As someone who has always been interested in the practicality of filmmaking,
one of my most anticipated looks at a film this year, is the ornithopters in Denis
Villeneuve's DUNE. Villeneuve himself is a filmmaker that will strive to capture as
much as he can for real in-camera, and it's something that makes the entire
project more believable for the audience and also more enjoyable for the cast when
filming. Since I have been fully amazed by the work of Frank Herbert over the last
2 months, the latest images and information surrounding DUNE has been a joy to see come
to life. In the video, I'm going to be discussing the Ornithopters alongside
some brand new looks at the crafts in Denis Villeneuve's film. Before I get into it,
if you want to see much more videos on DUNE 2020 leading up to it's release date,
then subscribe to the channel and turn on your notifications. Also,
if you enjoy this video remember to give it a like rating. Without further a do, lets dive into
the Ornithopters of Denis Villeneuve's DUNE.
As we have progressed from the insect-like designs of David Lynch's Dune,
to the more mechanical approach of the Dune miniseries, the Ornithopters may be taking
an approach on a larger scale in Denis Villeneuve's Dune. There seems to be
a mixture of different elements from the previous adaptations, but now we seem to be
getting a greater sense of mechanical realism. The new images you are about to see,
were kindly provided by the YouTube channel, Secrets of Dune, who did a fantastic
video on the origins and history of the Ornithopters, all while showing some new
looks at different versions from the film. I recommend checking out Secrets of Dune's
channel, video and twitter account which I have linked in the description of this
video. But moving on to the latest images, we have multiple shots including concept
arts and photos that were taken on set. Obviously a few months ago we had a
different bunch of images which gave us very brief angles of the Ornithopters, but from
these we were able to make out what the Atreides thopter could look like. Well
now the new images include a shot on set which seems to have a deep purple vibe
within the location it was shot. This image reminds me of the work Villeneuve
did on Blade Runner 2049 with capturing the distopian haze of an abandoned Las Vegas.
For anyone who was saying that this Dune adaption would have too many muted colours,
I think this image confirms that Villeneuve is really broadening the scale of
colour in certain scenes of the film, which he has also presented in his
previous work. He creates atmospheric films that visualise the story but at the same time
supports them with the usage of intelligent dialogue and storytelling. This image tells
me that Villeneuve isn't shying away from his traditional approach to cinema,
but at the same time he's infusing a style that would work in adapting Dune.
Another image includes a better look at the ornithopter in Denis Villeneuve's
Dune without the wings. We clearly see the Atreides hawk symbol alongside the
ramp being open which correlates to the official empire image revealed last month.
I'm guessing the wings of the ornithopters will be either supported with visual
effects in some scenes and then in others the production team will most likely use certain
props to build out the wings in shot. It's the idea of filming as much in
camera as possible to create a convincing sense of realism that becomes more satisfying
for the audience. The other image which was the most striking in my eyes, was
the one with a green-tinted glass to reflect either the Saudakar,
Harkonnen or fremen Ornithopter from the novel. As you can see the wings are not in place on this
ship either, which again brings weight to how they will capture the motion of the wings in
the film. This shows that Villeneuve is still capturing the insect-like
nature in some of the designs, which fully runs through the primary themes of the novel,
all while bringing a sense of scale to his iteration of the ornithopters.
Unlike the other images, this thopter has only 4 open wing spaces and looks more like
the ships from Lynch's Dune, which could lead more towards it being the
Harkonnen ship. This is where we come to the final image which shows a complete look at
the design of the Atreides ornithopter, with all the wings attached. According
to Secrets of Dune this is from the set in Budapest and it looks like Villeneuve is
trying to fully capture a real take on the craft with an insect and war-like
visualisation. It relates to the work the director did on Blade Runner 2049,
and also can compare to the work Christopher Nolan on multiple films with the Tumbler in
the Dark Knight Trilogy alongside the Ranger and the Lander in Interstellar. The reason
I bring these examples up is because they all took a similar approach in
filmmaking. They create the full realistic body of each vehicle then used visual
effects to enhance what was shot on set. If they wanted to, both directors could
have crafted their films using cgi and green screen, but really it just
takes away the scale and the wonder of the films they make. Villeneuve is bringing an
authetic sense of practicality and realism to his adaptation and these
images are really showcasing that approach. With Herbert's Ornithopter really influencing
artists around the world, it's wonderful to see a true artist in Villeneuve also be
inspired by these great designs to create his own iteration.
But that was the newest looks at the Ornithopters in DUNE 2020. There seems
to be a high level of practicality that really grounds the ships of Arrakis in
a way that fully brings them to life. I expect Villeneuve will approach
every aspect of the film with the level of detail we have already seen on display.
In particular, I'm really intrigued to see how Villeneuve seperates the different
thopters and re-creates their pattern of flight. It really calls for a huge
imagination to adapt Dune in a way that is different but also falls in line with what
many fans want to see. I'm interested to hear what all of you guys have
to say on these Ornithopter images, so let me know down below.
For more videos surrounding DUNE 2020 leading up to it's eventual release date,
then subscribe to the channel and turn on your notifications. Also if you enjoyed
this video remember to leave a like rating. I will
be covering news and topics for DUNE whenever new information comes out,
so look out for my videos on these reveals. I will also be uploading
my second book reaction to Frank Herbert's first novel in the coming weeks. But anyway,
I hope you guys enjoyed it, I've been Cortex and as always make some noise.