Following his blockbuster successes
300 and
Sin City, writer/producer Frank Miller penned a graphic novel series based on the science fiction cult classic novel Ender’s Game. The graphic novels merged two books,
Ender's Game and
Ender's Shadow, to tell a more complete, and psychologically introspective story from several perspectives simultaneously. This series became the backbone for a screenplay, also written by Miller, that was purchased for production by Robert Zemeckis.
These two filmmaking icons collaborated in the production of this film, creating epic shots, never seen before in the history of cinema, and creating an award winning human drama.
Robert Zemeckis chose to cast characters for dual roles to further the theme of Ender's isolation in the film. Ender's friends and enemies are the tools that he uses to train his body and mind in his quest to defend himself, and in so doing, defend mankind.
The visual effects for the movie evolved from the blue screen processes of
300 and
Sin City, and merged with the performance capture technology innovated by Robert Zemeckis in
The Polar Express and
Beowulf. This allowed the filmmakers to tell a graphic, adult story involving children while utilizing adults as actors rather than kids. The actors each wore hundreds of computer sensing patches to mimic their facial and bodily movements precisely, and performed with wire props in front of a blue screen. Their performances were captured digitally in 3D, and overlaid with CGI to make the characters into children. As the movie advances, the characters age several years (some from age 6 to age 60). This technology allowed them to do this seamlessly without losing any quality in the acting performance.
Furthermore, the filmmakers used their visual effects to add insight into the psychological workings of their characters. They incorporated
graphic user interface (G.U.I.) effects, which were first used in the Will Ferrell film Stranger Than Fiction, to chronicle the mental calculations and inner workings of the child geniuses, as well as their adult teachers and commanding officers.
Not only did they incorporate a large amount of performance capture and blue screen technology, but they also pioneered a new audio innovation utilizing blue tooth technology. The team recorded 5 separate soundtracks to the film, specifically including thought voice-overs by prominent characters. There is a soundtrack for the general audience (including Ender’s thought-overs), and 4 additional soundtracks, each including thought voice-overs from Bean, Petra/Valentine, Ender’s Enemies, and the Adults in the film respectively. This enabled the audience to view the film from 5 separate perspectives (as they could switch between soundtracks or listen to separate soundtracks during separate viewings) giving it a new viewing experience each time, and amazing insight as to the thought processes and rationale of the characters in the film.
Ordered in mass, each headset costs a mere $3.50 (with the cost made up by a single ticket sale) and each receives a signal from a transceiver as the movie plays. The headsets include a 3D visor and surround sound audio wireless receivers, each equipped with their own individual channel changer. The audience can easily switch their audio channel using a cord on the side of the visor. This revolutionary technology has allowed normal theaters to incorporate the IMAX movie going experience at a very low cost. This film will be released for theaters in normal and 3D versions.
