Recently, I finally saw the Encore Special which featured how Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), an Academy Award-winning motion picture visual effects company that has set the standard for visual effects. In the process they have created some of the most stunning images in the history of film and changed cinema forever as they continue to break new ground in visual effects.
According to the press release for the feature,
For me it was a huge eye opener to the inner workings of a company and group of people who have changed the whole landscape of movie production. The feature revealed in great detail how the company started and how it was influenced by George Lucas and his desire to create never before seen effects for his Star Trek films. It spoke of how the likes of John Dykstra, the assistant of Douglas Trumbull , famous for 2001: A Space Odyssey, put together the team of college students, artists and engineers that became the first VFX department for the star trek movies. It describes the challenges they have faced as they sought to find innovative solutions to creating believable illusions in Hollywood's biggest block-busters including the entire Star Wars saga, The Abyss, 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, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, the entire Terminator sequels, the Transformers films, the Men in Black series, most of the Mission: Impossible films, and also provided work for Avatar, alongside Weta Digital."Industrial Light & Magic: Creating the Impossible" is directed by Academy Award® and Emmy® nominated director Leslie Iwerks and is narrated by Tom Cruise. Encore will also present five ILM-effects films starting at 2:00 p.m. with Jumanji, followed by Hook, Jurassic Park III, Twister and Starship Troopers.
The hour-long special has interviews with filmmakers George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, J.J. Abrams and Jon Favreau, actors Samuel L. Jackson and Robin Williams, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and John Lasseter, the chief creative officer at Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. Film and television shows featured in the special include The Abyss, Avatar, Forrest Gump, Jumanji, Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Robot Chicken, Star Trek (2009), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Transformers, Twister, Young Sherlock Holmes and The War of the Worlds (2005), which starred narrator Cruise.
Leslie Iwerks' documentary takes audiences behind the scenes at ILM with in depth interviews with some of the company's top talent and showcases never before seen footage highlighting many of their pioneering milestone.[1]
Notable names in Animation such as Pixar's John Lasseter also worked for ILM in the early 1980s as a computer animator. It was invariably the computer graphics division of ILM which was eventually sold to Steve Jobs that became Pixar, and went on to create the first CG animated feature with Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995).
I found great inspiration watching the ways in which these men, much in the same way Walt Disney revolutionized animation, revolutionized CG and VFX for cinema and how they have continued to successfully tackle the challenges of creating the realistic illusions that have become a great influence for my own work. Below i've attached a video of the feature and it can be found on YouTube.
References
[1] io9.com, 2010. The inside story of how ILM changed movies. [online] Available at: <http://io9.com/industrial-light-and-magic/> [Accessed 19 December 2011 ].
Toy Story, 1995.
[Film]. Directed by John Lasseter. USA: Pixar Animation Studios
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