Meet Baz Irvine, the cinematographer behind the Apple TV+ hit show Silo. In this conversation, Baz talks about his visual choices, navigating different lighting and textures while shooting and working with the rest of the crew to create the look of the show.
Read on to get a glimpse into Baz’s cinematic world and explore what it was like to shoot Silo behind the scenes.
The muted green palette and torchlight flashlight were a key part of creating the atmosphere of Silo Season 2. Can you walk us through your decision to use these visual choices and how you felt they contributed to the sense of isolation and mystery in the world of the series?
Silo 17 presented many challenges, and specifically for me – how does it look, and how is it lit? At one point, we talked about it being completely dark, which would have been incredibly brave and very scary, but the reality was that there was some sense of life lurking within the desolation. I suggested that – as it’s been ‘abandoned’ for 35 years – there was still some backup system powering the overhead lights, and as the bulbs have decayed over the years and become covered in dirt and overgrown in vines, there would be a faint eerie greenish glow to give the Silo some light. You’d still need a flashlight to navigate the many rooms and corridors, but the sense of isolation and darkness would be a huge counterpoint to the already-established world of Silo 18.
Your use of full widescreen, handheld cameras, and wider lenses helps create both a sense of scale and intimacy, particularly in scenes with Juliette. How did you balance these techniques to evoke both the loneliness of her journey and the physical constraints of the Silo itself?
We knew that the journey through Silo 17 had to be experienced with Juliette. The audience couldn’t be ahead of the action – this all had to feel new, strange, unsettling, and otherworldly. Handheld cameras worked in two ways – on the one hand, being intimate and close to Juliette and able to react to her movements – and on the other, giving the sense at times that Juliette might be being watched or observed by others. We wanted this to be ambiguous, but as early as EP1, there are some shots that are further back from the action, partially obscured behind pillars and barricades that feel like someone else’s POV. The choice of widescreen seemed like a fairly obvious choice to me. It just worked for the Silo. Being close on wider lenses opens up the backgrounds but still creates an intimacy with Juliette.
The series explores the stark contrast between the different levels of society within the Silo. How did you approach lighting and texture to emphasize the socioeconomic divides between the upper and lower levels? Was there a particular scene or visual moment you felt best illustrated this?
There’s a sequence in Ep 2 when Bernard is giving a speech to the entire Silo, as his popularity is threatened, and as he speaks from the balcony of the upper levels, the camera cranes down through the Silo to find the crowds massed together in Mechanical. It’s like a journey from heaven to hell – it’s darker, all the lighting fixtures are covered in dirt and grease, and I deliberately increased the differences in colour temperature to enhance the different styles of lighting found deeper in the Silo. It’s dark and dirty down here, with improvised green fluorescent lamps casting much-needed illumination in the dark corridors and tunnels. We used wet downs on walls and floors to give reflections and a patina that helped offset the darkness and suggest that everything drips down eventually to this level. Back up top, the apartments have generous lighting, with elaborate lampshades and unlimited access to power. The open areas of the main rotunda are closer to the huge top lights that give all the illumination to the Silo. Everything is cleaner. I was really inspired by JG Ballard’s ‘high rise.’
In the scene where Juliette falls into the water, you frame her descent in a way that evokes both shock and wonder. How did you approach this sequence in terms of composition and cinematography to convey her first encounter with an unknown element in such an emotionally impactful way?
We deliberately let the Silo fall away into a dark shadow below the IT level, where Juliette embarks on her perilous journey to reach the broken balcony below. We know the Silo is deep and cavernous, so any slip or fall could be catastrophic. My director, Michael Dinner, and I talked about how we could strip down the action to the fewest amount of shots, and although it could have been cool to shoot slow-motion falling shots of Juliette, he wanted it all shockingly quick and kinetic – literally breathtaking. Once I knew we’d see Juliette from above lose her grip and plunge away from the camera into the darkness, I knew we couldn’t reveal the water til the last second. You have to feel she’s falling to a certain death. I suggested that if the water that had submerged the Silo had been undisturbed for years, it would be completely clear, so the shot from below that saw her fall towards the camera would look optically perfect until the moment she broke the water’s surface. So I think we captured the shock value of her falling, but then, surprisingly, hitting water perfectly.
How did you work with the production design and lighting departments to create an immersive, grimy environment? Were there any challenges or creative choices that you found particularly exciting or
I think it’s a constant dialogue between all the departments to come up with the best version of all the ideas and put them into action. The art dept created incredibly textured sets that always looked exactly right for the camera, so most of the time, I’m asking for subtle changes here and there to help with camera and lighting. One of the biggest challenges is choosing what to see and what not to see, as it’s important to protect the areas that fall away into the shadow. We always collaborated on colors in new lighting ideas and whether they would fit into the Silo etiquette.
Were there specific moments in Season 2 where you and the director worked closely to elevate the emotional impact through your cinematography?
I’m a great believer in following the story. If you’re true to the development of character and plot, you will always hit the right beats. If you try to come in with a camera design that doesn’t register with the script, I feel you’re always forcing photographic concepts over the story. You choose your close-ups carefully as much as you decide when a scene needs multiple shots or whether it will work in one take. The emotional resonance is always with the actors – it’s important to be open to new ideas after seeing a block through (rehearsal) + even if a scene has been storyboarded, be open to new ways of interpreting it.
