"When you grow up in Hawai'i, movies and the film industry seem very far away," he said. "You dream that you could work for Disney or Industrial Light & Magic, but it's sort of a pipe dream."

As the final Star Wars film, "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," opens across the country, he'll find out just how much of an imprint a guy from Hawai'i can make on one of the most influential film franchises in history.

The Mid-Pacific Institute and University of Hawai'i graduate spent nearly two years as part of a team of "pre-visualization animatics" artists responsible for turning storyboard sketches into 3-dimensional computer mock-ups that in turn served as the framework for the final computer-generated images that wind up on the big screen.

As Mori explains it, the process started with visual ideas from writer/director/producer George Lucas' script — everything from planets to spaceships to costumes to furniture. Concept design artists created storyboards — detailed sketches of figures and scenes — that were sent to Mori and his animatics teammates, who use CGI (computer-generated image) technology to flesh out each sequence, shot by shot.

The team worked on the third floor of the famed Skywalker Ranch; Lucas worked on the second floor. For the first few months, Lucas would meet with the team each Friday to review work and direct revisions. As the film got closer to completion, Lucas came up every day around lunchtime for a few hours.

"When we started, Fridays were a big thing," Mori said. "There would be dead silence. (Lucas) is pretty casual, but everyone was respectful because, you know, he's George Lucas. He is the studio. He is 'Star Wars.'"

It's rare for animatic artists to see their work directly on screen, Mori says, but "Revenge of the Sith" bears at least two distinct imprints from Mori's hand.

Working off a painting by art director Ryan Church, Mori came up with the overall mood and lighting for a scene in which Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi find the remains of the slaughtered Jedi younglings.

Mori also did the texturing for the Grievous Wheel, the armored attack vehicle used by bad guy General Grievous.

Chris Lee, chairman of the University of Hawai'i film school and executive producer of the new film "Superman Returns," worked with Mori at the Honolulu-based CGI studio Square Hawai'i, which produced 2001's "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within."

"Hiroshi's a terrific artist," Lee said. "There was a time when storyboards were enough, but with computerized pre-visualization, the director, crew and actors can actually see every angle, lens and position in an entire scene in advance ... It's really quite an amazing tool, and I'm sure George Lucas and his team, including Hiroshi, made the most of it."

Hawai'i to Hollywood

Hiroshi Mori

He majored in communications at UH because it was the only program that had any sort of relation to film work.

"There were a couple of video production classes," he recalled. "I also took an art class called 'Images in Motion' where I did my first animation on Super-8. The offerings at UH were pretty skimpy at the time."

More substantial training came years later when Mori studied experimental animation at California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles. His master's thesis, a short film titled "Chair," screened at the 'Ohina Short Film Showcase.

Mori returned to Hawai'i and joined the short-lived CGI studio Square Hawai'i, where he worked as a texture artist on "Final Fantasy." He returned to California after a brief stint doing educational DVDs for the Ohana Foundation.

"You have to go where you can be tested, where your area of expertise is practiced at the highest level," Mori said. "Even when I was in school in the '80s, there was always that question of 'brain drain,' but you have to go where the opportunities are."

Mori landed at Lucasfilm in October 2002 and spent his first four months there working on the director's cut of "THX 1138," Lucas' first film.

Then came "Revenge of the Sith."

"It was cool, but you can't afford to be too much of a fan," Mori said. "You can't get crazy over it. Make no mistake, it was long hours and hard work. We all knew it was a unique opportunity, and that we'd have to go beyond the call of duty. We'd have no life; the job was our life."

Yet Mori said working 15-hour days and pulling all-nighters to meet those Friday deadlines didn't bother him because of the camaraderie within his team and the creative freedom each artist enjoyed.

Because Lucas owns Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic and all the rights to "Star Wars," the creative process was surprisingly direct, Mori said. "We were working directly with (Lucas). This was the leanest, most fat-free job environment I had ever seen."

Guest director Steven Spielberg gave up ideas over the speaker phone. Old Lucas pal Francis Ford Coppola stopped by just to hang out.

"What struck me was how fast they came up with ideas," Mori said. "We'd discuss something one day and the next day, (Spielberg) would come back with 20 or 30 new ideas."

Mori said he's encouraged by the development of the Island film industry, particularly the establishment of film and digital media programs at UH and the community colleges.

"You have to start from the ground up," he says. "That's the only way to build the local industry."

In fact, Mori said, he'd love to see the local industry develop to the point where he could split his working time between Hollywood and Honolulu.

The distance, he's discovered, is not so great.