Viewinder Reviews

Film School: Severance (seasons 1 & 2, 2022-2025)

Severance (2022) Severance (2022)

The inspirations and approach powering the show’s look and feel.

Office Space

Style is centred in Severance‘s exploration of the claustrophobic mundanity of navigating life, sadness, even grief, through compartmentalization or disassociation; and of course, the way systems of control, particularly workplaces, necessarily reject any collapse of this – that is, any expression of authentic self. Series creator Dan Erickson ingeniously chose as his setting, the dystopian kitsch, anxiety-dream modernism, and absurdism of capitalist purgatory: the office space.

The photography of Lee Friedlander…

… Lars Tunbjörk…

… and Lewis Baltz…

… inspired cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagné and director Ben Stiller in finding the framing – and the comedy – of the look of the office, and of the series (via Go Creative Show):

Editor Vashi Nedmoansky describes Jacques Tati‘s Playtime (1967) as the “visual blueprint” for contemporary series like Severance and Andor (2022-2025):

Series cinematographer Jessica Lee Gangé made her directorial debut in Season 2 episode 7, which features this in-camera effect shot. “It’s all real. We actually shot through cables. It was the most laborious thing I have ever done as a DP”:

Thomas Flight analyses how carefully designed framing and composition ensure each office scene “feels distinct and presents the space in a new way”, and (with a little help from John Berger) examines “what separates a unique visual style from a truly meaningful one”:

Beginning with Ben Stiller explaining how story is “what’s being told in the frame”, these insights from Stiller, composer Theodore Shapiro, and production designer Jeremy Hindle illuminate how the various Heads of Department come together to create the story world (via IndieWire):

Season 2 Finale: How and Why

First the why: the Severance editors on the editing choices in the season 2 finale (via Apple). Somewhat ironically, some of the editing choices in this featurette about editing, music cues, and endings are frustrating (workflows are referenced but not explained, voices are drowned out by music or oddly-timed fade-outs)…

… so here’s more on the how – editor Geoffrey Richman on the editing process of the season 2 finale (via Variety):

Crafting Character

In her examination of his actions in the season 2 finale, Afrodizjha reads Seth Milchick (Tramell TIllman) as “both a facilitator of corporate oppression and a victim of it“, his story as being about “the quiet toll it takes on black working professionals”, and “his character arc as a reflection of the black corporate experience”:

Actors often write backstories for their characters. Britt Lower reveals that she sketched in character as Helly R:

Apple has since released Britt Lower’s self-taped audition as Helly R in the series’ opening scene…

… as well as Dichen Lachman‘s self-taped audition for the role of Ms Casey…

… which she discusses, along with crafting her characters, in her spoiler-filled chat with Jeff Goldsmith (via The Q&A / Back Story):

More on Tramell Tillman’s crafting of Millchick (via The Back Focus):

SFX

BTS of just one of the myriad dazzling shots, the opening of season 2 (via Vanity Fair):

VFX

The VFX of Severance (via ILM):

More Perks

Apple’s Severance playlist includes season 2 episode breakdowns, as well as some suitably unhinged in-universe extras and real-world marketing stunts:

Pillar of Garbage on how Severance rejects work/life balance:

Please enjoy each version equally:

Further Viewing

More comprehensive interview with Geoffrey Richman on the editing of Severance (via The Editing Podcast):

More appreciation of Severance:

Film School: Stills from ‘Severance’ (2022-2025)
Film School: Details in ‘Severance’ (2022-2025)

The Severance editors reference The Kuleshov Effect:

Film School: The Kuleshov Effect

Revisit John Berger’s 1972 mini-series, Ways Of Seeing:

Watch: John Berger’s ‘Ways of Seeing’ (1972)