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

• 1977: Resurrected the use of VistaVision; first use of a motion control camera
• 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 computer-generated main character, the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day
• 1993: First time the texture of human skin was computer generated, in Death Becomes Her
• 1994: First time digital technology used to create a complete and detailed living creature, the dinosaur in Jurassic Park, which earned ILM its thirteenth Oscar

External links and sources

• Official ILM website (with detailed information in PDF format)
• List of films with special effects by ILM from the Internet Movie Database. An alternative list from the Unofficial ILM site.
• ILM fan website