“Severance” On Apple TV+

[TimDRX]

I'm not disputing that but if you listen to the podcasts they often make reference to not using CGI.
There's a scene in episode 7, a transition from MDR down to the floor below where the character doubles were monitoring the team along with Drummond and Maur apparently had "no CGI" according to Ben Stiller, until you listened to an interview with the episode's director Jessica Lee Gagne when she said there was one shot where they used CGI as a transition.
I think it is that fairly common thing now where creatives like to say "we didn't use CGI". It's all about invisible VFX as opposed to something very obvious like a CG creature or environment in something more overtly sci-fi.

Yeah, claiming not to use CGI has become a thing - director's and showrunners think it sounds good (which, I guess it does!) because the implication is that they did so much preproduction and practical work that they didn't need to rely on "fixing it in post" but it also rather clearly demonstrates a lack of care and respect for the massive amount of work that VFX artists put in.

The big ones to my mind were Barbie and Oppenheimer - both directors made easily disproven claims that no CGI was used in big visual spectacle scenes in those movies, and then BTS footage came out that confirmed that no, of course not, a ton of CGI was used lol.

 

[3Dsf]

So the terminal's keyboard design got me thinking about whether they benefited from the mechanical keyboard community and the resurgence in consumer interest in keycap designs. Seems like they did.

The terminals, while made for the show and not found objects, are clearly a mixture of 70s and 80s influences.

In particular the terminal lifts all its key design cues off the Data General 6053. The blue and white (the originals may have been cream or ivory) colour scheme, the top and bottom monitor seam (similar to the desktop loudspeaker design), the decorative rounded recesses on the sides of the monitor, the dark round tilt handles, the huge keyboard base, the flange at the base of the keyboard, the spherical keycaps... they're all taken from the 6053. This original terminal was released in 1977 and was used to interface to machines like DG's Nova minicomputers.

Data General 6053 - Terminals

terminals-wiki.org

The massive original Data General keyboard was printed with the name "Dasher". Its two-tone blue design has a striking retro look, especially since the alphanumeric keys are darker blue than the light blue modifier keys, and the metal top is a rich navy colour. The keys were of course double-shot (moulded twice so that the lettering is solid lighter-coloured plastic moulded right in, not simply printed on the top) ABS.

And for those of the "things were better in the old days!" bent, these keyboards used crappy Key Tronic capacitive foam and foil keys, not nice mechanical keys or anything like that.

The trackball, however, was a very 80s addition to the design, as were the terminal's on-screen graphics. And the spycam, well...

Keycap sets inspired by the colour scheme have been released. Here's one in the MT3 sculpted profile; a modern keycap which reflects aspects of the vintage originals.

Drop MT3 Dasher Keycap Set - Base Kit | Mechanical Keyboards | Keycaps | ABS Keycaps

Drop exclusive product, price and reviews: Drop MT3 Dasher Keycap Set | 4.4K+ Sold | In its heyday in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Data General’s “Dasher”...

drop.com

This guy made a fantastic 3D-printed base for his Lumon-inspired keyboard using MT3 keycaps:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/1i3z3ru/lumon_industries_tkl_terminal_after_15_years_of

However, a company in the US that manufactures and sells custom keycaps claims to have supplied the Severance production team with their keycaps, and now sells them to the public for the full tasty MDR experience.

These use their proprietary "SA" keycap profile. As far as I can tell they're compatible with Cherry MX keyswitch stems. They appear to be tall with a spherical surface profile, though the keycap top is not as rounded as the original DG Dasher keyboard.p

Making this set extra cool is that they include the goofy swirly icon keys as well. Though they do give you ESC and CTRL keys, so you can still make it out of the severed floor alive.

SA Macrodata Refinement (R2)

Round 2 pre-orders are now being accepted. Due to the overwhelming response, pre-orders are now being accepted for a second run of SA Macrodata Refinement. Estimated shipping timeframe is the middle of June. For the last four decades, we’ve been crafting the iconic SA profile keycaps in Custer...

spkeyboards.com

 

[renaissance_man]

Grab your baton and join Mr Milchick for Choreography aaaaaand Merriment!