Dune | How The Suspense Works In This Set-Piece

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This video essay breaks down the spice harvester suspense set-piece in Denis Villeneuve's Dune.
#dune #videoessay
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[@TheDiscardedImage]

Haven't done a suspense video in a looong time!

[@abhiruproy8592]

We want more suspense videos pleaseeeeee 😭. I need inspiration

[@howardron543]

We want more

[@TheUnknow257]

Great analysis of the scene. I thought of Sicario too at this moment. I saw Dune three times in cinema and this scene was intense at every watch. I love this movie. Villeneuve is one of my favorite directors! :D

[@apachekid91]

I saw it three times too 😂

[@Crazy_Diamond_75]

This scene was enhanced for me a little bit by some prior knowledge of sand physics. So, the effect where the sand liquefies and Paul and Gurney start sinking in is actually a real effect that can be achieved either through vibration or pumping air through the sand, the assumption being that sand worms have physiology that can induce this effect. But the fact that it's real made that scene not so much suspenseful as absolutely terrifying to me in theaters.

[@themothermarkos]

When I first saw this sequence in Dune, my mind immediately went to the border sequence in Sicario!

[@nirajzambreker5482]

Please do the analysis of Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy, how he uses framing and composition to create an external layer of subtle emotion, Great explanation btw, Deni Villeneuve is one of the few directors who can handle epic scale stories with an auteur like quality, desperately waiting for Part 2, how he will show the rise and the eventual fall of Paul

[@nationalhamleague5352]

I second this. Satyajit Ray's movies aren't discussed enough

[@elliotlowndes5219]

Did you get. The inspiration for. The intonation, and pacing. Of your narration. From Mark Cousins', The Story of Film? It gets. Kind of difficult. To listen to. After a while.

[@natzbarney4504]

What an awesome sequence, so well crafted. Breathtaking!

[@blitzgirl6522]

What helps with the suspense is the fact that there is no music for a big chunk of the scene.

[@howardron543]

Keep them coming

[@gheatza]

hello 🙂 I've just discovered your videos and wanted to express my gratitude for the effort you put into making them. as someone who's not very familiar with symbolysm in visual imagery your breakdowns have been incredibly insightful and appreciated. I do have a small piece of feedback, and I really hope you won't mind me saying this. I personally find the frequent pauses in the video very distracting, although I completely understand the intention behind them and the value they add to the explanation. it's just a personal preference, and I unfortunately don't have a better solution to suggest. thank you once again for your hard work and dedication. I'm really looking forward to seeing more of your content :-)

[@19maurice66]

Can you try not to put an upwards inflection at the end of every sentence please. Great content though

[@just-the-tip5621]

Honestly a genuine complaint, it for very grading after two minutes of listening

[@jamesmurphy9630]

Kind of distracting the way you end every sentance as if its a question

[@JimmyDThing]

Yeah, I'm saying this as constructive criticism. But the upward inflection at the end of every segment (whether it ends the sentence or not) is super distracting.

[@TheDiscardedImage]

Is this something I do on every video or just this one lol.

[@hollandscottthomas]

I've not noticed this in other videos, but it's really distracting here.

[@SteveJubs]

Came here to see if anyone else was noticing this. Not hearing it nearly as much in the Denis Villenueve video for example, so that’s interesting. It does seem incredibly more pronounced in this one, but really don’t mean to knock it if this is just a guy’s natural pattern of speech!

[@CodyLibolt]

If this is your natural pattern of speech, you need to change.

[@alxdregomes]

haven't seen the french dispatch video cause i'm still going to watch it, good one on dune tho, thanks for posting! PS: do you know the name of the movie on 9:53 with allen ginsberg and dylan (i think)?

[@TheDiscardedImage]

I'm Not There (Todd Haynes). Good movie!

[@alxdregomes]

@@TheDiscardedImage thanks :)

[@WayTooClose]

Great video! Do you agree that Villeneuve is the best "big budget" director working today?

[@TheDiscardedImage]

How big is big? Is it just Nolan and Villeneuve at this level? I guess you have Ridley Scott. Matt Reeves, Synder... If so yeah Villeneuve is my favourite of those.

[@WayTooClose]

@@TheDiscardedImage 👍Yes, the only close competitor nowadays is Nolan.

[@Alexanderbendo]

Interesting I thought Sicario was way more effective at creating suspense than Dune. Also wouldn’t it make more sense to build harvester machines that could fly away. Or the thing that picks up the harvester should follow it closely and not just swoop in when in trouble especially since the harvesting strategy is to work until a worm comes.

[@jikesbadoodle3580]

Yeah it would, but they stayed true to the book, and they had some explanation in the book why it’s like this, but you do have a point

[@Crazy_Diamond_75]

The Harkonnens took all the fancy shit with them when they left. You can see a much more advanced harvester ship in the movie's intro that is obviously flying. All the Atreides were left with was old, junky equipment. They talk about that in the inventory tour scene.

[@JanSobieski3rdSiegeDefiler]

Where'd you get all the colonialist/pillaging resources angle on the story? I don't see it

[@katherinealvarez9216]

Huh

[@sedevacante0027]

You make a lot, very many leaps in your definitions in the explanations of the metaphors. That weren't even meant to be metaphoric.

[@letmesummarize1176]

Villeneuve is watching this and thinking: “Never thought of it before”

[@pseudonymousbeing987]

Where? All the points of connection are in the books. Yes the sand works are called "the old man of the desert" by Fremen. There's also two more layers of meaning to the line which are spoilers for the story, and are admittedly genuinely stretching the connection. But nothing in this video was invalid.

[@alexalexis7899]

I don’t know what sort of mental collapse you had whilst narrating this video, but every single sentence you say sounds like it ends with a question mark... and it makes it impossible to follow along without bursting with laughter at how ridiculous it sounds.

[@PrimerCinePodcast]

For some reason this whole scene, just like the movie as a whole was incredibly lacking in suspense for me :/ And I'm not sure why. Everything seemed pre-meditated and there were no surprises. Love your videos as always!

[@felixschweigkofler7630]

Everything is pre-mediated. That is Dune. But still, the reader doesn't fully know what is going to happen.

[@pseudonymousbeing987]

Well that is precisely the nature of Dune. Sounds like a perfect adaptation.

[@ZooDinghy]

Interestingly, I didn't find Dune suspenseful at all.

[@rossvecchio3299]

This film is as dull as dishwater, the first reason is so many of the actors are miscast.

[@MonkeyspankO]

idk, I didn't feel the whole Dune tension vibe. Maybe if you've never been exposed to Dune...if its new. I never thought the Lynch version would have more gravitas, but there it is. New Dune is still beautiful to look at, but it doesn't do it for me...its like the LV strip, flashy, but ultimately a pale imitation.

[@SteveJubs]

Ok monkeyspank

[@Beyondflix]

try not going up with your voice at the end of your sentences please. really hard to listen to you like that. go down instead and give your sentences an ending.