By Randi Altman

When the Covid lockdown first began, people were offered a bit of an escape in Netflix’s Tiger King. As the pandemic continued, viewers found another Netflix series to binge, but instead of real-life tiger pets and a prodigious mullet, this one — Bridgerton — involved beautiful and frisky high-society Londoners during the Regency era of the 1800s. The Shondaland show, which has set off a small Bridgerton baby boom, is based on the novels by Julia Quinn. It is show-run by Chris Van Dusen.

Jeffrey Jur

Bridgerton features beautiful interior and exterior settings that were shot by cinematographer Jeffrey Jur, ASC, and his colleague Philipp Blaubach, BSC.  Jur worked on episodes 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7.  An LA-based and Emmy Award-winning DP, Jur has shot HBO’s Carnivale, How to Get Away With Murder, Dirty Dancing, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and much more.

We reached out to Jur about his experience on Bridgerton, his workflow and his background.

How early did you get involved in planning for the season?
I arrived in London for about six weeks of prep before shooting started. The director Julie Anne Robinson and I spent a lot of time riding cars, buses and trains together all around England to see the various locations; we had plenty of time to discuss the look and style of the show. We were often with our brilliant production designer, Will Hughes-Jones, so it was a lovely creative space to work in while trundling through the English countryside.

What direction were you given about the look?
One concern was that we not be too “precious” with the look and, of course, we referenced many high-end period TV and film productions that had come before. All were beautiful, but we were after something contemporary, current and “now.” Julie Anne mentioned at one point that it should be “bonkers,” which rattled around in my head throughout the shoot. It was sort of a license to free up the style. I didn’t want a veil over the visuals… for the audience to be removed, watching a faraway piece of art or a distant memory. It needed to feel like it could have happened just yesterday.

How would you describe the look of the show? Saturated? Filmic?
Definitely filmic, as we wanted the show to feel big and expansive, but I kept using the term “lifted.” I wanted all the glorious detail and richness of our locations, sets, production design, costumes, makeup and hair styles to come through with vibrance and clarity but not to be pushed too far or to be artificial in any way.

How did you work with the directors and colorist to achieve the intended look?
My longtime finishing colorist is Pankaj Bajpai from Technicolor Hollywood (now Picture Shop). He’s truly a genius in his field. I can’t say enough about what he brings to that stage of production. He worked with me on Carnivale and Bessie for HBO as well as others.

We talked a lot about bringing a unique look to Bridgerton, something rich and alive and trying to avoid the veiled, monochromatic and diffused look typical of period dramas that came before. The word “lifted” came up again as our catchword, and Pankaj had some secret sauce in his board to devise this.

Color was obviously going to be very strong in our set design and costumes, so it was important to represent that accurately but also to honor the mood of the lighting of each scene. I am a film guy from way back, so I believe it’s important — actually my job — to get the look in the camera and not to rely on post to create it from scratch. Having said that, what post can do is amplify and extend the ideas and intent I put onto that camera sensor.

How did you explore the different worlds — male versus female — on the series?
The “female gaze” was going to be key to this project and unique to films in general. We were careful about our POV with camera placement, always remembering who was looking at whom. The two primary families of the Bridgertons and the Featheringtons were important to keep visually distinct. The upper-class world of those families had a clean and precise look — the Featheringtons had bolder, even garish colors, while the Bridgertons had a cool, blue, Wedgwood color tone. When the show visited the working-class villages and rougher parts of London and Will in his boxing world, we often shot hand-held with a looser feel and lit with more grit.

What were some of the challenges of shooting the ball scenes?
Getting all the coverage. The scenes are heavily populated, often with all the main characters, all reacting to everything going on. The scripts are dense, with many characters observing other characters, so it’s important to capture those reactions — even from the “Ton,” which is the society at large. We’ll be filming one scene and then have to get shots from the POV of other characters watching that scene.

Where was the series shot and how long was the shoot?
In and around the UK — London, York, Salisbury, Brighton, Bath, Bristol. Each block of two episodes was filmed over approximately six weeks.

Which episodes did you work on, assuming there was another DP on the show? How did that work?
I photographed episodes 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7. I did alternate with another DP, Philipp Blaubach, who photographed episodes 4, 5 and 8. As happens on these large projects, we often end up shooting bits of each other’s shows.

Was it mostly on location or a soundstage?
We began that first season shooting all of our location work as the stages as sets were not yet built. The season was probably 3/4 locations and 1/4 stage work.

How did you go about choosing the right camera and lenses for this project?
Netflix requires their shows be shot with a high-resolution camera, at least 4K. I had friends who worked with the Sony Venice and recommended it, so I tested it. I loved the filmic quality, the user interface and the ability to shoot even higher resolutions. We ended up shooting 6K spherical. It was important to me to have the large sensor for depth-of-field control as well as for capturing all the glorious detail that was going to be built into the sets, decor and costumes.

I tested lenses, looking for a clean, sharp image quality, but the bokeh of candlelight was very important, and the ARRI Signature Primes gave me the most perfectly round circle from the soft, out-of-focus candle flames.

Can you describe the lighting?
Soft, natural and always motivated by something real, although it was usually the most beautiful “real” light that could possibly be in each set. I felt the show was like a fairy tale, so I thought we could take the colors and lighting a bit further and make it more heightened.

Now for more general questions. How did you become interested in cinematography?
I started making films in high school and was totally hooked. Films gave me a voice that I needed and had no other outlet for. I studied film at Columbia College in Chicago, which had a great hands-on filmmaking curriculum. It was there that I began to favor cinematography as a calling, as it allowed me to work at the creative core of many different types of films.

What technology has changed the way you work?
Obviously, digital cinema cameras have changed everything. It’s amazing to see an image on a monitor that is quite close to your finished product before you’ve even left the set. I love being able to work and light at such low levels these days, at last capturing images that we all see with our eyes but were not able to film previously. LED lamps have also been wonderful technology, allowing so much more color and intensity control than ever before.

Jeffrey Jur with the Sony Venice

What are some of your best practices or rules you try to follow on each job?
Trust your instincts! The best work people do comes from a worldview developed over time, which comes from all that you’ve experienced, not just other films or TV shows. It’s important for me to get through each scheduled day quickly. Also, understanding what you can “get away with” helps, and that comes from experience and seeing how your work is edited over the years — what’s most likely to survive a cut. A good sense of humor is also key: It’s a crazy business, and things change constantly. You have to go with the flow and keep the work fun.

Explain your ideal collaboration with the director or showrunner when starting a new project.
Hopefully you find a show that has a worldview you share or are interested in. In interviews or prep, I like to bring in art and photography books to give them a sense of how I see their show. It’s not always a good idea to show them clips or stills from other films that aren’t yours; they might hire that DP instead! With directors, I try to get them to talk to me as if I were an actor: What is this scene about? What is the intent? What is the “feel”? Most directors would never tell an actor how to say a line! And, hopefully, they support what I think is the best technical way to achieve their intent.

What’s your go-to gear? Things you can’t live without?
My iPad — with Scriptation, Cadrage, iPhoto, LightTrac and QTake. It’s an amazing filmmaking machine. All my scripts, notes, location photos, dailies and on-set monitoring are available in my hands. I do miss my light meter, which I still pull out occasionally.

Randi Altman is the founder and editor-in-chief of postPerspective. She has been covering production and post production for more than 20 years.