 The visual effects were designed and created by George Lucas ' Industrial Light & Magic ( ILM ) with Ken Ralston ( Who Framed Roger Rabbit , Sony Pictures Imageworks founder ) serving as the VFX supervisor . Rocketeer director Joe Johnston previously worked as an art director / model maker at ILM before his film directing career took off . Johnston 's insistence on a realistic flying <unk> led ILM to devise a lifelike Cliff Secord model that was filmed in " stop @-@ motion @-@ animation " coupled with an 18 " figurine that was manipulated by hand and in " go @-@ motion " to create " motion @-@ blur . " <unk> @-@ up Moviola effects were also used to advantage in the air circus sequence where a combination of live action and stop @-@ motion animation was also employed . 
