20 Things You Didn't Know About War Of The Worlds
5. It Was The First Time Spielberg Used Pre-Vis Technology
In part due to the film's hectic production, Spielberg used pre-visualisation for the very first time, a technology whereby important set-pieces are effectively mapped out in animated form - an advanced version of storyboards, basically.
This was confirmed by none other than Spielberg's pal George Lucas, who stated in an interview that he himself introduced the director to the emergent technique when he was shooting Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith a short time earlier.
Though at the time traditional storyboarding was still employed by many filmmakers, nowadays pre-vis is widely used across blockbuster filmmaking.