- 8 months ago
Spoiler Alert for ‘Dune: Prophecy’ Episode 1: In this exclusive episode of Entertainment Weekly's new series ‘It Takes a Village’, we break down the making of the wedding reception scene from Episode 1 of 'Dune: Prophecy.' This series dives into how every department—from set design to VFX—comes together to create a single, iconic scene. In this video, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina (Princess Ynez) and Jodhi May (Empress Natalya) discuss the symbolism behind Princess Ynez’s veil. Cinematographer Pierre Gill shares the challenges of capturing the perfect shot with rack focusing, while costume designer Bojana Nikitovic talks about the intricate, handmade designs.
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00:00that's technology is forbidden hi my name is Pierre Gill hi my name is Jody May my
00:11name is Mike Enriquez my name is Sarah Sophie Basnina my name is Bojana Nikitovich I'm Tom
00:16Meyer my name is Taryn Pratt we're here to break down the wedding reception scene of the first
00:20episode what do you have there nothing how long we work on trying to get this veil not to be in
00:33the eyes we even design it and it's we have to test and we put and then oh it's in the eyes now
00:38we need less veil let more space but then oh it's not enough because you need to see the pupils so
00:44when I put that on I kind of felt like shielded from the other guests and everything that was
00:50going on it's a really interesting kind of use of symbolism dare I say oh yeah this girl in a
00:55cage exactly and like wearing all these things that are so different from what Inez would normally
01:01wear we made everything in this project everything from the scratch it was such an incredible story
01:06how we got got this this piece by buying some different necklaces and we had our metal guy who
01:13did specific metal pieces for for this veil just wanted it to look perfect okay let's continue watching
01:20so this room was quite large and quite tall everything that you see here is real there's
01:44nothing computer enhanced we built this on a stage in Budapest 20,000 square foot palace interior
01:50and everything from the fountain and the antechamber into the palace the throne we built this over a
01:56course of five months and actually there were probably in excess over the course of the show
02:011200 artisans that worked on all of the sets over the course of the show the only thing that we
02:05had enhanced is the height above two stories and above we built up to two stories high while the walls and
02:12the you know the front and back of the room are practical we did extend it in a vertical sense
02:17and replace the ceiling where necessary to create more volume to give that grand feeling
02:23that tapping and the come on you can show me you know it's playing him a bit being sweet to him
02:31in a way but she's not expecting to see what he's actually fiddling with
02:37the main component for us in this scene was the thinking machine lizard we got a relatively fleshed
02:53out design from art department it had to have a sense of intelligence to it but also a sense of
02:57beauty and wealth to achieve this we kind of wanted to think of it as a really high class piece of kind
03:03of couture jewelry and so we took that design and rethought it so it can be actually transformed
03:09from a lizard to a ball shape we had a lot of challenges in terms of how we're shooting it with
03:14this prop because there were times where the prop would have been blocking other actor's faces we
03:18had to have it transformed so many takes with an actual practical prop in in pruitt's hand many takes
03:24with him without the hand for the actor to hold the object the right size sometimes they're gonna even
03:30keep it there will erase the object because they want the fingers to be grabbing something because
03:36there's nothing worse than having nothing because the problem is like as a person you you will either
03:42shake or you will move your fingers it makes a very bad vfx because the object feels like what's
03:48going on i got to see how it was gonna look when it was done which was very helpful in real times it
03:54was just what was it even a lizard i don't remember no it was like it's like a dot it was a tennis ball
03:59with a little kind of you know a bit of blue tape on the end it was nothing
04:03this moment where the lizard transforms from ball to actual lizard shape was probably the most
04:12complicated component to get those to actually flow together definitely a challenge you're gonna have
04:17an animator you're gonna have a model or a rigger texture artist a lighter compositor there's match
04:23move involved yeah the rack focus was very important because it feels real but there was nothing in his
04:28end so we had to you know discuss with vfx and also with showrunner because at that point nobody
04:34knows exactly how this object will really look like it's still creatively open poet will open his
04:40hand empty she's looking looking and then we say and rack so when it's and she reacts to oh my god
04:48it's a thinking machine so each angle has its own approach to how we are shooting that also involves
04:53uh doing a full cg version of what each actor is doing with their hands to allow for the shadows to
05:00to fall correctly to allow for the white that bounces off the hands to be on the on the lizard and then from
05:05then on it goes to the compositing department where every little bit of defocus of atmosphere pretty
05:10much of the photographic work is done in composite to end up with the finished looking shot this dress
05:18was something special we practically created the fabric two layers of a silk one is laser cut we
05:26attached that laser cut pieces on the original silk we had the idea that it's kind of transparent that
05:33there are some holes on this but then we we realized we'd had to be a red dress you know very red and
05:39very something that you would uh remember the flowers this gives it a sense of grounding it gives
05:50it a sense of romance i believe there's 10 000 silk flowers that were used it matches her dress the
05:56idea that the dress and the corset and the veil are all something that are historical that are something
06:01that has been passed down the red dress the red color brings out from us an instinctual bit of uh aggression
06:10it's all extras so it's not people who are completely like actors but they have to look all at the same
06:22time at the same place at the same speed so what i came up with is to uh have my uh practical lighting
06:29create me a long line of led lights that has pixels so it was going like everybody was just looking
06:37at the light it was great because everybody was looking at the same time at the light at the same
06:42place sometimes we could not so we use a laser pointer and everybody was following the laser pointer
06:47the knife is practical however we are replacing part of it to allow for the reflection of the lizard
07:03onto the the knife so it's a bit of a mixture of vfx we kept trying to shoot this shot um the correct way
07:10in the right direction forward motion and it never worked it was kind of a no look stab kept hitting the
07:16wrong spot couldn't really get there ended up shooting in reverse and then we retimed it to
07:20actually do the stab and then added the lizard crawling up so doing it in reverse allowed us to
07:25make sure that he was hitting the exact spot that he needed to and that that the focus pull from uh from
07:30camera was on target
07:32we're really focused in not just on the detail of the lizard but also you're seeing the detail of the
07:41column uh that desmond stabs there's nothing that's just kind of glossed over you can kind of
07:46see the machining that took place in the past to create the detail in the palace these columns were
07:5116 18 feet tall and they were made of 50 individual cast pieces of 3d printed elements that were then had
07:59molds made and then they were assembled it took about 400 people to create this palace
08:04shot everything with two cameras two steady cam so of course some scenes they just talk they don't
08:19move but a lot of it we shot the whole scene as a big ballet as a huge choreography and i had my two
08:25steady cameras going around each other and they had like say it's like like football game okay i'm gonna
08:29take care of him you take care of her i'm gonna film her there and they walk around and they do a
08:34ballet she is in a kind of red but very burgundy darker red this is the good moment to show how
08:43connected they are but in the same way how different they are this piece in a way is showing us the
08:49tradition the reality everything that corina family is representing this headpiece that princess in s is
08:57wearing it's a part of tradition that's why it was so important for them to be connected
09:03even through the costumes they're representing money but not a good taste
09:09that's technology is forbidden there's also one thing that's very important that i decided to make
09:23sure we shoot anamorphic i'm actually cropping part of the lens because i want the camera to be
09:28close to an actor and doing that the characters are coming out of the screen you are close to them
09:35physically with a camera this one needs to be human in the huge huge huge huge world of these
09:41unbelievable sets that technology is forbidden princessinette step aside
09:49this is a really interesting scene because it basically sets up for our characters a very
09:57interesting mother-daughter relationship and it's all about a kind of shifting of power balance that's
10:04going on you know yeah she's playing along you know she's living up to her title she's performing
10:09her duties but she's also doing it because she has a plan like she wants to go study at the sisterhood
10:15and when she shields through it she's not really protecting him she's protecting her plan
10:21and tell me you're all afraid of a little toy afraid you exist because house carino defeated
10:30thinking machines look at this gorgeous shot so the low angle we kept on her also made her
10:36powerful and mad i mean the only reason why they're trying to get this out is because they destroy humanity
10:42have a girl let's be sensible and let this ruin our celebration
10:54i love the way that silence is used and i i think that's a really brave and bold choice so much of
11:09television is often exposition and i love the sense of restraint there is a certain kind of
11:15choreography that happens in the room and it feels almost shakespearean and we're sort of in a story
11:20that has those kind of dynamics and relationships between characters the relationship between the
11:26emperor and the empress is like a really delicate dance
11:29let us for now
11:35overlook this transgression
11:38you can see by this column that kind of looms behind
11:47desmond everything is supposed to also be very heavy and give you a sense of compression
11:53the ceiling over is suspended but it's these giant blocks of stone that you see in kind of the
11:59larger wider shots that again help build pressure it's rich and opulent it is meant to feel
12:06a bit oppressive as well
12:07i think that it's so important that he doesn't look like anyone else could be a military coat he has the insignias on it you can see that but when he comes you're
12:37just asking who is this guy we wanted to create a simple but strong look we came to this shape of this coat then i said okay we can make your pockets here and it gave him a certain also attitude
12:51we put her on a 17 centimeter heel so it was really difficult to walk in a such a big gown
13:09but she made it.
13:11Because of the role and that what we're doing is so on display
13:15and so centered in the room, I felt constantly stared at.
13:19There's something incredible about the architecture of that room
13:22and the way in which it's the women who are really trying to sort of
13:26maneuver the dynamics of power in a way, the architecture of power,
13:31and it's the men, you know, in terms of the emperor,
13:34who are really sort of sidestepping.
13:36And I think that's a really kind of fresh and original look.
13:41Thank you, Inez.
13:44Once our marriage goes through, you call something like that again
13:48and I'll stab you myself, you little shit.
13:50You'll get rid of that thing.
13:55I love this reaction so much because it's the first time in episode one
13:59we get to see this side of Inez.
14:01She's very much her own and she says it like it is
14:05and she's telling him that nothing and no one can stand in her way of her plan.
14:08Very much her mother's daughter.
14:10Yeah.
14:11Now get rid of that thing.
14:19Because it's so hard to move your head wearing the veil,
14:22it kind of just also changed the way you move in the room,
14:26which I felt was extremely helpful.
14:32You can only imagine how difficult it was to make this kind of veil
14:35that could be removable so easy.
14:37She helped us to make it work, not to ruin hair, makeup and everything.
14:43To make something that not only looks good but it works in a scene, it's not always easy.
14:50And now when I see the scene, I like the way she's taking it off.
14:55And now I like the fight off.
14:56ُّــِـَ
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