We changed only the camera. This one sees infrared and nothing else, the way Greig Fraser shot the arena in Dune: Part Two: ALEXA LF cameras with their infrared-cut filters removed and an 87C filter on the lens to block visible light. "All the camera could see was infrared," he told Variety.

In infrared, colour tells you almost nothing. "Something that looks black to the eye might look white to the camera," Fraser said. VFX supervisor Paul Lambert watched two crew members in black T-shirts: one turned white, the other stayed black. So every fabric was tested, and some characters got separate costumes for inside and outside.

Black-and-white photographers knew a gentler version: a red filter darkens a blue sky. In infrared, leaves glow, because their cell structure throws back near-infrared light.

Our arena, stand-ins and lens are built in code, and the infrared tones are our own simulation.

What would your clothes do in infrared?

Sources: Holben, American Cinematographer (2024); ARRI Rental interview with Greig Fraser (2024); Tangcay, Variety (2024); KPBS (2024); MPA The Credits with Jacqueline West (2024) and Paul Lambert (2025); Kodak Wratten filter data; NASA Earth Observatory.
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