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‘Bridgerton’ Making a Scene Video Series: The Cast

The World of ‘Bridgerton’ Video Series: Queen Charlotte’s Court

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Director, Short Form Content at Shondaland.com

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Bridgerton

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Hearst Editorial

(upbeat music) - When it came to the wedding scene and the wedding reception that was one of the big ones within the show. What was interesting is because it wasn't a wedding of a family, it was a wedding of two families being hosted by the queen. We went all out, I mean, we looked at all places. We looked at Westminster Abbey. We looked at St. Paul's Cathedral and we settled on a church in St. James's, which is the most beautiful church for our purposes because of the scale of it was perfect. And then once we'd found it, it was how to create something that looked really special. So talking with Jeff and Tom about how they were gonna shoot it, you know determined how we dressed it so that we could get the best out of the lighting. Talking with Sophie and the costume team, really making sure that we had synergy as we always do with the costumes it's always about collaboration and making sure that everybody's on the same page before we go out to bat as it were. So the process is the same, whichever job you do. You read the script, you have an opinion on the script, you make that opinion known and hopefully your ideas are in line with the script writer or the show runner or the producer and the directors. We all sort of find ourselves talking about what we think is important to the script. And mine is always the, the visual element. From that, we then come up with a set. So we know that the camera fits in there, the lights in the right place, the colors are right, and then that's when we start building it, and the set decorator and her team or his team get together and we all start talking about the those finer points of what's in the room. - All right, so music will start playing so hush and Anthony enters and action. - The moment where we stepped in and started walking down the aisle for the first time the one thing that I was completely bowled over by yet, again, was Will's design production design the way it just looked completely stunning and amazing and everything comes alive. - The production design on the show just blows my mind, like coming onto set. Everything is always done before we get there. So I actually dunno what any of the rooms look like without it being dressed. It's crazy and Will and his team just do such an incredible job. - Just as much as the acting, the core parts of the show are the set, the costume, the locations the hair and makeup. And they really lift us all up. I mean, Will, is just a visionary, isn't he? He's so talented and I just don't think we'd be able to do our jobs as well without having these amazing sets. - So we'll go through all this just to have, so this... - COVID is always consideration at the moment. So we have to always do our COVID numbers to make sure that actually we can shoot it and make it look big without actually having to have so many people there as normal. That created a situation where we had to reduce the size of the chapel, the church without reducing the size of it. So the pews on either side of the main body of the church, we actually covered up. We couldn't take them out 'cause they'd been there for 200 years. So we actually built a plinth that went over the whole thing. And then we put floor alerts on top but making sure that we weren't gonna block the light coming through the windows. Now the windows were clear glass. So we could see the lamps outside. We then had to drape and put some shears up. People call them shears, people call them nets, voiles. We, we call them voiles 'cause that sounds posh. Yeah. We put the voiles up just to take the curse out of seeing the lamps. Then it became a, well, if we're gonna put voiles up we might as well give them a color to make it feel richer. Again, going back to the costume team, checking with them finding that actually gold was quite a good option. What it actually did in the long run is created a softness to the whole place which when our special effects team put some atmos smoke in you could see the shaft of lights coming through and it just made it suddenly look magical. (gentle music) I think there was about seven florists working there and they'd already pre-made all the garlands that went on the balcony. So there was a week's work before. There was a lot of conversation discussion about the flowers and the florists within. And then because it's a double grade one listed building there a very big negotiation goes into how we can and can't do it. There's also the modernity within the chapel or within the church that is there that we had to deal with. So a lot of the flowers are actually covering up things like speakers and lights that are in the church anyway. So, you know, they serve two purposes and then we have a prop team of about, probably about eight or nine people. And then there's the set deck team, which is about 10 of them. And then we have the construction team, which was, four carpenters and two painters and then two art directors. And then we had our graphics team in there because we had some flooring we had to make as well to cover up some modern stuff. So it was quite a bunch of people all in one place at the same time. (gentle music) There's always a financial element to all these things. So it becomes do we make it, do we buy it, do we hire it? And with Bridgerton because it's a returning series, quite a lot of the stuff we have we've made. And we also on a massive buying spree the whole time. So we have buyers out there picking up things from the craziest places, whether it's on the internet or going to flea markets or car boot sales, there aren't enough candle holders in the world for us. So we, whenever we see one, we buy one. Don't even get me started on wisteria, the price of wisteria went up 300% when Bridgerton came out - You come through these billowing curtains into a church that is filled with light and flowers and Will really leans into the fabulous of that moment to show you the wealth and privilege and class in which you are swimming. This is the Queen's wedding. This is the Queen's day. This is the Queen's party. Nevermind, who's getting married. It's the Queen's party. And Will gives you all that in the design. - When the crew turn up and you know their mouths drop and go, wow, you know, this is special. And that, that means a lot to us because you know these guys do this for a living so it takes a lot to impress them. So when you get somebody from the crew coming up to you and going, this is really special, you know. Yeah. That's a big kick for us as well. (gentle music)

Bridgerton Production Designer, Will Hughes-Jones, and the cast detail the work that goes into the production design of season two's pivotal wedding scene.