300 Trailer

[Tenolian Bell]

I just saw this before The Departed.

 

Looks pretty cool. Obviously another HD greensecreen affair.

With most of the photography work going to the post digital artists.

 

Hopefully there is a good story behind the dazzling visuals.

 

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/300/

[Emmanuel Lariviere]

I just saw this before The Departed.

 

Looks pretty cool. Obviously another HD greensecreen affair.

With most of the photography work going to the post digital artists.

 

Hopefully there is a good story behind the dazzling visuals.

 

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/300/

 

There's tons of compositing but it's shot on 35mm. Check out the blogs on the website.

[Tenolian Bell]

Yep you are right. I looked at the video blogs. True enough they are shooting with Panavision Millennium, Arri 435 and 235.

 

You cannot see it so much on the web trailer. But the detail in the theatrical trailer had a low rez digital feel. Hopefully that is only the trailer and that detail will be smoother in the actual projection print.

[Jesus Sifuentes]

looks pretty wicked man! not very fond of full scale cgi films but this trailer got my attention.

[Tenolian Bell]

I watched the 1080P trailer at full screen on a 24" iMac. The iMac has a 1920x1200 monitor.

 

The 1080P trailer looked a lot better than the theatrical trailer I saw. There were no telltale digital signs. But you could clearly see grain. They even digitally put grain into the background composites. This made me very happy and more excited to see the movie.

 

Admittedly I'm much more a fan of the organic tactile quality of grain than the cold ultra-cleanness of HD.

[Matt Goldberg]

There was a longer trailer that got pulled from Internet-- I don't know if it is still circulating (it's about 3 minutes long), but if you get a chance, you may want to check that out. I felt more of the vibrancy of the 300 story in that one.....

 

-Matt

[Adam White]

If they do justice to the 300 story they its shaping up to be a hell of a film. It will not please everyone though, I know a lot of people for whom Sin City was a painfull watching experience.

 

Personaly, I hope this, and the 2nd Sin City flick will increase the chances of someone attemping "Dark Knight Returns"

 

I can dream, cant I?

[Jason Maeda]

Looks pretty silly but I'll also be first in line to check it out so...

 

I was actually standing on the hill in Thermopylae where the last of the Spartans died. there's a pretty cool statue of Leonidas and the famouse plaque. it is overwhelming to stand on that spot...we're all reading left to right still because of these men, if you know what i mean.

 

Does anyone know if the decent thermopylae book "gates of fire" has been optioned? it would be great to contrast with this cartoonish version.

 

jk :ph34r:

[Max Jacoby]

Some years ago Michael Mann was supposed to do a film with this title, but it never materialized.

[Tomas Koolhaas]

The 300 hundred who died at Thermopylae saved our way of life, we would all be praying towards Mecca if it wasnt for them, everyone in the west owes them EVERYTHING, whether they know it or not.

Gates of Fire is the best book ever!!! EVERY man in the world should be forced to read it!!!

The 300 graphic novel is cool but innacurate, the film will probably be the same (and very sin city like visually, which some people dont like, but I do...alot).

If you want to option 'Gates of Fire' you will have to kill me first....seriously, get in line.

I will still enjoy this film just because it is about the 300 and looks really good (very much like the graphic novel).

Cheers.

[Charles Haine]

If you want to research the book rights, call the publisher (or go to their website), and find the Rights and Clearances fax number. This research, as far as I can tell, is always done by fax.

 

Fax them saying "This fax is to investigate the film and television rights for XXXX, ISBN: yadda yadda whatever, please contact me at XXX."

 

Include your fax number, if you have one, or your email, and eventually you will hear back who currently owns the option, and sometimes they'll tell you how long they have left.

 

There are folks out there who started their careers by hoping on the options of books they really loved; Stephen King also has some great deal with first time film makers can option his short stories for $1, or something, but that might just be a rumor.

 

If you love Gates of Fire, find out who has the option now, when it expires, and get in touch with the current option holder to see if you can get involved.

 

charles haine

[Jaan Shenberger]

The 300 hundred who died at Thermopylae saved our way of life, we would all be praying towards Mecca if it wasnt for them, everyone in the west owes them EVERYTHING, whether they know it or not...

 

i get the gist of what you're saying regarding early western culture, but the battle of thermopylae preceeded the birth of islam by roughly 1000 years.

[Tomas Koolhaas]

i get the gist of what you're saying regarding early western culture, but the battle of thermopylae preceeded the birth of islam by roughly 1000 years.

 

Yes I know.....Xerxes made his people worship him as god and wouldnt have allowed any other prophets/gods (such as islam) to be worshiped even if it had existed at the same time, as you probably realise, the same people who fought to invade greece are NOW all islamic, hence my comment, I would have thought that it was obvious I wasnt insinuating Xerxes was trying to spread islam to the greeks.

[Leo Anthony Vale]

Yes I know.....Xerxes made his people worship him as god and wouldnt have allowed any other prophets/gods (such as islam) to be worshiped even if it had existed at the same time, as you probably realise, the same people who fought to invade greece are NOW all islamic, hence my comment, I would have thought that it was obvious I wasnt insinuating Xerxes was trying to spread islam to the greeks.

 

Later, the Persians paid the Greeks to fight each other. That was a much more successful tactic.

 

Don't forget Rudolf Mate's "The 300 Spartans', photographed by Geoffrey Unsworth.

it used real extras.

[Paul Bruening]

Hello Gents,

 

History aside, it looks like a fine visual indulgence. I have noticed in the past, however, that it is not unusual to see every cool part of a movie in the promotional trailer. I guess I'll find out for sure since the trailer sold me. Damn, does it look sexy and breath taking! It is so rare to really see vision in a modern movie. There is such a tendency to visually dumb movies down for what is, agreeably, an artistically incompetant audience (I am talking about the USA, of course). Anyway, I hope it kicks my ass all over the theater. I haven't had that in a long time.

 

Paul

[Mark Allen]

I'm not a big fan of the greenscreen movies - but mostly because they tend to be emotionally bereft. I do think the art design on this trailer seems superior and exciting... However... my gutt tells me this will be another movie which leaves me feeling empty and longing for the sharing of humanity which I love the movies for.

 

I would LOVE to love this movie. What makes me think I won't is that just about every line in the trailer is delivered in the same empty feeling bravado "SPARTA" proclamation tone. I could hardly tell the voices appart from eachother because everyone was acting from the same page. The line "Then we will fight in the shadows" stands out so strongly because it's different. But every line should stand out because it's different. So, if this is a taste of the movie - I'm thinking "ugh... how much of that could I eat?

[Jaan Shenberger]

...The line "Then we will fight in the shadows" stands out so strongly because it's different...

 

the reason for that is probably because that line wasn't written by frank miller-- he seems to only know how to write dialogue that should be coming from the mouth of a cro-magnon or an on-duty stripper.

 

it's a supposed quote from the actual battle.

[Tomas Koolhaas]

the reason for that is probably because that line wasn't written by frank miller-- he seems to only know how to write dialogue that should be coming from the mouth of a cro-magnon or an on-duty stripper.

 

it's a supposed quote from the actual battle.

 

It is a quote from Dienekes...what he actually said (according to accepted history) was "good then we will have our battle in the shade".

[Jason Maeda]

"There is such a tendency to visually dumb movies down for what is, agreeably, an artistically incompetant audience (I am talking about the USA, of course). "

 

First of all you spelled "incompetent" incorrectly. The irony alone should help shame you into avoiding making sweeping generalizations like this that manage to be simultaneously offensive and innacurate. I went to your website for additional if unnecessary ammo for this post but found it, appropriately, not working.

 

To avoid future embarrassment, please do not accuse a huge and varied population of "artistic incompetence", especially when arguing the importance of a Hollywood film based on a cartoon.

 

jk :ph34r:

Edited November 22, 2006 by jasonkollias

[Paul Bruening]

Wow, I got flamed.

[Tomas Koolhaas]

the reason for that is probably because that line wasn't written by frank miller-- he seems to only know how to write dialogue that should be coming from the mouth of a cro-magnon or an on-duty stripper.

 

it's a supposed quote from the actual battle.

 

To be fair the Spartans were renowned for speaking in a very short, direct and aggressive manner (not surprisingly) they felt that being overly verbose or trying to use language in a "clever" or "tricky" manner was efeminate and therefor a worse fate than death. So that style of dialogue may be appropriate in this case.

[Jason Maeda]

Furthermore, ancient Greek is a much more efficient language than our own, as is modern Greek. For example, Leonidas's famous reply of "come and take them" to the Persian demand that the Greeks give up their swords and shields is, in Greek, a two-word sentence: "Molon labe". Keeping an English-language script as succinct as possible seems appropriate.

 

As for speaking in a vaguely British accent and having perfect, full-body wax jobs, I don't know how accurate that is. :lol:

 

jk :ph34r:

[A. Whitehouse]

As for speaking in a vaguely British accent and having perfect, full-body wax jobs, I don't know how accurate that is. :lol:

 

jk :ph34r:

 

If I remember classics properly their was an emphasis in Spartan society on hairless bodies plus strict dietary and exercise regimes. Bred for war, the women too. The Spartans, it also turns out, were actually english...

 

Sasha

[Mike Rizos]

Some of these notes about the Persian invasion may be a little off topic, but I like to add them here to clarify a few things, and for the benefit of those who are interested.

 

The Persian invasion of Greece took place in 480-479BC.

The war was mainly fought in two land, and two sea battles.

Herodotos is the overwhelming source, and wrote the history of the invasion in 430-425BC, 50 years after it happened.

We have no written account of the Persian side of the events.

 

Herodotos, puts the invading Persian army and navy at 5,300,000.

Simonidis, a poet and contemporary of Herodotos, 4,000,000.

Ctesias of Cnedus, a Persian source, whose writings have not survived, 800,000.

18th and 19th century historians put it at 500,000-2,000,000.

20th century historians about 300,000-500,000.

Some modern military tacticians estimate it at 175,000.

 

At Thermopulae the Greek army was

7,000 (Herodotots)

4,000 (Diodoros Siculus)

11,200 (Pausanias)

All the later antiquity historians agree with Herodotos on the number of Spartans (300), Thebans (400), and Thespians (700) among the others.

 

According to Herodotos, the Greeks only send a small army because the Olympiad had not yet ended. Modern scholorship generally disputes this view.

Farther north, Xerxes avoided battle with 10,000 Spartans and Athenians by taking a different route. The 10,000 were recalled.

 

On the third day, Leonidas, being informed of the Persian advance through a mountain path, ordered everyone but Spartans and Thebans to withdraw. The Thespians refused to leave and stayed. The Thespains were led by Thernophilos, an architect. During the insuing fighting the Thebans surrendered, Leonidas was killed, and the remaining Spartans and Thespians annihilated.

Estimates on the Persian dead vary from 20,000-50,000.

 

There was a simultaneous naval battle at Artenisium, which was pretty much a draw, and the Athenian navy retreated. The Persians went on to sack Attica.

 

The saying attributed to Dionekes "we will have our battle in the shade" appears in Herodotos. It may have been a joke. It's extremely hot in the area in August.

 

Monon lave(monwn labe)-come and get'm- is not mentioned by Herodotos. It makes it's appearance in Plutarch's Moralia, about 600 years later.

 

The most famous epigram about Thermopulae was written by Simonidis:

Stranger, go tell the Spartans that here we lie, in obedience to their laws.

 

The next month, the Greeks won the naval battle of Salamis, and most of the Persian force retreated. The remaining Persian army was defeated at Platea in 479BC.

 

Just my two nano-drachmas.

[Mike Rizos]

Monon lave

 

Oops! That's supposed to be molon lave!