Check out the visually stunning trailer for Frank Miller’s 300.
I continue to be fascinated by the art of movie trailers. This one IS the movie, about as condensed as possible. In what felt like 20 seconds (I didn’t actually time it) it tells you everything you need to know right up front: that they’re going to die, that their principles and identities are more important to them than their lives, that they’re up against incredible odds, and (for the ladies) that they’re ridiculously buff and macho. The composition of each frame is outstanding (the result of the control you’ve got when everything but the actors and the ground they’re standing on is added in later by artists), and really shows up how bad, from an artistic standpoint, a lot most movies are in this regard. Also, note how much the music adds, and how well it’s synched up to each scene. Very cool.
The interviews and artwork at the movie’s production blog are very interesting, particularly what the actors and extras went through to get in shape.
UPDATE: A longer, but lower-quality (leaked?) trailer is here.
Another UPDATE: You can see comparisons between the movie and the graphic novel here.
5 Comments
I was knocked out that the director (or stunt coordinator) was claiming they had no idea ‘how’ the Greeks fought so they had to make it up for the movie - combining fighting styles they know for the overall effect.
Really? It seems that that the style and method of warfare during the Persian Wars is well enough documented - I found it on Wiki in just a few mouse clicks. Sure we may not know exactly how the Spartns were armed and how they fought at that battle but it could not have differed much from their contemporires. Sparta was just better at it than anyone else in that era.
It didn’t seem too fancy - eschewing a lot of martial arts foofraw in exchange for toughness, discipline, and grimly marching forward with shields locked against your opposition.
Probably looked like a rugby scrum with blades and metal.
I’m sure the guy meant “we know all about hoplite equipment and tactics, the phalanx, etc., but unfortunately Herodotus does not tell us which school of kung fu they favored”.
;-)
Of course, in (possibly another) one of the video clips, they point out that they’re really not interested in historical accuracy at all, and just want to bring Miller’s story to life as vividly as they can (and Miller’s version was influenced by The 300 Spartans, I think), which they regard as sort of an Opera version of the historical event.
The director hasn’t done much, but he’s also directing Moore’s (that’s Alan, not Michael) Watchman.
I think the movie is growing on me. But I’m descended from gloomy Scots - doomed last stands and hopeless gestures are in my blood.
I’m Irish, so despite the fact that I’m a life-long teetotaler, the only thing in my blood is whisky.
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