lucas king of film essay

Lucas: King of Film
Whether it be through his epic Star Wars saga, or through
the exalted
special effects crew he pioneered, Industrial Light and Magic, he
continues to
amaze audiences world wide. His name in synonymous with famous
directors/producers in the world. His impacts reach out in more
fields than
just film. He has created companies that produce award winning
video games, toy
companies produce action figures designed after characters from
his movies, many
books by many authors based on his original film stories, and
countless other
wings of Lucas' reign exist in today's world. Since his youth,
George Lucas has
experienced many influences, which in turn push him to make the
greatest
contributions to the film industry which leave an ever increasing
impact on film
today and the world.
Throughout history, it is apparent that those who are
recognized as
"great ones" were influenced in some way or another to become the
leader who
they are. In George Lucas' case, he was greatly influenced in
his late teens
and early twenties. Lucas claims to have chased girls and raced
cars throughout
high school, and barely made it through (Moritz 258). Soon after
high school,

Lucas attended Modesto Junior College in California and continued
to work on
cars as his main interest (Moritz 258). In Smith, Lucas is
quoted saying, "I
was a hell-raiser; lived, ate, breathed cars! That was
everything for me"(84).
Lucas even worked on pit crews for race cars when he met Haskell
Wexler, who
introduced him to film (Moritz 258). Eventually Lucas realized
his new passion
was film. Mr. Wexler helped Lucas gain admission into the
University of
Southern California's film department (Moritz 260). In
college Lucas was
the head of his film classes winning many awards and accolades.
His first
feature movie in college was titled THX-1138 and won his
university's award for
best film (Moritz 259).
Lucas is also inspired by his circle of friends and
fellow directors,
producers, and collaborations with them. With the success of
THX-1138 at the
university, Lucas was awarded the chance to be an observer on the
set of
Finian's Rainbow directed by University of Southern California
alumnus Francis
Ford Coppola (Champlin 7). Soon the two began to chat, and then
became friends,
so Coppola let Lucas work for him on the movie. With his hard

work, Lucas
earned the respect of Coppola who in turn did Lucas the favor of
convincing
producers to let Lucas direct a major motion picture (Moritz 7).
Lucas' first
major motion picture was American Graffiti, with this film
Coppola had given
Lucas the chance to make a foothold in the film industry, and he
certainly did.
Also, Lucas is supported by friends Steven Spielberg, John
Milius, Martin
Scorcese, and Ivan Reitman (Moritz 260). The group often
collaborate on
projects and get advice from each other on filmmaking (Moritz
258). Steven
Spielberg is quoted in Champlin's book saying:
Lucasfilm touches our lives from many different
directions, descending
upon our eyes, our ears, and our children. George has
never stopped
asking, "Any Ideas?" and the whole world has been a better
place for it.(7)
On the other hand, George Lucas is best identified with
the fantastic
list of movies he has had a part in, whether it be a big part, or
an even bigger
one, Lucas has a great deal of influence on movies listing his
name in the
credits. It is for sure that at one time or another, everyone
has heard of

Star Wars, the first part of a three movie trilogy, for which he
is best known
for the conception and production of. Since it's release in
1977, Star Wars has
grossed over four billion dollars in sales, making it the most
money making
movie ever (Lane and Samuelson 126). Lucas also produced all
three of the
Indiana Jones movies; Temple of Doom, Raiders of the Lost Ark,
and The Last
Crusade, which were directed by Steven Spielberg (Smith 83).
Currently,
Lucas has re-released his epic Star Wars saga, and titled it Star
Wars: special
edition, which has blown away viewers.
Perhaps his most important contribution to film is his
beginning of, and
ownership of the special effects crew ILM, standing for
Industrial Light and
Magic. Over the years, ILM has won ten Academy Awards, two
emmys, and six
British Academy Awards (Wolkomir 112). Without the techniques
still used today,
pioneered by ILM, movie making today might still be stuck in a
"Godzilla" like
special defects world. Randall praises ILM in his article
saying, "Indeed
almost every digital effects company has had executives that
learned the trade
at Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic" (127). ILM has produced

special effects
for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Independence Day (Wolkomir
112). ILM is
marked for being ahead of its time and all other special effects
companies,
especially in Star Wars which amazed audiences across the world
(Randall 127).
Furthermore, Lucas has impacted the film industry in
countless ways.
His main impacts are those on the film industry. Lucas set a
benchmark for
sound with his development of the sound system called THX
(Champlin 7). The
highest of quality home receivers and highest quality movie
theater sound
systems are designed with THX (Champlin 7). THX's motto is "the
audience is
listening" and they have been at Cineplex Odeon theaters across
the USA, and
other theaters hosting the dynamic sound system (Randall 127).
Although the
release of Star Wars in 1977 discouraged other directors by
blowing away all
special effects and sound barriers, this in turn set a new mark
for directors
to reach for in their movie productions. It's impacts like these
that improve
the film industry every day, and a lot of it traces back to
George Lucas.
The ability to make parents flock to toy stores day in

and day out
searching for much requested toys isn't hard to create in one's
self. Twenty
years after it's release, Star Wars is one of the top selling toy
lines today
(Leonhardt 79). Parents were described as "fleas" swarming the
toy shops this
past Christmas (Leonhardt 78). The fact that Lucas expected to
make
$500,000,000 in overall Star Wars saga related sales after the
release of Jedi,
but really topped $4,000,000,000 is quite the audience impact
also (Moritz 259).
Everyone remembers Steven Spielberg's E.T.: the extra
terrestrial, parents and
children couldn't get enough of the lovable foreigner, but Star
Wars' profits
exceeded that of E.T.'s for all time sales (Snead 6).
Through his influences, Lucas has managed to impact our
lives with his
many contributions to the entertainment industry. With praise
from others like
Francis Ford Coppola and Steven Spielberg, it is definite Lucas
is a film legend
of our time. He has had many contributions and films we all know
and love. He
has reached out to all generations; the elder with memories in
American Graffiti,
and the young and young at heart with Star Wars, and the real
science fiction

fans with his perfected version of THX-1138. He has impacted
other filmmakers
and audiences alike. Traces of his greatness reach out through
our world.
Works Cited
Champlin, Charles. George Lucas: The Creative Impulse. New
York: Harry N.
Abrams, 1992.
Lane, Randall. "George's Industry" Forbes 11 Mar. 1996: 127.
Leonhardt, David. "The Empire Strikes Again" Business Week. 1
Jan. 1996: 48.
Moritz, Charles. "Lucas, George" Current Biography Yearbook Ed.
Evelyn Lohr
and Henry Swan. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1978.
Samuelson, James, and Lane Randall. "Money Machine" Forbes
Mar. 1996: 126.
Smith, Diane G. American Filmmakers Today. New York: Julian
Messner, 1983.
Sterritt, David. "Are Movie Marketers Too Mighty?" Christian
Science Monitor.
31 July 1995: 1+
Wolkomir, Richard. "High-Tech Hokum is Changing the Way Movies
are Made."
Smithsonian. Oct. 1990: 112-125.