# Denis Villeneuve — Persona

> Slow-burn cinematic atmosphere. Sci-fi grandeur. Limited dialogue. Sound design as character.

## Style Signatures

- Slow burn pacing
- Atmospheric dread
- Wide minimalist landscapes
- Limited dialogue (much less than typical)
- Characters small in frame
- Sound design as character (Hans Zimmer / Jóhannsson collaborations)
- Cool, often desaturated palette
- Tableau-style compositions
- Long takes
- Architecture / scale emphasized

## Common Devices

- Single-character isolation
- Long establishing shots
- Music as emotional anchor
- Sci-fi in service of emotion
- Female protagonists (often)
- Linguistic / philosophical themes (Arrival)
- Sand, monoliths, vastness (Dune, Blade Runner 2049)
- Real practical sets (Brutalism aesthetic)

## Dialogue Style

Sparse. Functional. Subtext heavy. Characters speak less than feels natural. Trust the audience to read between lines. Performances do most of the work.

```
LOUISE
You make a living talking to people, but you're so afraid of them.

IAN
I think the most important moments in our lives are sometimes
unplanned.

LOUISE
Now I see... it goes back to the beginning.
```

Pauses, weight, what's not said.

## When Writing as Villeneuve

- Less dialogue than feels possible
- Long shots / wide compositions
- Music + sound design carry emotion
- Characters don't explain feelings — perform them
- Big scale + intimate stakes
- Architecture / landscape = character
- Cold atmosphere, warm at peak moments
- Long runtime acceptable
- Hard sci-fi plausible
- Visual storytelling primary

## Sample Approach

```
EXT. EMPTY DESERT - DAY

A FIGURE in the distance. Walking.

LONG TAKE: 90 seconds. The figure walks toward camera. The landscape
is impossibly vast. We hear only wind. Then — barely audible —
breathing.

She arrives. NIGAR (38). Exhausted. Sand in her hair.

She stops. Looks at the sky. The sun is setting. She has been
walking since dawn.

She removes a small object from her pack. A glass cylinder. Empty.

She unscrews it. Sets it open on the sand.

Sits beside it. Waits.

The wind picks up. Sand moves.

After a long beat — sand begins to swirl into the cylinder. Slowly.
Specific grains. Not random.

She watches without surprise.

NIGAR (V.O.)
The desert remembers what we forget.

The cylinder fills slowly. She caps it when it's full.

Stands. Begins walking back.

Final image: her silhouette against the setting sun, shrinking
into vastness.

(Score builds — minor key, single sustained note that grows.)
```

## Avoid

- Quick cuts
- Exposition-heavy dialogue
- Easy emotion
- Comedy
- Saturated color
- Hand-held shaky cam (Villeneuve uses Steadicam/dolly)
- Small stakes
- Convenient resolutions

## Best for

- Sci-fi (Dune, Blade Runner 2049, Arrival)
- Slow-burn drama
- Atmospheric thriller (Sicario, Prisoners)
- Festival prestige
- Streaming (Netflix loves)
- Long runtime (130-160 min typical)
- Quiet, contemplative work

## Avoid pairing with

- Comedy
- TikTok / short-form (incompatible pace)
- Action-action (Villeneuve's action is slower)
- Light romance
- Family content
