Apple’s post-apocalyptic science fiction series Silo launched May 5 with this ominous sequence by the multi-Emmy-winning crew at Antibody coupled with a dark and dreamy score by composer Atli Örvarsson.

Patrick Clair and Raoul Marks, co-founders and CDs at Antibody: “Silo is a new 10-episode Apple Original drama based on Hugh Howey’s New York Times bestselling trilogy of dystopian novels. The show is helmed by Graham Yost (long one of our favorite screenwriters) and director Morten Tyldum.

“It was immediately apparent they had created a rich and complex underground world. The challenge was to balance the brutal physical presence of this place against the warmth of generations of human lives lived within its subterranean walls.

“The characters in the show don’t know how long their ancestors have lived underground. It seemed to us that it was important to capture this legacy – that unknown thousands of people have lived and died within this place, loved and been loved.
 

“Ultimately the sequence is about capturing the cycle of life, from trees to apples to the legacy of the citizens.”

 
“We began by looking at sculptures of ants’ nests, created by pouring liquid metal into these complex structures – creating an inverse mold of the spaces. We also looked at timelapse photography of people streaming through busy city streets. We wanted to reveal the spaces by capturing impressions of the lives that have streamed through here over time.

“The structure designed for the show itself is gorgeous: a spiral architecture that reaches down kilometers into the earth. Without elevators, the inhabitants undertake days-long hikes up and down through the various communities.

“We thought about the echos between this ‘spine’ through the society and the literal spines of the inhabitants, the DNA of the staircase spiraling upwards and the DNA of the people it connects, the spiral of the stairs and the spiral of the nautilus – an important symbol in the show. Ultimately the sequence is about capturing the cycle of life, from trees to apples to the legacy of the citizens.

“As always, we stand on the shoulders of those that came before, and it was only due to the spectacular and thoughtful production design of the series that we had such rich symbolism to tap into. Graham and his team were collaborative, insightful, and generous. I sincerely hope we get to work with them again.”
 
 

 
Client: Apple TV+

Production: Antibody
Director: Antibody

Music: Atli Örvarsson