Watch: Recreating the First ILM in ‘Voice of a Star Wars Fan’ Short Film

Watch: Recreating the First ILM in ‘Voice of a Star Wars Fan’ Short Film

by Alex Billington
December 4, 2023
Source: YouTube

“I’m not exaggerating when I say that… my life was the Millennium Falcon.” A Japanese Star Wars fan spent a few years making a remarkably detailed, perfectly accurate recreation of the original ILM workshop FX studio that made the first Star Wars movie. There’s an entrancing 20 minute short doc about it online that is absolutely worth a watch. It is the story of Hiroshi Sumi, a big-time Star Wars geek who grew up with a deep fondness for the “behind-the-scenes” work of ILM, and a powerful love for the precise details in all of the hand-made FX models. Especially the Millennium Falcon, which he has a special connection to. I found this thanks to John Gruber and I think his post really captures what makes it such a fascinating story: “An homage and loving look back at the earliest days of Industrial Light and Magic… It speaks to the power of obsession.” Any & every Star Wars fan will appreciate Hiroshi’s admiration for this beloved movie series.

Thanks to the site Daring Fireball for the tip on this. Original project into is from the explanation found on Kyabetsumade’s Twitter: “This miniature is a reproduction of the first ILM (model workshop) that produced the [original Star Wars movie]. It is about 1/3 scale. In order to manufacture the product with the correct dimensions as possible, we actually went to the location and took various measurements. A variety of people help us create items.” Voice of a Star Wars Fan is a short film about this directed by Hiroshi Sumi aka “Kyabetsumade” – you can follow him on Twitter @kyabetsumade or visit his YouTube channel for more. There’s also an early rendering of the model he posted here to see how far it comes since then. For more info on the film, follow キャベツコータロウ. To discover even more shorts, click here. Thoughts on his creation?

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