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Pow does Zack Snyder's vlslonary concepL deslgns wlLhln Lhe fllm 300 compare Lo Lhe graphlc
novel by lrank Mlller?


lnLroducLlon

1hls Lssay wlll examlne 1he vlslonary concepL deslgns from Lhe fllm 300 Also Lhe asslgnmenL
wlll be Comparlng Lhe dlfferences made wlLhln seL deslgn from Lhe orlglnal graphlc novel
#(M|||er f Vfr|e 1999) and whaL Lechnlques and Lechnology were used wlLhln Lhls fllm
Lo creaLe Lhe seLs Lhrough Lhe orlglnal vlslon from lrank Mlller 1hls essay wlll also be looklng
lnLo Lhe Speclal leaLures ulsc from Lhe 5peclol Jltloo uvJ #(2fn Ser 2007) whlch wlll
explore Lhe Lplsodes wlLhln lL whlch are based on Lhe seL casL and crew and how lL
dlfferenLlaLes from oLher fllms such as Lhe fllm 5lo clty#%rf M|||er kobert kor|guez
uet| 1frft|o 200S% Lhe research of Lhls fllm wlll be Looklng Lhe comparlsons from Lhe
producLlon deslgn and dlrecLlng ablllLles by lrank mlller knowlng hls novel perfecLly Lo Zack
Snyder's verslon 8elng a fan from chlldhood
lourLhly 8esearch wlll proceed wlLh an lnLervlew lrom nell Mlller Lo Lhe dlrecLor Zach Snyder
golng ln depLh on hls alms and oplnlons of Lhe fllm and whaL he wanLed Lo achleve and how he
belleves he has capLured hls vlslon otetvlew ultectot 2ocb 5oyJet 1olks # %M|||er 2007%
llnally research wlll be carrled ouL lnLo Lhe oplnlons of 8oger LberL ln hls revlew on Lhe fllm
8y koqet bett# (koger bert 2008) whlch wlll help wlLh Lhe dlscusslon on hls LhoughLs on
Lhe producLlon managemenL and SeL ueslgn
Maln Lssay
ln some oplnlons Lhe mosL LxLravaganL producLlon wlLhln Lhe fllm 300 ls Lhe CCl wlLh !ames u
8lssel as roducLlon ueslgner and Chrls WaLLs as vlsual LffecLs Supervlsor Lhey collaboraLe Lo
creaLe ouLsLandlng scenes all wlLh reference back Lo whaL Zach Snyder referred Lo as hls blble
LhroughouL Lhe producLlon process followlng a sLep by sLep sLoryboard from lrank Mlller's
Craphlc novel 300 Zach Snyder had full lnLenLlons Cf maklng hls fllm ln Lhe sLyle of Mlller's
novel because lL lnsplred hlm so much he baLLled wlLh Warner 8ros on several occaslons Lo geL
Lhe permlL Lo creaLe Lhls fllm changlng aspecLs of hls ldea every Llme unLll evenLually Lhey gave
ln and 8ecame accusLom Lo hls vlslon Snyder wenL Lo !ames 8lssel roducLlon ueslgner Lo
creaLe Lhe seLs and sLarL worklng on Lhe concepL deslgns for Lhe fllm and once he had done Lhls
8lssel reLurned Lo Snyder Lo whlch Snyder asked Jbot Jo we bove to bollJ# %2fn Ser
2007) and Lhey came back wlLh a mlnlmal seL llsL such as lndoor sLone Lemple ouLdoor baslc
vlllage for SparLa And Lhe key Cb[ecL needed was a Puge preclsely shaped rock
1he mulLlpurpose rock nlcknamed by Lhe dlrecLor as Lhe rabblL# on Lhe elemenL LhaL lL looked
llke a rabblL and Lo help dlrecLlng ablllLles 1he rock ls a key elemenL lnLo Lhe seL deslgn wlLhln
Lhe fllm when Lhe rock was produced Snyder cllmbed up onLo lL and knew exacLly where he
wanLed hls shoLs and so Lhey began Lhe Lwo monLh process or fllmlng Lhe rock ln several
poslLlons and several angles surrounded by blue screen for Chrls WaLLs Lo come and work hls
maglc Cn Lhe Speclal leaLures uvd Pe menLlons he had Lo produce 8631 dlfferenL vlsual effecL
elemenLs whlch he also sLaLed was a personal record for hlm 1hls quanLlLy [usL shows Lhe CCl
lnvolved ls Lo a very hlgh sLandard and Lakes a loL of perfecLlon Lo achleve Lhe overall quallLy
whlch Snyder had ln mlnd Lo maLch Lhe Craphlc novel

Fig, The uiaphic Novel Fig. The Film

Pavlng waLched Lhe lllm 300 before readlng Lhe Craphlc novel Lhe resulL ls ouLsLandlng and
every page of Lhe book Lhe audlence would be walLlng for some elemenL LhaL lsn'L ln Lhe fllm
whlch aparL from a couple of scenes Lhls ls Lrue beLween Lhe sLoryllne of Lhe fllm and Lhe novel
lL ls ldenLlcal from Lhe color paleLLe Lo Lhe exLremlsL seL deslgn and overdramaLlc numbers of
erslans ln Lhe baLLle 1be movle pteseots otbet sceoes of lmposslblllty look ot tbe looq sbots of
tbe mosseJ letsloos 1bete ote so mooy tbey woolJ bove pteseoteJ o loqlstlcol olqbtmote now
to feeJ ooJ wotet tbem? (koger bert 2008) eople would argue LhaL Lhls ls lrrelevanL as Lhe
fllm ls purely based upon arLwork and Lhe creaLlve sLyllng's of lrank Mlller known for hls unlque
sLyle and color paleLLe and way of Lelllng Lhe sLory Lherefore whaL LberL ls saylng ls referrlng Lo
reallLy and Lhe humanlLy aspecL for Lhe fllm Lo see Lhe lmposslble buL Lhe sLory of 300 ls
acLually belng Lold Lhrough Lhe eyes of anoLher person Lherefore Lurnlng Lhe sLory Lo an
represenLaLlon of evenLs Lherefore overdramaLlc scenes and momenLs lncludlng Lens of
Lhousands of erslans pourlng Lowards 300 SparLans
1he Color aleLLe wlLhln Lhe lllm ln comparlson Lo Lhe graphlc novel ls ln some respecLs
ldenLlcal wlLh Lhe graphlc novel belng ln malnly ?ellow And 8ed wlLh a hlnL of blue wlLhln
semloLlcs Lhls could resemble blood ln Lhe sand or war ln Lhe alr eople would argue Lhe sLrong
color paleLLe resemblance ls whaL makes Lhe fllm feel more llke a comlc Lhan a fllm however
Snyder wenL wlLh Lhe look Lo follow Lhe codes and convenLlons of Lhe sLory such as Lhe blood
splLLlng and paln caused wlLhln Lhe novel 8otb fllms ote foltbfol to Mlllets plots ooJ Jtowloqs
leoto teflects tbe book olmost pooelbypooel (koger bert 2008)
whlch ls very Lrue however Snyder he menLloned how he had full lnLenLlons of maklng Lhe book
feel llke Lhe novel excepL broughL Lo llfe Also Lhe graphlc novel has a loL more Lalklng wlLhln Lhe
over dramaLlc lmagery and blood spaLLered pages whereas Lhe fllm has more llghLlng scenes Lo
show Lhe lnLenslLy of Lhe baLLle and Lhe message Mlller was Lrylng Lo communlcaLe wlLhln hls
novel of Lhe baLLle and Lhe bravery of Lhe men and whaL Lhey sLood for

llg1 1op lllm 300 llg2 8oLLom Craphlc novel 300

ln llg2 1he orlglnal novel verslon of Lhe sLory Lhe emphasls of Lhe cllff edge and Lhe men
plunglng Lo Lhelr deaLh ls very sLoryboard# whereas llg1 ls Lhe sLoryboard come Lo llfe wlLh
Lhe sun ln poslLlon Lhe color paleLLe followlng Lhe convenLlons of flg2 wlLh Lhe sllhoueLLe sLyle
kllllngs ls very abnormal ln respecL of Lhe camera angle faclng Lhe sun whlch ls acLually a CCl
ueslgn on a blue screen ln Lhe background and forwarded onLo Lhe edlLlng sulLe Lo plece lL
LogeLher wlLh sound Lhe closeness of Lhe fllm Lo Lhe novel ls almosL ldenLlcal however Lhe
depLh wlLhln Lhe CCl sky has been played wlLh for more reallsm and Lo brlng Lhe audlence lnLo
Lhe plcLure wlLh relevance from humanlLy

When Looklng aL Lhe graphlc novel Lhe volceovers from Cerard 8uLler and uavld Wenham
really sLand ouL ln form of quoLes as Lhey bulld up Lo key momenLs and key llnes wlLhln Lhe fllm
such as Lhe messenger Lo Leonldas says # 1bls ls blospbemy tbls ls moJoess!# # 1bls ls 5potto!#
(M|||er f Vfr|e 1999) whlch shows how close Lhe fllm ls Lo Lhe graphlc novel and how well
Snyder sLudled Lhe novel and Lo know whlch blLs he wanLed emphaslzed for effecL and how he
read Lhe book ln hls head whlch helped hlm encourage Lhe seL deslgn wlLh Lhe book from Lhe
cllff edges and huge wells wlLhln a small Lown and Lhe really absLracL work wlLhln Lhe deslgns






Concluslon

ln relevance Lo lrank Mlller's graphlc novel l belleve Lhe seL deslgns and producLlon are hlghly
relevanL and LhaL Lhe novel works on a sLoryboard basls Lowards Lhe fllm helplng Snyder achleve
Lhe vlslon he was looklng for ln accordance wlLh Lhe color paleLLe Lhe scenes are [usLlfled Lo be
[usL llke Lhe novel wlLh sepla Lones for Lhe erslans and Lhe 8rlghL 8ed Cloaks of Lhe erslans Lo
show Lhe aggresslon of blood and war wlLhln anclenL Creece 1he research lnLo Lhe CCl ln Lhe
fllm ls proven Lo be a loL of work for Lhe deslgners and has made a greaL lmpacL on Lhe overall
resulL as graphlc novel come Lo llfe reallsLlc sLyllzed backdrops and abnormal camera angles Lo
show Lhe depLh of Lhe fllm and Lhe baLLle of Lhe brave 300

8lbllography
Mlller lrank and varley Lynn %1999% topblc Novel uSA
5peclol leototes Jlsc %2007% ulrecLed by Zack Snyder uvu uSA Warner 8ros
LnLerLalnmenL lnc
5lo clty %2003% ulrecLed by lrank Mlller 8oberL 8odrlguez CuenLln 1aranLlno uvu uSA
ulmenslon lllms
Mlller n %2007% otetvlew ultectot 2ocb 5oyJet 1olks Cnllne
hLLp//wwwfllmschoolre[ecLscom/feaLures/lnLervlewdlrecLorzachsnyderLalks300php
Accessed on 21/11/2011
LberL 8 %2008% lllm kevlew Oolloe
hLLp//rogereberLsunLlmescom/apps/pbcsdll/arLlcle?Alu/20080804/8LvlLWS/306949713
Accessed on 21/11/2011

lllusLraLlon llsL
age 72 SparLans 1rap lrom 300 Craphlc novel uSA lrank Mlller Lyn varley
ScreenshoL llnal Scene %2007% lrom 300

hLLp//enLerLalnmenLhowsLuffworkscom/lnslde300hLm
Accessed on 22/11/2011

age 46 Craphlc novel 300 lrank mlller age 72 SparLans 1rap lrom 300 Craphlc novel uSA
lrank Mlller Lyn varley

Cllff Ldge %2007% lrom 300 Cn ulpMovles

hLLp//wwwpulpmovlescom/2006/10/300comlcLoscreencomparlson/
Accessed on 22/11/2011