Tour notes - LucasFilm

I got an opportunity a couple of weeks ago to get a tour of ILM, and after thinking about it for several milliseconds, I decided to jump on the chance. I met my friend at the Yoda Fountain, and went inside to get registered. The place is like a working museum of movie awesomeness - there's a life-size model of Darth Vader, movie posters from Mr. Lucas' private collection all over the place, and large-scale miniatures from every cool movie you can think of.

The first thing we did was go into a screening room and check our the company's reel. It was really refreshing to see not just new movies but to see a history of industry-leading and cutting-edge effects going back almost 30 years. I was very impressed with the way they put that together.

After this point, there's no more photos. Like the other places I've toured (and places I've worked), they have to keep things confidential. But I can say that they have a really cool eating area with VERY good food (for a discounted rate), a really cool public park on the grounds, and a friendly atmosphere. Most of the people I passed smiled and held doors for one another. [Bonus! I do have a photo of the burger I ate]

After getting a tour of Pixar, Dreamworks, and now ILM, I don't think there's anything left for me to tour in the Bay Area! I've already been through a lot of the major studios in LA. I guess I can try to get into Digital Domain...