Industrial Light and Magic
Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) is one of the biggest and oldest special effects companies in the special effects industry. ILM has produced special effects for over 300 films and has received numerous awards. The company has helped pave the way for using computer graphics in the movie industry. ILM is owned by Lucasfilm Limited.
ILM was created by George Lucas to create special effects for Star Wars, after the special effects department at 20th Century Fox was closed. The original effects team at ILM was brought together by John Dykstra, who had previously worked on 2001: A Space Odyssey. The special effects in the first three Star Wars movie's were hugely popular, and brought ILM center stage in the special effects world.
ILM has partnered with its founder, George Lucas, on nearly all of his films, and also often does the special effects for films directed by Stephen Spielberg.
Achievements
ILM has been responsible for a number of first for cinema: the first completely computer generated computer graphics sequence, the first computer generated character (and first 3D character), the first computer generated realistic hair and fur, and much more.
Awards
ILM has received 16 Best Visual Effects Academy Awards and have been nominated for the award an additional 23 times. It has also won 17 Academy awards for Technical Achievement.
ILM has received 20 Scientific and Technical Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
ILM has won 14 BAFTA awards for Best Visual Special Effects and numerous nominations.