'Severance' title sequence has more drama and plot clues than most shows
'Severance' title sequence has more drama and plot clues than most shows
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Still from the new "Severance" title sequence -- image credit: Apple. Last updated 11 hours ago. The designer of the new title sequence for season two of Apple TV+ hit "Severance," has detailed the many clues and hints in the sequence — even though he doesn't know what they mean either.
Somewhere around the middle of the 2000s, the television drama title sequence was dead. Just compare Aaron Sorkin's "The West Wing" with its 1999 soaring theme and sequence, to the stark title card of Sorkin's 2006 "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.". The idea was that a sequence lasting up to 60 seconds is a whole minute's advertising lost. Hour-long dramas have already shrunk from around 55 minutes to around 45 over the decades, every second possible taken out for an advert, so title sequences were an obvious target.
Except a great sequence does so much that they've come back. Title sequences used to be a signal to viewers in the kitchen that their show was starting, they used to convey the tone and the style of the show. They've also always been works of art. But now they're also elaborate, detailed, and even beautiful pieces of storytelling — especially on Apple TV+.
"Silo" has a richly moody sequence with some symbolism around an apple — the fruit, not the company — but "Severance" took it to a new level. And now "Severance" season two has gone even further. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, title credits designer Oliver Latta says that the entire sequence has been redone for the new season. But while it is laden with imagery that is meant to signify different aspects of the season, Latta says he actually doesn't know what's happening in the episodes.
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