ART DIRECTION AND DUNE
Photos from the set of Dune, courtesy of Brad Ricker.
Art direction is essential in bringing to life the visual style of the film’s director. In projects like Dune, the art director is faced with the challenge of bringing a richly imagined world to life. Through insights from experts like Brad Ricker who worked on Dune, the complexities and creativity of art direction become more evident.
What are Art Direction and Set Design?
Art Direction focuses on the practical implementation of the production designer's vision. The Art Director manages logistics, budget, schedules, and the art department team, overseeing set construction and ensuring consistency (Harn, 2016). Art Direction in filmmaking involves the overall management and execution of the film’s visual style and aesthetic identity.
Brad Ricker is an acclaimed movie production designer and art director in Hollywood who has been an art director or supervising art director on many films including Inception, Dune, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Vice, Don’t Look Up, Spider-man: Homecoming, and Moneyball. He has been part of the teams who won Excellence in Production Design Awards from the Art Directors Guild for Inception, Dune, and The Terminal (IMDb n.d.).
Mr. Ricker described his role as bridging the production designer's ideas and the physical set, involving daily problem-solving and communication to achieve goals within constraints. The Art Department, led by the Production Designer and managed by the Art Director, comprises specialists like Set Designers, Concept Artists, Storyboard Artists, Set Decorators, Prop Masters, Graphic Artists, and Construction Crews, each contributing specific skills (Stein-Seroussi, 2024).
The Art Director’s Process
The Art Director’s work starts early in pre-production, often months before filming. Working closely with the Production Designer and Director, art directors help bring the film’s visual ideas to life. This includes breaking down the script to figure out what sets, props, and locations are needed, and doing the needed research to make everything look accurate. In a Supervisory Art Director role, as much as the art director needs artistic talent, they also require organizational skills to manage budgets, schedules, and the resources allotted to them, and works with the Production Designer to build a team and keep things running smoothly during production.
Mr. Ricker told us about some of the differences from an art direction perspective between big budget and smaller budget projects, and about the importance of collaboration between departments during production.
Dune Worldbuilding
For Dune, the challenge has always been, since the idea of adapting books into live-action movies became prevalent, to bring the reality of Frank Herbert’s imaginative book to life and provide an immersive experience for the audience. Mr. Ricker explained that Patrice Vermette aimed for design to intrinsically serve the narrative, using a “method designing ” process to create worlds shaped logically by environment, economics and culture (Grouchnikov). Mr. Ricker also explained that logistics was also an important part of the set, which was built in Budapest.
Challenges in Art Direction
One of the most complex and often underestimated challenges facing film art departments is navigating the landscape of intellectual property (IP) rights.
As Mr. Ricker highlighted, ensuring that everything appearing on screen has the necessary permissions is a critical and often painstaking process. The clearance process involves identifying potentially problematic items, researching ownership, obtaining permissions, and, if necessary, finding alternatives like creating original designs or modifying existing ones.
Insights from Other Films
Art direction is essential to how a film communicates mood, character, and story without words. It helps shape the world we see on screen and can make a character’s internal journey feel real through visual choices alone. In Rocky, art direction plays a subtle but powerful role in showing the main character’s emotional state. Mr. Ricker explained this scene in more detail.
References
Boccard, M. (2024). Art Director | EBSCO. EBSCO Information Services, Inc. | www.ebsco.com. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/communication-and-mass-media/art-director
Baugh, Michael. “ADG - Full History.” Art Directors Guild : The Guild – LOCAL 800 HISTORY, https://adg.org/the-guild/full-history/ Accessed 30 Apr. 2025.
Grouchnikov, Kirill. “Pushing Pixels.” Pushing Pixels RSS, https://www.pushing-pixels.org/2024/04/10/production-design-of-dune-interview-with-patrice-vermette.html Accessed 30 Apr. 2025.
IMDb. (n.d.). Brad Ricker | art director, Art Department, production designer. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0725469/
Harn, C. (2016, June 21). What is Art Direction & Production Design? Zacuto. https://www.zacuto.com/blogs/blog/what-is-art-direction
Stein-Seroussi, M. (2024, September 4). What is the art department in the film industry? - New 32 Productions. New 32 Productions. https://www.new32productions.com/art-department/