<P> In preparation for filming, Scott spent several months developing storyboards to develop the framework of the plot . Over six weeks, production members scouted various locations within the extent of the Roman Empire before its collapse, including Italy, France, North Africa, and England . All of the film's props, sets, and costumes were manufactured by crew members due to high costs and unavailability of the items . One hundred suits of steel armour and 550 suits in polyurethane were made by Rod Vass and his company Armordillo . The unique sprayed - polyurethane system was developed by Armordillo and pioneered for this production . Over a three - month period, 27,500 component pieces of armor were made . </P> <P> The film was shot in three main locations between January and May 1999 . The opening battle scenes in the forests of Germania were shot in three weeks in the Bourne Woods, near Farnham, Surrey, in England . When Scott learned that the Forestry Commission planned to remove a section of the forest, he persuaded them to allow the battle scene to be shot there and burn it down . Scott and cinematographer John Mathieson used multiple cameras filming at various frame rates and a 45 - degree shutter, creating stop motion effects in the action sequences, similar to techniques used for the battle sequences of Saving Private Ryan (1998). Subsequently, the scenes of slavery, desert travel, and gladiatorial training school were shot in Ouarzazate, Morocco, just south of the Atlas Mountains over a further three weeks . To construct the arena where Maximus has his first fights, the crew used basic materials and local building techniques to manufacture the 30,000 - seat mud brick arena . Finally, the scenes of Ancient Rome were shot over a period of nineteen weeks in Fort Ricasoli, Malta . </P> <P> In Malta, a replica of about one - third of Rome's Colosseum was built, to a height of 52 feet (15.8 meters), mostly from plaster and plywood (the other two - thirds and remaining height were added digitally). The replica took several months to build and cost an estimated $1 million . The reverse side of the complex supplied a rich assortment of Ancient Roman street furniture, colonnades, gates, statuary, and marketplaces for other filming requirements . The complex was serviced by tented "costume villages" that had changing rooms, storage, armorers, and other facilities . The rest of the Colosseum was created in computer - generated imagery using set - design blueprints and textures referenced from live action, and rendered in three layers to provide lighting flexibility for compositing in Flame and Inferno software . </P> <P> British post-production company The Mill was responsible for much of the computer - generated imagery effects that were added after filming . The company was responsible for such tricks as compositing real tigers filmed on bluescreen into the fight sequences, and adding smoke trails and extending the flight paths of the opening scene's salvo of flaming arrows to get around regulations on how far they could be shot during filming . They also used 2,000 live actors to create a computer - generated crowd of 35,000 virtual actors that had to look believable and react to fight scenes . The Mill accomplished this by shooting live actors at different angles giving various performances, and then mapping them onto cards, with motion - capture tools used to track their movements for three - dimensional compositing . The Mill created over 90 visual effects shots, comprising approximately nine minutes of the film's running time . </P>

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