The Success of ILM (INDUSTRIAL LIGHT & MAGIC)

Given my upcoming presentation on the success of ILM I thought it appropraite to post some of the findings from my research and maybe, if your lucky a few choice images from the many I have collected during the project.

Here come the stats:

About ILM:

Ø    Founded by George Lucas in 1975 (Spawned out of Star Wars) Lucas set up a company to make the special effects for Star Wars and this became ILM.

Ø    Located in San Francisco & Singapore.

Ø    Set the standard for visual effects for over 30 years.

Ø    At the forefront of the digital revolution.

Ø    Continue to break new ground in visual effects.

Ø    Serve the motion picture, commercial production & attractions industries.

Ø    Created VFX for nearly 300 feature films

Ø    Played a key role in 10 of the top 15 worldwide box office hits of all time.

Ø    Helped drive the evolution of visual effects.

Mastered tradition arts of:

Ø    Blue screen photography

Ø    Matte Painting

Ø    Model Construction

Pioneered the development of:

Ø    Motion control cameras

Ø    Optical compositing

Pushed the boundaries of effects technology.

Since the 80’s led the way in their use of computer graphics & digital imaging.

Developed breakthrough software techniques such as:

Ø    digital compositing

Ø    morphing

Ø    simulations & enveloping.

Ø    film input scanning

Ø    wire removal

Ø    motion control

Ø    Imocap & the EXR file format.

During my reflection and commentary on this ground breaking company I discuss how the success of ILM reminds me alot of Pixar, and in deed the two are connected with Lucas being the most obvious link. When we looked at 'The Pixar Story' it was the mixture of artistry and technological progress that both combined to  make them so successful. 

These aspects are what I will base my slides and commentry on in my talk. 

Here are just a few and a few slide images so not to bore you with science...

1975: Motion Control Photography

Start Wars

Traditional techniques simply would not work for filming the elaborate dogfights Director George Lucas had envisioned so, led by John Dykstra, the team developed a camera system that could be controlled by custom-designed, hard-wired electronics and thus record and replicate exacting camera movements time and time again. In addition to camera pan, tilt, and roll movements, focus and changes in aperture were also preprogrammed. The system, dubbed the Dykstraflex, utilized a camera mounted to a crane arm, which in turn rode on a dolly track. The Dystraflex represented the first in a long line of motion control cameras developed at ILM.

1985:First Completely Computer Generated Character

ILM made further breakthroughs in computer graphics with the creation of the first completely computer-generated character in a feature film, the "stained glass man" in Young Sherlock Holmes.

*Note to self – Use image of scene in church with armored man (off website)

*The Goonies - A group of kids embark on a wild adventure after finding a pirate treasure map.

Back to the Future: In 1985, Doc Brown invented time travel, in 1955, Marty McFly accidentally prevented his parents from meeting, putting his own existence at stake.

1991: First computer Graphics Main Character

Industrial Light & Magic created the first computer graphics main character with the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.