The document compares the film genres, actors, technologies, distribution methods, and social/political contexts of the films "The 300 Spartans" (1960) and "300" (2006). Some key differences include: - "The 300 Spartans" was an historical epic genre while "300" was an action fantasy genre. - Budgets increased from $1.7M to $65M adjusting for inflation. - "300" utilized newer technologies like CGI, motion capture, and digital editing/distribution. - "300" employed transmedia marketing through video games and soundtracks. - "The 300 Spartans" reflected 1950s anti-communism while "300" depicted

1. Genre
The genre of the film the 300 spartans was an
historical epic. Films of this genre are based upon real
events while featuring large scale battle scenes
attractive landscapes with the inclusion of romance. At
the time of release this genre was well established and
very popular.
Opposed to this the film 300 is an action fantasy. The reason why this film is considered
fantasy rather than historical despite still being based on real events is that the film takes a
very fantastical take on it by including mythical creatures. The action in the genre is simply
because the film features a large amount of action.
Stars
Both films included a fair number of big name actors however the type of actors who they
chose differed in ways which reflect how the films wanted to be seen and who the audiences
were.
The 300 spartans actors
Richard Agmon was chosen to play the main character Leonidas the reason for this is that
he was at the time a hollywood heart throb which meant that a lot of people at the time
aspired to be like him and as such would be very likely to watch the movie, and had served
in the military during ww2 meaning he made for a very convincing soldier.
Ralf Richardson was chosen to play Themistocles. The reason for this choice is that
richardson was a well respected actor and excellent actor being recognized for his skills by
being the first actor of his generation to be knighted, which when tied with his age and
previous appearances showed he was capable of playing the wise old man needed for the
character.
Diane Baker played ellas, the love interest of phylon “the young spartan” she was chosen for
this role despite being relatively new to acting having first appeared in the acting scene only
3 years earlier. How ever she had already played a role similar to this one in the film
“adventures of a young man” which follows a story similar to that of phylon.
Barry Coe played phylon when the film was released he had been acting for 7 years which
granted him some level of experience particularly in showing romance at the time such as
acting in the film a private's affair. Additionally him and diane baker had shown they worked
well together in the past in the film the wizard of baghdad.
David Farrah played Xerxes who was the leader of the persian empire and central
antagonist to the spartans in the film. He was experienced at playing villains in films having
previously done so in “duel in the jungle” and “the black shield of falworth” when when tied
into his extensive list of previous works made him an idle actor of a role of this type.

2. 300 actors
Gerard butler played leonidas in this film reasons for this include his previous appearance in
beowulf and grendel where he played beowulf a hero who fought against a monstrous
creature called grendel. Other reasons include the rather long list of films he had appeared
in considering his age at the time. Additionally his appearance fit the idea of a stereotypical
man who his strong and powerful which fits leonidas in the films.
Lena Headey played queen Gorgo in 300 they showed the character to be strong and
independent such as when they speak to the persian messenger and takes in the pride in
that they are form sparta and as such is just as able to speak as any man, another example
of this is when they stab Theron. Headey was a skilled actor who had been acting for over
10 years when they were selected for this role, they had also previously shown themselves
capable of playing strong characters which made her ideal for this role.
Rodrigo santoro was chosen to play the persian king xerxes in 300, at the time they had only
been making films since the year 2000 however had been acting in tv series since 1993,
their brazilian/italian ancestry gave they a complexion which fit the chapter which would be
needed. His voice also fits the portrayal of xerces given which shows him trying to tempt
leonidas to follow him several points though the film.
Trends
At in the late 50s early 60s historical epics was a
very large trend with a large number of films of
this type being released with some examples of
films of this genre being as follows Spartacus
1960, El Cid 1961, lawrence of Arabia 1962 and
Cleopatra 1963. Additionally in this time period
people were more interested in the story that a film told than the action which it features
which can be clearly seen as a difference between the 2 films.
At the time of 300’s releases fantasy films featuring heros were becoming popular with the
lord of the ring films having been released a couple of years previously and the harry potter
films being created at this time period. The film did as noted earlier included a large number
of british actors starring in the film as in the mid 2000’s british actors were considered very
popular and served as a drawing point towards the film.Marketing had also changed by this
point in time with the film featuring a website to assist with its promotion and give glimpses
into the film.
Financial determinants
The 300 spartans had a budget of 1.7 million dollars which when factoring in inflation would
be 14 million dollars in today's money a budget of this size was slightly above below for films

3. of this time period with the average film budget in the mid 1960’s sitting at 1.5 million. This
film would have needed to spend that money on its actors as they included a large number
of big name actors as well as a very large number of supporting background actors as at the
time there was no cgi meaning most effect at the time were created in the set. Other costs
would have been to send people out to where the film was shot as well as the props which
were used in the film such as the javelins. Fitting the actors in costumes would also have
been expensive given the number of actors in the film.
300 on the other hand had a budget of 65 million which in real when compared to the
modern value of the budget of “The 300 spartans” is over 4 times larger. This budget fit the
average film budget form 2006 meaning both of these films received roughly average
budgets for the time meaning that the difference in budget was an overall increase rather
than anomaly. There are also differences in what the money is spent on, for example there is
not as much money spent on background actors due to the inclusion of cgi which allowed
for the use of cgi background characters, this also has the knock on effect of lower the
amount needed to spend creating costumes for these people, none of the budget was spent
on traveling as only one scene was shot out of a studio with everything else being shot
inside though the use of sets and green screens additionally their were also new costs such
as the cgi and hiring out the studio which they used. Despite this their are still aspects of the
budget that did not change form these two films such paying for high profile actors who
would draw attention of audiences and on equipment such as the camera and sound
equipment.
Technologies
The 300 spartans was created using top of the line cameras and
equipment of the time, such as cameras which used 35mm film
something which is still used to this day. Despite the high quality of what
they were using for the time there was constains caused by the
equipment such as the cameras not being able to be moved easily which
can be seen in the large number of static shots and how there isn't any
quick movement with the camera in the film. The editing of this film would have been done
with the use of a moviola as this was the best editing machine available at the time, meaning
the film was made using analog and not digital means.
Much like “The 300 spartans” 300 was created using the best technology
that was available at the time. 300 also used 35mm film however it was
then digitised and then upscaled to 2k granting it a much higher
resolution in the cinema than would have been possible back in the time
of “the 300 spartans” the sound for this film was also digitised and then
edited to fit the film better, motion capture was used to create some of
the characters such as the giant to make their movements more realistic,
the methods which was used to edit the film also changed as the film was digitised allowing
for the editing to be done with a computer which allows for time to be saved as well as
offering more powerful editing potencial. The film used blue screens to film a lot of the shots

4. in the film as green was featured in the film while blue was not meaning that green was more
effective in this films case.
Distribution and exhibition
The 300 spartans was only shown in cinemas and drivin car
park showings with no other releases as there was no
standard that historical epics would be shown in after their
release in this time period, as films of this nature were
supposed to be grand and large affairs which at the time
would be unable to be properly conveyed through the use of
television which at the time was far too small. The 300
spartans also receive a dubbing and release in the ussr
during the 70’s despite the connotations it contains. The film
did very well their being viewed by more than 27 million
people.
300 also started with a cinematic release where it was shown
in cinemas around the world, however as is now expected 6
months after the film's initial release their was a dvd and
download release as this allowed for people who missed the
first showing or enjoyed the film and wanted to own it to
purchase it increasing the studios profits from the film, finally
the film had licensing rights brought by TNT who was then
able to show it on their tv channel with the estimated price for
this purchase being between 17 and 20 million dollars.
Synergy
The 300 spartans did not feature an examples of synergy, the reason for this lack of what is
a very common and expected feature of large films is that the idea of synergy only really
started with the release of star wars as beforehand films did not include any of this ideas.
As opposed to this was created after the use of synergy
became widespread, and such adopted many different the
use of this promotion technique. The film itself is in fact a
form of synergy for the original source material which was a
visual novel. The movie also utilised synergy itself such as
the creation of a computer game which was based off of the
game which continued the story further which is referred to as
transmedia, additionally the films sound track had its own
independent release.
As you can see when comparing the different forms of releases which the films use 300 has
many different forms of releases which help to serve as promotion, and bring in further
revenue other than the sales of the film itself.

5. Social
Social issues of the time that was tackled by the 300 spartans was the threat of communism,
this can be seen in several ways throughout the films such as how both of the different sides
in the film represent 2 different leadership styles democracy and dictatorship, everyone
shown in the film as a hero was upper class being a king the king's guards and an
upperclassman who is planning to marry the king's daughter, this is reinforced though how
the only lower class people most likely to support communism as they benefit most from this
government type were the ones to betray greece (democracy) to russia (dictatorship).
When you look back at this film you can see that the film would now be considered politically
incorrect with both it’s treatment of women and how it deals with ethnic diversity, first the film
does not take women seriously with only a handful of women being given speaking roles and
even then are still subservient to men. The film also does not show any ethnic diversity with
the entire cast being white with even the actors who played persians being white people who
were wearing makeup to darken their skins.
Their are also social issues with the newer film 300 such as the
depiction of xerxes being made to look somewhat feminine and
gay as to make play on fears people had at the time of gays to
make people uneasy about him, as well as this the film also
had a larger number of lower calss soldiers as this allowed for
people to better relate to those on screen as the cinema is not
as expensive now and as such people of lower walks of life
attend in order to escape everyday life.
Political and regulatory issues
The political and regulatory issues the original film faced were rather limited due to it being
very normal for films at the time and followed most films in it’s political stance at the time
which raised freedom to be extremely important as this was a major issue at the time when
considering the cold war had just started.
300 how ever had a large number of political and regulatory issues that it had to deal with.
The first of these issues is that at the time the film and even now the film can be considered
excessively gory showing over the top amounts of blood, which meant in many counties it
would receive a high age rating. However in its main market america a scene which depicted
sex between two of the characters within the film which is considered much more taboo in
america than the uk would prove much more problematic as it caused the film to be r rated
which lowered the amount of interest the film generated greatly form initial predictions.