The Mysterious and Important Work of Prop Design on Severance
1 min read
Summary
The TV series Severance has become very popular, thanks in part to the commitment of its fandom, which is hard to distinguish from the fictional cult of Kier.
As part of the appeal of the series, props are very well designed, such as the “WoeMeter”, featured in season 2, episode 7, used to quantify the amount of woe in a severed worker.
The design firm make3 built the prop, which had to reflect the not-quite-midcentury-modern look of the show, in a short timescale.
The prop makers took inspiration from a Nagra tape recorder, using its knobs and switches for the build, with all controls laid out sensibly for the actors.
The prop includes servo-operated meters and seven-segment LED displays, together with an ESP-32 on a custom PCB, to great effect.
