump in 1994.[90][91][92]
ILM is also famous for their commercial work. Their clients include Energizer,[94] and Oldsmobile.[94] They also animated Yoda for a series of 2012 commercials for Vodafone, which were broadcast in the UK.[95][96][97]
American film director David Fincher worked at ILM for four years in the early 1980s.[99]
Film director Joe Johnston was a Visual effects artist and an Art Director.[100]
Film director Mark A.Z. Dippé was a Visual Effects animator who directed Spawn which was released in 1997.[101]
Sound editor and film producer James "Jim" Nelson served as an associate producer of the original Star Wars and helped build Industrial Light & Magic alongside George Lucas, overseeing the company's administration and management.[102]
George Walton Lucas Jr. is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman of Lucasfilm before selling it to The Walt Disney Company in 2012. Nominated for four Academy Awards, he is considered to be one of the most significant figures of the 20th-century New Hollywood movement, and a pioneer of the modern blockbuster. Despite this, he has remained an independent filmmaker away from Hollywood for most of his career.
Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company founded by filmmaker George Lucas in 1971 in San Rafael, California, and later moved to San Francisco in 2005. It has been a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios since 2012 and is best known for creating and producing the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, as well as its leadership in developing special effects, sound, and computer animation for films.
Willow is a 1988 American sword and sorcery epic dark fantasy adventure film directed by Ron Howard and produced by Nigel Wooll. The film was executive produced by George Lucas and written by Bob Dolman from a story by Lucas. The film stars Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Warwick Davis, and Jean Marsh. Davis portrays the title character, an aspiring magician who teams up with a disaffected warrior (Kilmer) to protect a young baby princess from an evil queen (Marsh).
John Knoll is an American visual effects supervisor and chief creative officer (CCO) at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). One of the original creators of Adobe Photoshop, he has also worked as visual effects supervisor on the Star Wars prequels and the 1997 special editions of the original trilogy. He also served as ILM's visual effects supervisor for Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact, as well as the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Along with Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall, Knoll and the trio's work on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest earned them the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
Animal Logic is an Australian visual effects and animation digital studio based at Disney Studios in Sydney, New South Wales in Australia, Vancouver in Canada, and Rideback Ranch in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1991, Animal Logic has produced visual effects and animation for feature films such as the Academy Award-winning Happy Feet, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, Walking with Dinosaurs 3D,The Lego Movie and Peter Rabbit. The company was also recognized for its work as lead visual effects vendor on Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby, which won Outstanding Achievement in Visual Effects at the 3rd AACTA Awards ceremony. In 2018, Peter Rabbit was presented with a range of accolades, including the AACTA Award for Best Visual Effects or Animation, and Australian Production Design Guild Awards (APDG) in Visual Effects Design and Drawing, Concept Illustration & Concept Models for Screen. Most recently, the company has produced work for the Warner Animation Group's The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part and Marvel Studios' Captain Marvel. It is a subsidiary of Netflix.
Doug Chiang is an American film designer and artist. He is vice president and executive creative director of Lucasfilm and previous Chief Creative Officer (CCO) at Lucasfilm.
Lucasfilm Animation Ltd. LLC is an American animation studio and subsidiary of Lucasfilm, originally established in 2003. Its first major productions were the feature film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and its associated television series, both of which debuted in 2008 and Strange Magic, which premiered in 2015. In September 2016, Dave Filoni, known for his contributions to Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, accepted a promotion to oversee the development of all future Lucasfilm Animation projects.
Dennis Muren, A.S.C is an American film visual effects artist and supervisor. He has worked on the films of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and James Cameron, among others, and has won nine Oscars in total: eight for Best Visual Effects and a Technical Achievement Academy Award. The Visual Effects Society has called him "a perpetual student, teacher, innovator, and mentor."
Phil Tippett is an American film director and visual effects supervisor and producer, who specializes in creature design, stop-motion and computerized character animation. Over his career, he has assisted ILM and DreamWorks, and in 1984 formed his own company, Tippett Studio.
Tippett Studio is an American visual effects and computer animation company specializing in computer graphics (CG) for films and television commercials. The studio has created visual effects and animations on over fifty feature films and commercials, garnering an Academy Award, four Clio Awards and two Emmy Awards. The company currently consists of approximately 150 employees, with offices located in Berkeley, California.
Virtual cinematography is the set of cinematographic techniques performed in a computer graphics environment. It includes a wide variety of subjects like photographing real objects, often with stereo or multi-camera setup, for the purpose of recreating them as three-dimensional objects and algorithms for the automated creation of real and simulated camera angles. Virtual cinematography can be used to shoot scenes from otherwise impossible camera angles, create the photography of animated films, and manipulate the appearance of computer-generated effects.
Grant Masaru Imahara was an American electrical engineer, roboticist, and television host. He was best known for his work on the television series MythBusters, on which he designed, built and operated numerous robots and machines to test myths over the course of the show.
Craig Barron is an American visual effects artist and creative director at Magnopus, a media company that produces visual development and virtual production services for motion pictures, television, museums and multimedia platforms.
Kerner Optical was an American practical visual effects company based in San Rafael, California.
James Morris is an American film producer, production executive and visual effects producer. He is currently general manager and president of Pixar. Previously, he held key positions at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) for 17 years.
Joseph Bruce Letteri is a senior visual effects artist, winner of five Academy Awards, four BAFTA awards and four VES awards. He is the current Senior Visual Effects Supervisor of the Academy Award-winning Wētā FX having joined the company in 2001. He has received several awards and nominations as visual effects supervisor, the latest being Avatar: The Way of Water, and previously for War for the Planet of the Apes. He attended Center High School (Pennsylvania) in 1975 and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1981. He gave the keynote address at UC Berkeley's December Convocation on 19 December 2010.
Rob Coleman is a Canadian animation director; he is currently the creative director at Industrial Light & Magic's Sydney branch. Previously, he was the Head of Animation at the award-winning Australian visual effects and animation studio, Animal Logic from 2012-2021.
StageCraft is an on-set virtual production visual effects technology composed of a video wall designed by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) for the Disney+ series The Mandalorian. It has since been used in other productions and has been cited as a revolutionary visual effects technology. The soundstage in which StageCraft is implemented is called The Volume.
On-set virtual production (OSVP) is an entertainment technology for television and film production in which LED panels are used as a backdrop for a set, on which video or computer-generated imagery can be displayed in real-time. The use of OSVP became widespread after its use in the first season of The Mandalorian (2019), which used Unreal Engine, developed by Epic Games.
Light & Magic is an American documentary television series directed by Lawrence Kasdan and produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and Imagine Documentaries. The series debuted as a Disney+ Original on July 27, 2022, with all six episodes airing at the same time.
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