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Industrial Light & Magic’s … ‘Kerner Optical’ closes its doors
September 4, 2011
The title of this post may be slightly misleading so let me explain. Many may not have heard of Kerner Optical. The company name Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), was (& still is) a division of Lucasfilm Ltd (aka George Lucas). In the heyday of traditional analog special effects (before Cgi saturation), the time period starting from the first Star Wars (late 1970s), Industrial, Light & Magic was the premiere effects house in the mainstream flick business. The other company name Kerner Optical was somewhat fictitious & served as a ‘cover’ name for the actual ILM studio/shop. It was an attempt to keep ILM location in San Rafael, California somewhat hidden from the public (ILM now in San Francisco’s Presidio). So, for years ILM had their own model, creature, miniatures, shop/studio but then in 2006, ILM corporate powers that be, just before they went over to the 100% computer digital side, they dumped the model/miniature shop, i.e., ILM disposed their ownership of the model/miniature division/facilities (Wiki -Kerner Optical). So, the now orphaned shop/studio attempted to independently forge ahead without the help of ‘Papa’ (ILM – Lucasfilm). The disowned studio/shop remained in San Rafael at the ol’ ILM facilities and also retained & adopted the ol’ name of Kerner Optical. Well, it is now five years later and as the title of this post says, Kerner Optical is NO MORE … nada, zilch, zero.
I can get into an angry tirade about this but it will do no good and so, I will try to remain calm 
. Just remember and I have said this in the past (but it seems to fall on deaf ears) …. do not judge the Art & Craft of Filmmaking by what TODAY’s mainstream movie business does. They go by formulas & targeted demographic audience. Corporate mainstream movie making machine is about bean counting and their perpetual profuse salivation seeking that mega-wannabie box office blockbuster golden cash cow. I have actually read & heard (vid clips, interviews, articles) comments from top CGI special effects people in the biz and I can tell you, many of them are preoccupied with the next newest thing, or visuals, or breakthrough. How myopic & stupid is that? That is compulsive pre-occupation with the ‘Technical’. That is not the ART of true filmmaking. What about GOOD STORIES?
There are plethora of films in cinema history that used good ol’ analog classic special effects which can be shown to demonstrate effectiveness of analog traditional effects, but in memory of the demise of ’Kerner Optical’, an example here in the clip below, specifically related to ‘Kerner Optical’, showing the results of the efforts & sweat from the highly creative skilled artists, craftspeople, & technicians, in bringing the now classic Hoth Snow Battle to LIFE (from The Empire Strikes Back, 1980) … via REAL models, miniatures, props, stop motion and variety of traditional special effects techniques. In my view, it is just as contemporary looking & modern as any of today’s synthesized CGI excess of special effects. To tell a good story, you do not need thousands of CGI cloned flying ships occupying every fricken inch of the fricken screen.
I never get bored looking at this ….
So my parting words of wisdom: Yes … computer and digital tools has ALSO given Independent Filmmakers tremendous creative power. Us budget resourceful fimmakers can employ Classic Special Effects that is turbo-charged enhanced with digital effects. It does not have to be the supposed End of an Era which I am sick & tired of hearing it repeated ad nauseum. That is their skewed ‘reality’ … do not accept that narrative. In my view, the movies that do BEST are the ones that COMBINE & MIX a variety of Special Effects disciplines into a cohesive vision. With mostly synthesized CGI effects as the predominate method, IMO, no matter how supposedly ‘realistic’ …. there is an aftertaste (to me) of coldness, dry, homogeneous, formulaic, repetitiveness (overuse of similar styles), etc., and excess blow your wad eye candy (studio bragging rights, ’showing off’?) … no moderation. Independent Filmmakers have newer alternative distribution venues, outlets, & markets to reach the niche & more discerning audiences who are seeking more choices & diversity in their entertainment needs. EDIT: 8-5-11
Here are the links: End of Era, Kerner Optical, and My Inspiration – Kerner Optical closes (forum) – Kerner Optical, former ILM model shop, closes down (forum) – Departing Letter – Kerner Optical : The ex-ILM (2007) – Behind scenes AT-AT walkers (stop motion)
Topics: Behind the Scenes, Miniatures - Models - Puppets, Special Effects, Stop Motion | 15 Comments »
Sorry to hear this. Is WETA Workshop the last BIG practical effects shop? If it is, it’s kind of ironic, since it really didn’t come into it’s own until the last ten years or so. I think WETA (with the combination of WETA Digital and WETA Workshop) should be the new model…as you say, a combination of both CGI AND practical effects is the way to go.
Langley
Clarifying this quote “slightly misleading so let …” in my SMW News post above: ILM gave up ownership of Kerner Optical back in 2006, so when Kerner Optical just closed, ILM did not own K.O.. I merely put ILM in the headline title to show the former connection between both companies. Now, you all more confused
It’s up to us …soon it shall be revealed…and then, the world will see…that Obie LIO Kenobi had it right…and knew that a small band of rebels …in far flung corners of he film-o-verse …would resort to the old ways … deadly wound to the shamed face of the Evil Empire and it’s CGI death star of doom.
Dramatic posting Jedi Sasquatch
Mankind’s inner soul still rooted evolutionarily to old ways which seeks fulfillment in relating to the TACTILE REAL.
The only way to defeat the fuss mind is to disarm it. We need examples at modern times to show that practical art still has a place. A computer is just a blender that doesn’t dictate what it mixes.
There is an indie film market that has yet to become the new frontier for tactile special effects. (for the most part – there HAVE been exceptions) Hollywood is cooked, baked, gone, there is no hope, it’s over – but in the indie film market, there isn’t a suit driven hierarchy enforcing ‘the rules’… that is our target, that is where we must strike back.
…aka – Entrepid Voyager.
HEE, HEE- think we’re undercover enough Ron?
What kills me is that Hollywood is ‘allegedly’ brimming with people who ‘claim’ to love the arts and routinely rail against the ‘unfairness’ of BIG INDUSTRY. They ‘claim’ to stand up for the ‘little guy’ and oppose ‘corporate execs’ who think only about profit YET, here is a case where they’ve abandoned an entire list of traditional art-forms and the artists who create them without one bit of care and in favor of the bottom line. They have the NERVE to raise their voices against companies like Walmart because Walmart dominates the market and drives Mom & Pop shops out of business… HA!pocrisy.
yeah!
This is probably a bit too personal to be interesting but… the clip from Empire that LIO posted here (the Battle in the Snow) was the very sequence which is probably the most influential in my life in terms of determining my destiny. I can still so vividly remember a morning just before the release of Empire (when I was maybe 15 years old) when ‘Good Day New York’ showed the very first preview for the film. They had announce the coming preview the day before so, I was up and ready with my audio tape recorder next to the TV so I could record the event… The morning show showed a large portion of the beginning of the walker battle – and my teenage life was transformed. In that moment, the art of stop motion animation became a target for me. There’s a lot more to that story, (obviously) but – I can never watch that scene without remembering that day, when I was still just a kid and just a fan… Wow.
Your analogy, Walmart = Hollywood … and … Indie Filmmakers = Mom & Pop is really close … however … the supposed evil Walmart is ‘efficient’ & operates cost effectively and affordable products!
Maybe Tinsel Town closer to our bureaucratic & money hog Govt … you know, ever increasing obscene mainstream movie budgets? All double talk bull crap … computer technology should radically reduce movie production costs but not in mainstream flick biz … too many fingers in the money pie & extremely jacking up the budgets. This is not art of filmmaking. Old hollywood seemed to make better products. Today mainstream biz is a different BEAST … but … I digress
That’s what Hollywood needs to fear, the indie film market has taken advantage of the technology as well but, they’ve manged to keep their artistic integrity at the same time. What we need now is an tactile ILM of the indie film world and get back to creating traditional tangible matte paintings, miniatures and puppet effects.
At least it looks like my worst fears will not come to pass, that we would lose the talent base capable of producing these arts. I feared that if we didn’t pass down the know-how to younger people for more than two generations of CGI, the talent and ability to ever go back would be lost forever. Thankfully, the relatively recent return to miniatures and stop motion films like Coraline and a gazillion lower budgeted stop motion films has kept those arts alive and well… WHEW!
Computer simulation may be a very fancy way to do things but it doesn’t mean that it’s the ONLY way to do everything. Art is the craft of the individual, employers forcing you to produce everything from the computer is not an individual but a drone way to do art. It complicates a simple creative process.
What a computer should do is ENHANCE a live action movie instead of piling it full of disjointed padding that adds nothing to the live action itself. Puppets and miniatures ARE live because they exist in the same tangible space as the actors even when separated by a chroma screen. At the older days they would have been tactically used to enhance the interaction that actors had with the fantastic whereas the modern mainstream business has turned it all on it’s head, the actors simply try to enhance the sterile computer simulation. How does that make a live action movie more special or fantastic? How does that make it healthy art? Mere detail isn’t enough, a good effect needs more to have real magic. Instead of replacing physical entities with computers why not try to enhance them with said computers? For instance, Hellboy may have CGI but it’s prosthetic effects on live actors still somewhat help bridge the gap between the sterile and the live. It feels more natural, believable. Such an approach, when taken to a more consistent level, has more variety instead of the homogenized feel.
Mainstream simply doesn’t give a fart. So I don’t give a fart about them and focus on actually doing something simpler for myself using selective approaches. What can I say, I’m a selfish b******. But by being that I may actually give others something better, who knows. Art doesn’t need to be overly complicated to work essentially as entertainment. The ingredients are not dictated by a blender.
The Kerner Collapse: Hubris, Hustle or Outright Scam?
by Doniphan Blair
Posted on Sep 27, 2011 – 12:25 PM
http://cinesourcemagazine.com/index.php?/site/comments/the_kerner_collapse_hubris_hustle_or_outright_scam/