Cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagné on Severance, working with Ben Stiller, Escape at Dannemora, Mrs. America

Severance, a trippy, mind-bending thriller on Apple TV+, takes the
idea of work/life balance to an extreme. Certain employees working
for the mysterious corporation, Lumon, undergo a surgical procedure
called severance that plants a chip in their brain. Severed
employees can't remember anything from their personal lives while
at work, and outside of work, they can't access their memories of
their office life. This creates two separate people, known as
“innies” at work and “outies” at home. Cinematographer Jessica Lee
Gagné grew up in Quebec City, Canada, surrounded by movies from her
father's video stores which sparked her love of film. She took
photography in school, then enrolled in a film program in Montreal.
Jessica first began working with director Ben Stiller on the
Showtime series, Escape at Dannemora. The two enjoyed working
together, and while shooting Escape at Dannemora, Stiller was
already talking about directing Severance. Jessica didn't
particularly like the idea of shooting an office show with
absolutely no windows, with the same lighting setups over and over.
However, during the preproduction process, she was able to find
references that allowed her to find ways to shoot the Lumon offices
in a cinematic way. The production design team also created a very
strange and surreal world within the gigantic building, whose
brutalist exterior is a real location at the former Bell Works in
Holmdel, New Jersey. Jessica crafted a unique camera style for
Severance. Most of the scenes that take place in the Lumon offices
are done with tracking dollies on remote heads, rather than with
Steadicam. She enjoyed playing with camera height, often showing
the ceiling and choosing wide, surveillance-like angles from
corners or above. The office workers are often physically “severed”
in shots- by cubicle walls, computers or doorways. In the elevator
up or down from the office, the office workers transition from
their “innies” to their “outies,” with a dolly in and zoom out on
their faces to create a morphing effect. Find Jessica Lee Gagné:
https://www.jessicaleegagne.com Instagram: @jessicaleegagne See
Severance on AppleTV+:
https://tv.apple.com/us/show/severance/umc.cmc.1srk2goyh2q2zdxcx605w8vtx
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