DUNE: PART 1

A retelling of the classic 1965 sci-fi epic, Dune follows Paul Atreides whose family takes control of the planet Arrakis in a distant interstellar society. Arrakis is dangerous and hostile, but it is the source of a valuable drug named “spice” which gives users enhanced mental abilities and longer life. We were thrilled to be asked to come on board for our second opportunity to work with Denis Villeneuve on his next sci-fi film, the remake of the iconic classic, Frank Herbert’s masterpiece, Dune.
Territory joined the Art Department, working closely with Production Designer, Patrice Vermette. Unlike many sci-fi settings, the universe of Dune has very little technology and digital human interface that a contemporary audience might expect. Territory was tasked by Patrice with two small yet key elements, the gyro controls of the Ornithopters, including two Atredies Models as well as Harkonnen, and the Sonic Probe device.

THE BRIEF

The invitation to join Dune came directly from Denis Villeneuve, on the basis of the creative partnership established on Blade Runner 2049. The challenge was categorically different from anything Territory had done before: design technology for a universe where technology, in the digital sense, is heresy. The Butlerian Jihad, a historical event in Frank Herbert's universe, predating the story by thousands of years, established a civilisation that had deliberately removed computational thinking from its world. What remained was human intelligence, human craft, and human-made objects with the texture of centuries of use.

Territory's brief was to take the flat concept designs supplied by Production Designer Patrice Vermette's Art Department and develop them into fully realised, physically credible objects, the navigation instruments of House Atreides ornithopters, which had to feel as though they had been made by hand, used for decades, and used by the people who depended on them.

THE CREATIVE APPROACH

Territory's approach was governed by a single discipline: everything had to feel made rather than designed. The reference language was deliberately grounded in pre-digital instrumentation — old flight controls, military analogue systems, mechanical dials and worn metal surfaces. Real-world texture reference, dirt, scratches, oxidisation, general wear and tear, was applied throughout the 3D development process to ensure nothing felt manufactured in the modern sense. Every element had to suggest age, use and the accumulated intelligence of human hands over centuries.

As Andrew Popplestone described at the time: when design and technology are used with such a delicate touch, it is even more important that they feel absolutely in tune with the world in which they exist. The challenge on Dune was not to invent a visual language but to suppress one, to resist the instinct toward digital sophistication and find instead the beauty in analogue restraint.

The ornithopter instruments are perhaps the clearest expression of this: navigation tools that look as though they could have been made in the early twentieth century, adapted for interstellar use by someone who understood that a thing should feel like it could be repaired with your hands. They are some of the most quietly considered pieces of screen design Territory has produced.

THE OUTCOME

Dune: Part One won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 2022 ceremony, one of six Oscar wins from ten nominations. The film's visual language, including Territory's interface and screen work, was integral to the production's ability to make a universe of extraordinary strangeness feel physically real and emotionally inhabitable. The creative partnership with Villeneuve that began on Blade Runner 2049 was confirmed and deepened, leading directly to Territory's involvement in Part Two, Dune: Prophecy and — at the time of writing — anticipation of Part Three.

Director Denis Villeneuve · Production Designer Patrice Vermette · Creative Director Andrew Popplestone · Studio Territory Studio · Client Legendary Entertainment / Warner Bros.