Quebec Emmy-nominated cinematographer on how she created the ‘Severance’ world

Jessica Lee Gagné put much of herself into her directorial debut in season two of the critically acclaimed television series Severance – even filming the episode in her own home.

The cinematographer earned two of the show’s 27 Emmy nominations – for outstanding directing and outstanding cinematography in a drama series – in June. Though Gagné submitted her work in the past, she was finally recognized for projects she felt especially passionate about.

“What I find really beautiful is that I gave myself a chance and there’s something that came back from it,” she said. “The fact that I followed my heart and did something that I really felt connected to means a lot more. It just makes me want to do it again!”

Severance follows Mark Scout (Adam Scott) and his work at Lumon Industries, where employees have undergone a procedure that surgically divides their memories between their work and personal lives. Scout soon finds himself at the centre of an unravelling mystery, raising questions about “work-life balance,” the true purpose of Lumon Industries and the human mind itself.

Inside the ‘innie world’

Gagné’s cinematography earned her nominations for the Canadian Screen Award in 2015 and the Filmfare Awards in 2018. She is the first woman to be nominated for both outstanding directing and outstanding cinematography for a television drama series.

Severance received the most nominations of any show this year, almost double the 14 nominations it got for its first season in 2022.

The show gained traction for its bizarre explorations of memory and the subconscious, highlighted especially through the show’s unique visual language developed by Gagné.

• READ MORE: Jessica Lee Gagné is the Quebec visionary behind the hit series Severance

Gagné, originally from Quebec City, has been praised by viewers and colleagues for her technical prowess and creativity behind the camera.

She previously said she first hesitated to jump on a project filming primarily in an office, a classically bland and sterile space. Thanks to Gagné’s use of sets, lighting and colour, the Lumon offices grew into a stunning and Kafkaesque world of its own, complete with a goat pasture and a 200-piece marching band.

When the second season aired last winter, viewers were blown away by its opening sequence, where Scott runs through seemingly endless white hallways.

Gagné told CTV News she submitted the “Hello, Ms. Cobel” episode for Emmy consideration, which earned her the cinematography nomination, in part because of the work that went into designing the hallway sequence.

“It really showed off the iconic language of the show, and that’s probably the thing I’m most proud of,” she said.

To create the dizzying maze and iconic “oner,” Gagné needed the support of an entire team.

“We had to go back to the drawing board a lot,” she said. “With the cameras travelling down a four-foot-wide hallway, there’s a limit to what you can do with the laws of physics.”

Even after meetings to tackle each part of the shot’s design – cameras, gripping, lighting and visual effects – bringing it to life was another challenge. It included robotic arms that can move quickly and sliding cameras.

“You can have a shot in your mind but then making it real is the next level,” she said. “We love those kind of robotic-style movements in the innie world, it’s something we implemented in season one where the camera has a non-human approach to it. So this leaned into that idea even more.”

Directorial debut earns Emmy nomination

Gagné had wanted to direct since her days in film school at Montreal’s Concordia University, and said “Chikhai Bardo,” the season’s seventh episode, called to her.

She felt it was important for Gemma Scout’s story to be told from a woman’s perspective. The episode explores Gemma (played by Dichen Lachman)’s relationship with her husband Mark before the two undergo the severance procedure and her captivity at Lumon.

“I have favourite shots. I do love the shot where she goes into the miscarriage. It’s a hard shot, but I feel there’s something really beautiful there,” said Gagné.

The episode was a turning point in the series and tore open the until-then limited scope of the Severance world.

To make the distinction clear, Gagné decided to shoot on film for the first time in the series to invoke nostalgia and cue the audience in on the fact that they are watching memories replayed.

“There’s a lot of things that make it stand out as an episode,” said Gagné. “We’re finally going in depth about what happened in the past, so many people wanted to know what happened there … When we see film, we just have that visceral reaction of it being something from the past, so it made that seamless.”

Blending work and life

Gagné describes the Severance aesthetic as being hyperreal, using strong contrast and lighting to heighten the characters and setting.

She points to movies like Klute and The Ipcress File as films that influenced the Lumon world through their use of wide angles, long walking shots, and strange frames. She is also heavily inspired by photography.

The second season’s eighth episode brought Gagné back to Canada when they filmed in Newfoundland, and she said she was happy to have the opportunity to work with long-time collaborators and her “local family.”

“That was pretty magical, to be honest,” she said.

She keeps a piece of Montreal with her while working, from problem-solving on set to the brutalist architecture featured in Lumon Industries.

“I love how we make movies here,” said Gagné. “I do miss working here.”

While working on Severance, she rented an old house near the New York Hudson Valley, where most of the show is shot, which was “kind of falling apart,” but she loved it.

She had no idea it would eventually become Mark and Gemma’s house.

While brainstorming with the production designer for Chikhai Bardo, she was picturing bookshelves and paint chipping off the walls, he stopped her mid-thought and said, “you realize we’re going to shoot in your house.”

Despite the challenge of adapting her living space to a television set, she said it made the work possible to have such easy access while being busy with other aspects of the series.

“I just knew that house so well. I knew how the light moved within it, I knew where to be and when inside the house and I could think of shots at home … it was kind of a gift of it coming to me,” she said.

Gagné said she considers herself lucky to have had access to many resources and a high-calibre team for her first time in the director’s chair.

“I am really proud of it,” she said.

And she plans on taking it up again, this time on a feature-length erotic thriller she’s currently writing.