Jeff White Named Creative Director of ILM Vancouver

'Kong: Skull Island' VFX supervisor Jeff White has been named creative director of ILM Vancouver.

VANCOUVER -- Academy Award-winning visual effects supervisor Jeff White has taken the role of creative director of Industrial Light & Magic’s Vancouver studio.

A 16-year veteran at the company, White’s creative leadership complements ILM Vancouver Executive in Charge Randal Shore’s business acumen, as the two set out to take the maturing studio to new heights.

Recently, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored White and three colleagues with a technical achievement award for his original design of ILM’s procedural rigging system, Block Party. He is also nominated for an Academy Award for visual effects for his contribution to Kong: Skull Island.

White joined ILM in 2002 as a creature technical director, working on a variety of films including the Academy Award-winning Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, as well as War of the Worlds and Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith.

In 2012, White served as the ILM visual effects supervisor on Marvel’s The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon, and earned both an Academy Award nomination and BAFTA nomination for his visual effects work. He also received the Hollywood Film Award for visual effects for the work. White also served as a visual effects supervisor on Duncan Jones’ 2016 sci-fi epic, Warcraft, based on the well-known video game World of Warcraft by Blizzard Entertainment.

“Jeff has truly done it all,” said Shore. “He is an extremely talented visual effects supervisor possessing both deep technical knowledge and a keen artistic eye, making him an ideal person to join our executive team and help lead our growing studio.”

“I’m thrilled to join ILM Vancouver and to work with Randal and the executive team as we continue to grow the studio and expand our client offerings,” said White. “Having worked with many of the artists here in Vancouver on a number of films including Kong: Skull Island, I know firsthand the amazing artistic and technical talent we have to offer and I couldn’t be more excited to share what I know and collaborate with them on all manner of projects.”

“I have worked with Jeff for many years now and have always been in awe of his combination of creative, technical and leadership skills,” said Lynwen Brennan, GM of Lucasfilm. “He exudes a confidence and grace under pressure that is quite unique and has made him one of most successful visual effects supervisors. I am excited for Jeff to bring all those skills to our Vancouver studio and help lead it from strength to strength.”

Initially conceived as a satellite office when it opened in 2012, ILM’s Vancouver studio became a permanent fixture in the company’s global operation in 2014. In 2017, the studio nearly doubled in size adding a second building adjacent to its original location in the Gastown neighborhood to house the studio’s ever-growing staff and has spearheaded ILM’s efforts on such films as Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Only the Brave and most recently, Ryan Coogler’s smash hit Black Panther and Ava DuVernay’s upcoming A Wrinkle in Time.

Source: ILM

Tom McLean has been writing for years about animation from a secret base in Los Angeles.