George Lucas

George Walton Lucas, Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter famous for his epic Star Wars saga and the Indiana Jones trilogy.

Innovator

Besides his directorial and production work on movies, Lucas is the most significant contemporary contributor to modern movie technology. In 1975 Lucas established Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) in Van Nuys, CA, which was responsible for the invention of the special computer assisted camera crane "Dykstraflex" that was used for most of the space fight sequences used in the Star Wars movies (technology which was later adopted by most other visual effects production units, such as those responsible for Battlestar Galactica and '). Through ILM, Lucas spurred the further development of computer graphics, film laser scanners and the earliest use of 3D computer character animation in a film, Young Sherlock Holmes. Lucas sold his early computer development unit to Steve Jobs in 1986, which was renamed Pixar.

Related Topics:
1975 - Industrial Light and Magic - Van Nuys, CA - Dykstraflex - Visual effects - Battlestar Galactica - Computer graphics - Film laser scanner - 3D computer character animation - Young Sherlock Holmes - Steve Jobs - 1986 - Pixar

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Lucas is also responsible for the modern sound systems found in many movie theaters. Though Lucas didn't invent THX, he is responsible for its development.

Related Topics:
Sound system - THX

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Now Lucas is spearheading digital photography for movies. Though personal digital photography is now mainstream, most movie studios still use traditional cameras and film for movie production. Lucas departed from this model by filming ' almost completely digitally. He showed the result to a select audience of the Hollywood elite, before the movie's general release. For the presentation, Lucas used a special digital projection system. The attendees said the movie had the clearest and sharpest presentation they had ever seen.

Related Topics:
Digital photography - Hollywood

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Despite the successful demonstration of the technology, movie studios are slow to move to this new model, in part because of the high price of the digital equipment. But digital movie photography has several advantages:

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• Digital editing is much easier and less expensive since the movie is already in digital form.
• Delivery of movies to cinemas is much cheaper since the digital media is much smaller than traditional reels which can weigh hundreds of pounds.
• Movies stored digitally are not susceptible to decay and degradation in quality.
• Transferring digital movies to DVD is much cheaper since both forms are digital.