300 (2007)

300 (2007)

 

Advanced  photorealistic CGI backgrounds

300 (2006)
Original Poster

Video (HD) (Comparison of original film and footage without CGI effects)

CGI making of (HD)

CGI making of 2 (HD)

Trivia:

1) 90 percent of film backgrounds is CGI.

2) In an effort to get the studio executives to commit to making the movie, Zack Snyder and his team scanned every image from Frank Miller's graphic novel into a computer. They then removed all of the dialogue and descriptive prose, and added simple animation to each frame (such as burning fire, moving clouds, sparkling eyes etc.). They then edited these shots together into what amounted to an animated comic strip, and Snyder hired his friend Scott Glenn to record a voice-over narration for the piece. Snyder brought the film to Warner Bros, but they said they needed more to convince them that the movie could work. As such, he decided to shoot a live-action 'test' - a 90-second 360-degree continuous shot featuring a single Spartan killing several Persians. The combination of the animated comic images and the test convinced Warner Bros that Snyder and his team were capable of making the movie. An extract from the animation as well as the entire test can be found as an Easter egg on disc 1 of the 2-Disc special edition DVD of the film. 

3) Directed by Zack Snyder.

4) For more CGI backgrounds watch Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004).

5) Film is banned in Iran. (Shortly after its release, Iranian bloggers and journalists were outraged by the movie. With headlines like "Hollywood Declares War on Iranians", they chastised the movie for its monstrous portrayal of the ancient Persians, ancestors of modern Iranians. A cultural adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called it "American psychological warfare against Iran." Thus far, no mention has been made of the opening or closing scenes, which reveal that the Persians' portrayal is a result of the story being told from a Spartan's point of view, rather than an omniscient, contemporary viewpoint.)

6) This movie mistakenly (as many movies on films web sites) listed as it was released in 2006. Only infinished version was presented on film festival in 2006, actual film premiere was in 2007.