The Mystery of Dune's Color

[@netherlandward]

Never thought a general aspect like color in cinema could be digested in such an interesting way. Great job, loved the video!

[@BarrettKaufman]

I'm glad! Thanks for the kind words

[@sarakaufman5021]

It really helps to see the colors when you paint them in each frame. So interesting!

[@BarrettKaufman]

I love that feature! Helps visualize different tones in the image

[@farvezafridifaizurrahman6980]

You have to do the Batman next. One of the darker looking films I've seen but it works so damn well. Can't wait to see your breakdown! Also Dune is my favorite film ever. You did a fantastic job here! :)

[@BarrettKaufman]

That's a great idea! It's definitely on the list

[@danielferrero6070]

Both movies share the same cinematographer (i.e. Greig Fraser) who is, as far as I'm concerned, the god of cinematography

[@farvezafridifaizurrahman6980]

Aaaaand Dune just won 6 oscars including visual effects and film editing.

[@BarrettKaufman]

@@farvezafridifaizurrahman6980 Well deserved awards!

[@itsokewl]

i need more of this as i working on understanding colors in movies, keep it up!

[@BarrettKaufman]

Will do!

[@leandersvids]

The halation you're talking about is called chromatic aberration, which is an optical aspect of lenses and not the film material. Definitely a nice detail, that they applied that to the VFX too

[@pseudonymousbeing987]

This film is so stark that I almost forgot how sublime it is. But the more I see it the more it seeps into my mind. Still images allow me to see the essence of the picture and let almost all of its artistic merits simmer. I love that about still images of a film, they are the exact same frame as I saw before, yet they have this completely different quality to the moving image. With them I get to exist continuously in that one moment of life and see all it's momentary aspects.

[@pseudonymousbeing987]

P.S. This is the first video I've seen from you, and you seem to make quality content. So I'm subscribing. P.P.S that shot of Chani is probably the most pure one of her. No violence. No devious face or cunning eyes to see, just the flowing dress and dunes. It makes sense to heighten that. So I think you're right.

[@BarrettKaufman]

So true! The artistry in each frame passes by so quickly that I love enjoying the still moments

[@LowellMorgan]

Whenever the action on Arrakis moved indoors I got the strong sensation of it suddenly feeling cool.

[@BarrettKaufman]

👍🏻👍🏻

[@plotcoalition]

I didn't know they rescanned the whole film. That's crazy! With that, I think your theory is correct on which shot wasn't processed. Great video!

[@BarrettKaufman]

Oh yeah, it was a bunch of extra work on their end. IMO, the process was not super necessary as we have the tools to pull off incredible film replication. But if you've got the budget, why not! Haha

[@calebshaw6007]

@@BarrettKaufman Yea I think it is a part of the storytelling. This means that his vision is crystal clear. Compared to the others, were he was unsure what they meant

[@CaughtInTheLoop]

@@calebshaw6007 That's a brilliant interpretation

[@IronPickAx]

This series need more attention. Well done.

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thanks Cade!

[@blitzgirl6522]

100th Like! What I love about the coloring of this film is that, once they land in Arrakis, the color and saturation literally makes you feel the dry heat! It's something I only noticed on my 2nd viewing. I could almost taste the dust in the air, and you really felt it was that dry heat that doesn't produce much sweat, too. It's such a vibe.

[@BarrettKaufman]

So true! I love how they designed Arrakis

[@empirate100]

Incredible. Never thought about a film's colors in this kind of detail. I'd love to see you take on other Villeneuve films, because now it seems to me that Arrival and BR49 will also provide countless shots that will stand out in a similar way once you begin to dissect them.

[@BarrettKaufman]

These are great recommendations! I'll keep them in mind for the future

[@kirstyholmes9318]

Fascinating and I find it so interesting to hear explanations behind why I instinctively loved the look of this film so much.

[@BarrettKaufman]

It's easy to get nerdy about Dune haha!

[@kirstyholmes9318]

@@BarrettKaufman I’ve been watching loads of Dune interviews - Greig Fraser, Joe Walker & the director - so as you can imagine the algorithm has been throwing more Dune suggestions at me, including yours & the title of your video caught my eye - I was impressed that you brought another interesting and new breakdown to me. Now going to have a dive into some of your other videos 😊

[@imagegatherer]

Would definitely not have been surprised to look and see this channel had 100k plus subs. Great video!

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thank you! 😊

[@blakestevenson7261]

Bro you are criminally underrated: your content is fire asf!!!! Thanks for this video!!

[@BarrettKaufman]

Haha! Thanks bro

[@professorm4171]

I hear The Batman was shot digitally and then printed on film as well. They have the same DP.

[@BarrettKaufman]

Very cool, I'll have to look into that

[@Carnyx72]

It apparently has 2-3 shots that were completely digital, with a film emulation on them, as they didn't look sharp enough.

[@wateronfire19]

I don't really know a lot about color or editing or filmmaking or anything but I love dune commentary and this is a great take on all the coloring of dune. Hearing about all the thought that goes into the colors make the whole thing that much more enjoyable and impressive!!

[@BarrettKaufman]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing

[@shuang7877]

Fantastic video - it makes me feel it's from a channel that has 200K followers at least. Do keep it up!

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thank you! Will do

[@olgil]

This was so interesting! I've subbed and I hope your channel blows up. I'm gonna go watch Dune again and look for that shot.

[@BarrettKaufman]

Let me know your thoughts after watching it again! Thanks for the kind words

[@EnriqueAviles]

So... you are going to be the next big youtuber. Great perspective and explanation

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it

[@TheKOzality]

Just came across your video and it's an absolute treat. I'm currently on a Dune kick, but looking at this video and your channel there's a lot of quality content here and I'm going to stick around. I hope to see the channel grow, as it is highly deserved!

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thank you! It's always fun to nerd out with other people who love the same art

[@hakeemgravesande]

Lucky to have caught this guy and his channel before it blew up 😌

[@BarrettKaufman]

🙏🏼 thanks bro

[@nathanpaine9294]

SO RE: The two tone halation. This is due to optics. My glasses cause this effect on high contrast areas. The right side shifts yellow, and the left side shifts purple. What I don't know is if this artifact was caused by A) The taking lens, B) the printing/scanning process, or C) in some shots is might have been simulated, as now a lot of rendering software has the ability to mimic the exact optical path of light rays through specific lenses. This allows the VFX to receive the same distortion, color, and artifacts as the live action footage.

[@BarrettKaufman]

Totally makes sense! They filmed with Panavision H-series and Ultra Vista lenses. I wonder if it was a natural artifact they captured during production and then replicated it like you mentioned for the VFX

[@nathanpaine9294]

@@BarrettKaufman that seems to me to be the best guess.

[@hubertbarski2276]

For the geeky ones: this distortion is called chromatic aberration and so many lenses have it that the absence of it sometimes looks artificial, so in VFX it is usually added in post in order to make the picture more believable.

[@nathanpaine9294]

@@hubertbarski2276 right. I didn’t use this term because there are several kinds of CA and didn’t want to people to be confused with the purple/green shift that result from focus.

[@jordanforberg4384]

I REALLY enjoyed your style, production, and the video as a whole. Honestly wouldn’t change a thing about it.

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it

[@morganwardfilm]

It was so baffling to look at your subscriber count and not see 6 figures lol please keep up with this level of technical detail especially with shot composition, there is a big need for it on youtube! I'm predicting you'll have at least 5 figures by the end of the year

[@BarrettKaufman]

Absolutely! Thanks for the kind words

[@shakira4223]

Only 600 after an year worth of content? Bruhh, I thought this video would be from a famous channel wtff

[@SamuelJamesVideos]

Great channel dude. I hope this blows up

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thanks Samuel!

[@kurtdewittphoto]

Any other movie, if shot this dark, would annoy me. But I immediately recognized the purpose in doing so for this.. making the outside blindingly bright in comparison.. Brilliant movie.

[@BarrettKaufman]

Without a doubt, brilliant stuff

[@lanagievski1540]

It also made sense to me practically to have the interior dark to keep it cool

[@BarrettKaufman]

@@lanagievski1540 Agreed

[@kurtdewittphoto]

@@lanagievski1540 Good point.

[@eduardoargolo3118]

This video is incredible

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thanks bro!

[@lokchiu]

i like this format!

[@BarrettKaufman]

I'll keep it up!

[@Jon.A.Scholt]

That shot of Chani looked like it had a warm and cool edge too. But it does seem to "move" differently

[@BarrettKaufman]

Agreed. Out of the 1000+ shots in the film I can't claim any certainty to "the one", just a best guess

[@willwoolf]

You probably already know this, but the red/blue halation on low saturated highlights is called "chromatic aberration". I have no clue if it was intended or not, especially since in an IMAX cinema I remember it being visible on titles. It's a consequence of light refracting in a lens and is almost unavoidable.

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thanks for the comment! My guess is that it is a mix of practical and VFX. But regardless I love the character to brings

[@nathanorgill1481]

Good analysis, I learned some stuff.

[@BarrettKaufman]

Awesome!

[@sternschnupper]

wonderful video, thanks for that deep insights of color breakdown! one thing though, as far as i remember the reasons against 65mm film where not the obstacles or whether this would be worth it - it would, if it was best they clearly would have gone for it! but it was an artistic decision, as 65mm film would look a bit more nostalgic. and they didn't want that, also they didn't want it to look too clinically modern. thus they tried filming on digital and then transferring to analog, and that gave them the perfectly balanced look they where aiming for 🧡

[@BarrettKaufman]

It's a pretty clever solution! With the "film out' concept now being used on features, it will be fun to see what future innovations arise

[@miller0002]

Such a perfect adaptation

[@BarrettKaufman]

It's a beautiful film

[@helicopter_traffic]

Like no. 586! Love this video, subscribed and really excited for what you do next !

[@BarrettKaufman]

Haha! Thanks for the kind words!

[@cmafilmproduction]

Thanks for the video! Super insightful. I’m following and eagerly looking forward to similar content!! All the best

[@BarrettKaufman]

Awesome!

[@zachkaufman5254]

🙌🙌🙌 not sure about they why, but just watching this is aesthetically pleasing. Me gusta.

[@BarrettKaufman]

I'm glad :)

[@maxresdefault8330]

Great video, great channel. As someone else mentioned, the colour fringing happens with lenses, but it could also a fake lens imperfection that they use to tie in real footage and digital effects.!

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thanks for confirming! It's definitely a pleasant artifact to have in the film

[@StringFairy]

This is a really solid video. Thank you, learned a lot.

[@BarrettKaufman]

Absolutely! Thanks for letting me know

[@CaughtInTheLoop]

Thank you for this fantastic video! I would love to see you do this with other movies that use color in a special way.

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thank you! Any suggestions? I keep a running list of films to review

[@aumelb]

@@BarrettKaufman Blade Runner 2049, please?

[@marsOrBust7816]

I know this is a year late, lovely analysis, but there was no blue sky on Arrakis because Frank Herbert specifically said there wasn't. Some property of atmospheric dust, different sun, different atmospheric composition etc.

[@BarrettKaufman]

Great addition! Thanks

[@goodvibes7984]

Love the video, great channel! subscribed

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thanks!

[@SpaceCafeCanada]

I enjoyed yer' enthusiasm *_Off the curb_*

[@ak-gi3eu]

looking forward that how many more creative reviews can you make...ex .color theory,shots theory,outfit theory,etc

[@BarrettKaufman]

Totally 👍🏼

[@oh...hi.]

youre quality to subscriber ratio is unbelievable

[@BarrettKaufman]

Haha! Well we're moving in the right direction!

[@hughadams9703]

You deserve more subscribers

[@BarrettKaufman]

Haha! Thank you!

[@forty42two]

Thanks for the video! Very interesting and informative

[@BarrettKaufman]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@nileshroy88]

Loved your analysis, the batman will be out on streaming on 19th, please do an analysis on that.

[@BarrettKaufman]

Oh yeah, I'm gonna get it on bluray and start making notes

[@cat3062]

great video! thanks

[@BarrettKaufman]

👍🏼👍🏼

[@KO.42]

Great video, very interesting

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thanks!

[@Abdullah_Khan578]

Nice video bro

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thank you!

[@WesDaviestravel]

Interesting, thanks man

[@BarrettKaufman]

Totally!

[@scarface_deb]

Very interesting, great job!

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thanks!

[@kirankiranmishra]

hey I know this cut blue sky in post, they did something with sunscreen with negative which kills the blue automatically in camera, if you have any idea bout how it works can you kindly exlapin ?

[@BarrettKaufman]

Hey! Rather than using blue screens for VFX, they used "sandscreens" that provided enough separation to work for keying, but didn't have any blue spill which was awesome. I'm sure they used lots of negative fill as well. While those two things wouldn't get rid of blue in the sky, It's fairly easy to do in the color room, and they likely built that adjustment into an onset showlut for preview

[@RichardHartl]

I just realized he's wearing the same t shirt as me. Has a white elephant on it. Literally wearing it right now

[@BarrettKaufman]

You have good taste :)

[@RichardHartl]

@@BarrettKaufman Likewise 😂

[@josephkelly6681]

Fantastic

[@BarrettKaufman]

👍🏻👍🏻

[@Maxwellmorriss]

Great Video

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thanks!

[@JafuetTheSame]

The Mystery of Dune's Color...where did it go?

[@BarrettKaufman]

We solved it! Haha

[@davidpax]

Yup, that shot has a blue sky, so it's a good guess. Actually I don't think those dark,grey low contrast colors were the right choice for the movie. It gives a very cold impression as does the music, that's pretty much without emotion.

[@BarrettKaufman]

Great thoughts here 👍🏼 I do wonder what it would feel like with a higher contrast approach Maybe I'll grab a HDR version and see if they broadened the tonal range of the lighting

[@davidpax]

@@BarrettKaufman btw, since you are a color and film image expert, it could be interesting if you compared the old an new Blade Runner films. I think they look strikingly different. But I don't know the terms or how to decribe/explain it.

[@natzbarney4504]

Not agree with that. The colors perfectly conveys the feeling of oppression and harshness of Arrakis. It took me to the guts. And the music is masterpiece in my opinion (and Zimmer got an well deserved Oscar for it).

[@BarrettKaufman]

@@natzbarney4504 +1 for the music. I'm no composer, but it's beautiful work

[@robinryck7100]

Amazing work!! Just subscribed to your channel! Would be nice to see how you can learn us how to replicate what you described in DaVinci resolve

[@BarrettKaufman]

Love Resolve! I work in it every day 😆 Definitely some more tutorials in the future

[@shivershins3730]

Good video

[@BarrettKaufman]

Thanks!

[@jikesbadoodle3580]

In the Book it says the sun of Arrakis is white

[@BarrettKaufman]

Nice! I haven't read it yet but hope to soon

[@SuperNovaJinckUFO]

The sun is white on earth. Try looking at it around noon (being careful, obviously)

[@FortheLoveofMonsters]

Denis Villeneuve is pronounced Den-nie Vil-nuef. It’s not Spanish, it’s a French name.

[@davadh]

His last name is only two syllable "Ville-neuve"

[@BarrettKaufman]

Ah! Thank you!

[@robertprawendowski2850]

⭐

[@katarinatill4713]

I think it was too dark I could hardly see anything! As if a Black veil would be on the screen, coul hardly see colors or even contrast! How can You follow a movie like this?

[@BarrettKaufman]

It can depend a LOT on the screens while viewing. Some movie theaters actually dim their projector bulbs to save on costs....which is terrible.... And many consumer screens are uncalibrated and handle the darkest 5% of detail poorly

[@thewitchchild5926]

ngl I fucking hated the coloring for this movie. It bored me to tears. I prefer more intense colours in my sci fi. And then it just reminded me of Rogue One, which killed it even more. I wiiiiiiiiiiiiish he had the cinematographer he had for Blade Runner ;+; But maybe it just didn't suite the tone of the book? Idk. I wanted colours more like the book covers. Oh well.

[@BarrettKaufman]

It's a totally fair opinion to want more saturation and punch from the image. Deakins work on Blade Runner is beautiful!! He won an Oscar on that one, right?

[@VFXforfilm]

Too bad the film was so boring half way. The film has no levity, the characters are so depressed sounding, the hero is a beta male, the only character with depth was the Barron.

[@BarrettKaufman]

Can definitely see that perspective. The film is kind of one giant setup for Paul's "hero journey" and unfortunately we won't really get to see that until the next film. I think the pacing is easy to both love and hate for valid reasons. Thanks for sharing!

[@VFXforfilm]

@@BarrettKaufman I keep hearing the “his character was just set up”. But most great characters are seen for who they are in first hour. He’s monotone and submissive, mamas boy introvert, there’s no hint of manhood or fire (think of Stranger Things’s Hopper or Indiana Jones). Timmy’s range is narrow and the politically correct Hollywood police critics will not praise a man’s man star. Pathetic. Movies today have no strong convictions, just blase’ shallow or vague moral thoughts.