Trivia on the movie 300 (Source: IMDB):
The film was shot in 60 days.
The film was shot on green screen in Montreal.
There are 1500 cuts in the film, and about 1300 involve some sort
of visual effect.
The work was photographed completely in Montreal, with the
exception of two days of insert shooting in Los Angeles.
Ten visual effects vendors contributed to the film, spread over
three continents.
The filmmakers used bluescreen 90% of the time, and greenscreen
for 10%. They chose blue because it better matched the lighting
paradigm (green would have been too bright) and because red
garments (a la spartan capes) look better when shot over
blue.
There was one day of location shooting, which was for the horses
that were shot for the 'approaching sparta' scene.
Post production took almost a year. The film was edited on an
Avid, with an HD cut also maintained in Final Cut Pro The 3D was
made using Maya, XSI, and Lightwave The 2D composites were made
with Shake, Inferno, Fusion, and Combustion. The filmmakers prefer
Macintosh, but large portions of the movie were made under Linux.
Asset management was handled by custom software written in the
Panorama development environment, made by Provue. Color management
was handled by Truelight software. The film was scanned on a
northlight scanner and was recorded on the arrilaser. Most of the
film was shot at high speed, between 50 and 150fps. Normal film is
at 24fps. The film was transferred to HD SR tape and quicktime, and
HD quicktimes were the basis for the HD preview cuts. The working
resolution for the film was 2K, at a working aspect ratio of 2.11
and a projected aspect ratio of 2.35.
The script demanded that most of the male cast spend the majority
of their screen time bare-chested, as per Frank Miller's original
graphic novel. Therefore, in order to adequately present themselves
as the most well-trained and marshalled fighting force of the time,
the entire principal cast underwent a rigorous and varied training
regime for 6 weeks prior to shooting.
Sienna Miller and Silvia Colloca were each considered for the
role of Queen Gorgo.
According to an interview with IGN.com, Director Zack Snyder says
that fighting styles and formations (particularly the Spartan's
phalanx) were purposefully changed - making them historically
inaccurate - so they'd "look cool" and work better for movie
purposes.
The movie never claims to be historically correct. It is based
somewhat loosely on Frank Miller's 1998 comic book mini-series.
Changes from history were made by Miller and Snyder so as to appeal
to a wider audience and create a more exciting and visually
stunning action movie, rather than a typical historical epic.
Frank Miller was inspired by the original Battle of Thermopylae
after viewing the 1962 film "The 300 Spartans" as a child. His
perception of the 'hero' concept changed greatly after seeing the
Spartans make their sacrifice.
