The Filming of Dune
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In the scene where the House Shield is deactivated (brought down by Yueh), the Atreides controllers see shiny rods shooting past the camera. This was a cheap substitute for an optical shot, with small tubes covered with 3M paper shot by compressed air.
Image/Caption courtesy of Terry Cox
© 1982/83
The Harkonnen model ship (built in the stadium car park) on the Arrakis landing field when the Harkonnens attack the Atreides. This picture was with the steam effect..
Image/Caption courtesy of Terry Cox
© 1982/83
"One of the more daring things we did for the Dune visual effects was to build a very large blue screen on the Churubusco backlot. Daring, because back in the optical days it was quite problematic to pull good, clean mattes off a blue screen lit by the sun.
"The reason is that sunlight has a large component of red in it, which contaminates the mattes. Under those conditions it was nearly impossible to produce a good blue screen composite. But Barry Nolan, our visual effects supervisor, knew how to manipulate film emulsions as good as, or better than, anyone else working in the Hollywood optical effects business in those days. So when we needed additional shots of Fremen and Sardaukar warriors running and fighting in the desert to use as elements to composite into various shots, Barry convinced Raffaella De Laurentiis to build this huge blue screen and a portion of desert. Barry counted on the black costumes of the warriors to help us get around the contamination problem. He was right. The shots worked beautifully.
"All this took place sometime during the last few weeks of the post-principal photography period that ran from about September 1983 to February 1984. We had good sunlight on the blue screen and desert set only for an hour or two each day, and for a week or so we would dash out to the backlot in mid-afternoon (when Mexico City's regular afternoon thunderstorms didn't rain us out) and grab a few shots. Naturally, we had to import the specially-formulated blue paint from Los Angeles. To get around the customs delays, we would often recruit people who were flying down from L.A. to bring some of this stuff with them in their luggage. Not just blue paint by the gallon, but anything and everything that someone on the production might need or want, from the most personal items to film."
Image/Caption courtesy of Charles L. Finance
© 1983/84
"Jimmy Devis, 2nd Unit DP/Director, stands on a miniature of the Emperor's City. This miniature was one of those afterthoughts that frequently occurs during filming. David Lynch and Raffaella De Laurentiis recognized that the film would need some sort of an establishing view of the Emperor's city.
"Hence, Art Director Benjamin Fernandez, a Spaniard, was asked to build this miniature near the end of the miniature photography schedule, probably sometime in January 1984.
I think it took him and his crew less than a week to pull it off. You may recall that Jimmy Devis nearly lost his life while filming Dune when, some three months or so earlier, he fell about 40 feet from a "miniature" representing Duke Leto's castle at the edge of a high cliff overlooking Caladan's ocean.
After the accident, Raffaella wanted to send Jim home to England to get proper care, but he would have none of it. So, after spending several weeks in the hospital in Mexico City, he hobbled back onto our stages to warm applause from the crew, and remained with us till the end."
Image/Caption courtesy of Charles L. Finance
© 1983/84
The miniatures crew adds final detailing to the elegant palace of Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV - incorporated later into an even larger complex designed to represent the imperial capitol on Kaitain.
Image/Caption courtesy of Eric Swenson
© 1983/84
Brian Smithies, Gus Ramsden and effects technician Rodney Fuller prepare for shot of the Atreides fleet entering the heighliner. Multiple groupings, suspended from wires, were photographed as montion control bluescreen elements for later compositing with additional ship formations, all heading for the heighliner doorway.
Image/Caption courtesy of Eric Swenson
© 1983/84
A thirty-inch Atreides ship was positioned against black velvet for a still photo session. Prints were then made in verious sizes, laid out on glass, and photographed to represent multiple ship formations viewed in the distance.
Image/Caption courtesy of Eric Swenson
© 1983/84
Foreground miniatures maestro Emilio Ruiz de Rio examines the wing section on the largest Atreides ships.
World-class modelmaker Emillo Ruiz del Rio supervised the construction of a large-scale Atreides ship - ten feet high and thirty feet long - on a platform-mounted, forced perpective landing field set. A portion of the accessway which decends from the body of the ship was cut away, as was a trough-like strip in the landing field.
Several hundred feet from the Atreides ship miniature, a full-size representation of the missing accessway was constructed - through which live actors were able to pass. By carefully aligning the camera the full size background set piece was made to blend perfectly into the foreground miniature.
An Atreides ship under construction in the model shop, with sections of a Spice Harvester in the foreground.
The large Face Burner model was first sculpted in clay, then covered with a plaster waste mold and cast in fiberglass.
Image/Caption courtesy of Eric Swenson
© 1983/84
Flies were a constant problem on the Churubusco soundstages, necessitating a thorough insecticide spraying before any miniature shot could even be attempted. Here, Smithies and James Devis perform the duty in preparation for a bluescreen pass on a portion of the Harkonnen fleet.
Image/Caption courtesy of Eric Swenson
© 1983/84
Brian Smithies examines the Harkonnen flagship - spearhead of the aerial armada launched against Arrakeen in an all-out attack.
Image/Caption courtesy of Eric Swenson
© 1983/84
A member of the film crew stands next to a gigantic model of a model of a Harkonnen flagship. Next to the ship are miniatures of its crew.
Brian Smithies addresses the camera crew during a setup involving the Emperor's flagship perched atop its 'steel tent' - a nine-story portable palace that unfolds from the ship.
Image/Caption courtesy of Eric Swenson
© 1983/84
A foam rubber fetal representation of Paul's sister - complete with cable-actuated mouth, neck and limbs - was fashioned in the likeness of Alicia Roanne Witt, the young actress playing Alia. Carlo Rambaldi examines his handiwork in the company of Witt's real mother, who was recruited to play a midwife in the birthing sequence which was ultimately deleted from the final cut.
Stagehands lower a bank of outboard motors into a pool of water beneath the castle to create wave effects. A blue screen in the rear allowed for the later incorporation of storm clouds.
Actor Kyle MacLachlan as Paul confronts the effects of a man-made sandstorm.
Fremen half dipsticks (far left), Maker Hooks (second from left), and full dipsticks (third from left).