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 wanted
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. He 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 , Richard Edlund , Joe Johnston and Phil Tippett .
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 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 established their use of Computer Generated Imagery when they hired Ed Catmull from NYIT in 1979. John Lasseter worked for ILM in the early 1980s as a computer animator.
As of 2003, ILM has received 14 Best Visual Effects Oscars and 19 additional nominations. It had also received 22 technical Oscars.
Early accomplishments
External links and sources
