How the worlds of Dune: Prophecy got their distinctive look

Ars Technica: You also did some work on the film Dune: part 1. How was it different working on a TV series set in the same immersive fictional world?

Pierre Gill: It's a different game, a different scheme, and it's also a very different approach because the scenes are different. There aren't that many subplots. But it's still the same scope. We had the same number of sets and studios and everything. So it's a big challenge to keep the style, make it look good and light the actors. It's part of the reality of the [director of photography’s] decision-making. You have ideas in your head about what you want to do, you have a dream, but it has to be achievable and realistic. So then you make compromises and figure out how best to maintain that style. There are also multiple directors, there is a showrunner. Decision-making is therefore less centralized.

Ars Technica: How did you differentiate the series from Villeneuve's films, especially since it is a prequel?

Pierre Gill: It's set 10,000 years ago, so it could have been very different. But it's not a good idea to do that. First, the audience wants to see Dune because they love Denis Villeneuve's film. Secondly, it is a complex story and it is better not to get lost in anything. In our minds it was not a good idea to do that. So we didn't stay far from the movie, so the audience could just sit down and follow the story points. and of course at this point some people are always complaining, but most of them just like to follow the story. So I think we made the right choice.

Ars Technica: Despite the epic scope of the series, you were able to shoot a whopping 75 percent of the footage on camera. That's quite an achievement.

Pierre Gill: There's a lot of VFX, of course, but because most of the sets were so high and so big, the camera was filming people or the throne room (which is huge) is almost always in camera. For the big wide shots there is a set extension that is painted. So these huge sets, the Sisterhood, the library and everything, when you see all these girls wandering around that complex of Wallach IX, that complex is pretty much on camera.

A lot of VFX take these beautiful shots of the world, spaceships coming down and sometimes seeing something outside the window, and then the exterior of Wallach IX, two big towers and a rock facade. Of course there's the little lizard, the thinking machine, that was VFX. But otherwise it was very much in-camera, which makes your life easier when editing and shooting, although it doesn't make my life easier with lighting, which would be much easier with a blue screen.