MODEL HEROES - The ILM Star Wars Pioneers (Rare 8mm footage 1976)

MODEL HEROES - The ILM Star Wars Pioneers (Rare 8mm footage 1976)

Incredibly rare footage from 1976 showing a newly formed rag-tag team of long-haired, very talented and creative innovators at ILM. There is a real joy and enthusiasm between everyone and their dedication is very apparent. In today's digital age it is both humbling and heart warming to see hands-on physical props and models being made.

Of particular note is the moulding of a Death Star surface panel (1.45)

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Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) was founded in May 1975 by George Lucas who wanted his new film Star Wars to include visual effects that had never been seen before.

After discovering that the in-house effects department at 20th Century Fox was no longer operational, Lucas approached Douglas Trumbull, best known for the effects on 2001: A Space Odyssey and Silent Running. Trumbull was however, already committed to working on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but suggested his assistant John Dykstra to Lucas. Dykstra brought together a small team of college students, artists, and engineers, and set them up in a warehouse in Van Nuys, California. Lucas named the group Industrial Light and Magic, which became the Special Visual Effects department on Star Wars.

#BehindTheScenes #StarWars #70sSciFiBoy

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Original footage can be found here:
https://vimeo.com/5494280