Picture Shop’s Pankaj Bajpai reunites with cinematographer Jeff Jur, ASC to color the second season of the runaway hit series.
Shondaland and Creator Chris Van Dusen’s smash success Bridgerton is back for its second season. This season focuses on Lord Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey), the eldest Bridgerton sibling and Viscount, as he sets out to find a suitable wife. Driven by his duty to uphold the family name, Anthony’s search for a debutante who meets his impossible standards seems ill-fated until Kate (Simone Ashley) and her younger sister Edwina (Charithra Chandran) Sharma arrive from India. When Anthony begins to court Edwina, Kate discovers the true nature of his intentions — a true love match is not high on his priority list — and decides to do everything in her power to stop the union. But in doing so, Kate and Anthony’s verbal sparring matches only bring them closer together, complicating matters on both sides. Across Grosvenor Square, the Featheringtons must welcome the newest heir to their estate while Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) continues to navigate the town whilst keeping her deepest secret from the people closest to her. Bridgerton is a romantic, scandalous, and clever series that celebrates the timelessness of enduring friendships, families finding their way, and the search for a love that conquers all.
Bridgerton has become a cultural phenomenon, transcending far beyond the books and television series alone. The color, costumes, and whimsy of the series have inspired a fashion line with Bloomingdale’s and The Queen’s Ball, a live experience which launched in Los Angeles and will travel to many other markets globally where guests can immerse themselves in the Regency era through live music, dance, and performances inspired by the hit series. Additionally, the television series has been locked in for a third and fourth season, and a spin-off series Queen Charlotte is in development.Pankaj Bajpai, Picture Shop’s SVP, Creative Color, and Business Development, reunited with cinematographer and long-time collaborator Jeff Jur, ASC once again for the second season. For season two, Bajpai explains that no major changes were made to the look. “The show worked so well in season one, that we didn’t want to change much.” He elaborates, “In the first season, we were discovering the show. This season, we knew what worked and it was a process of maturing that. For instance, the ballroom scenes now feel more mature in the way in which we addressed the photography and the color. We learned from the things that really worked in season one and gave them a new polish.”
The second season was again shot in England, with dailies overseen by Dailies Colorist Gregg Lang in Burbank, CA using a remote Cloud system set up at Picture Shop’s London facility. The London team would receive the production footage and connect the drives so that the On-Location Services team could remotely process it from California. Picture Shop’s TecStream iOS app was used to enable secure, remote collaboration in sessions between Bajpai and creatives. This was a key component in the season one post process, which occurred during the lockdown in 2020, because it allowed users from various places around the globe to simultaneously view and discuss the color grade. Because Covid restrictions were beginning to ease during the post-production phase of season two, Bajpai was able to have more creatives join him for in-facility sessions as well.Another aspect unique to the second season is the incorporation of flashbacks, which provided Bajpai an opportunity to get creative with the visuals. “There are a lot more flashbacks in this season than the first. What’s interesting is that we tried to do flashbacks in a period-style. Normally, when you think of flashbacks, they are black and white or high contrast, but we had a lot of fun creating flashbacks in the style of the 1800s.”The second season of Bridgerton is now available to stream on Netflix.