Founded by George Lucas, Industrial Light & Magic is working on virtual reality versions of Star Wars that would be launched later this year.
The 40-year-old special-effects company introduced a new team specially created to bring cinema to the next level through an immersive virtual reality technology. The ILM's Experience Lab (ILMxLab) would not only develop a life-like cinematic experience but also an interactive one. Their pilot launch at the fourth quarter of 2015 would showcase a Star Wars VR film.
USA Today said that ILM would use a unique technology, which is different from what gaming companies use. Instead of using animation, for instance, ILM would use the visual principles of photo-realism in building life-like versions of movies.
"Although video games pegged to movies have promised a similar experience, this new tech will be different: non-competitive and using photo-realism rather than animation," Marco della Cava reported.
President of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy said that they are in a mission to bring emotions to an industrial world chasing fast-food information through technology.
"It's the Wild West out there with new frontiers, and we're all figuring out these new tools. Today, technology is in search of content. But we can bring an emotional experience to that technology," Kennedy announced.
To reclaim dominance and significance in the world of film, George Lucas' team of artists and engineers are closely collaborating with each other to figure out how to best use the different technological platforms available in the market.
Creative Director for ILMxLAB John Gaeta said that tech titans like Apple, Google, Facebook and Intel are working on AR and VR projects, but no one has mastered it yet. Everyone is still on the learning phase, and it's a great opportunity to explore.
"Our standards for world-building are very high, and we intend to use our technology to give people experiences that they haven't yet dreamed of," Gaeta said.
