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04.24.2020

04-24-2020 - Case Study, Gear

Making "Unorthodox" - Shot on VENICE

By: Jeff Berlin

"Unorthodox" is a German-American drama series loosely based on Deborah Feldman's 2012 autobiography "Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots." It is the first Netflix series to be primarily in Yiddish. It was shot on the Sony VENICE on location in Berlin, Germany, with some exteriors shot in Brooklyn, New York.

After its premiere on March 26, 2020, "Unorthodox" ranked among the Top 10 shows on Netflix.

This short film takes us behind the scenes and on set during filming, and we join the cast and creators of "Unorthodox" as they discuss the making of the series and how the show came to be.

To watch "Making Unorthodox" on Netflix, follow this link: netflix.com/title/81256749

"Unorthodox" Netflix Official Site: netflix.com/title/81019069

Starring Shira Haas, Jeff Wilbusch and Amit Rahav, "Unorthodox" is the story of a woman in pursuit of self-determination. In it, a young woman (Haas), leaves her ultra orthodox Jewish community in New York City to start a new life in Berlin. But just as she starts to find her own way, the past begins to catch up with her.

Here is the official trailer for the film.

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Bridgerton is about eight close-knit siblings of the Bridgerton family looking for love and happiness in London high society. The series is inspired by Julia Quinn's bestselling novels. Jeff Berlin: First, congrats on Bridgerton becoming the biggest series debut on Netflix. Jeffrey Jur: Yes, it's unbelievable and I'm so proud of it. It was a great project to work on, a joy. I'm looking forward to going back for another season. I loved the crew, and the cast was amazing. Jeff: That's super cool. Shooting in such grand locations, historic buildings and fabulous rooms, what was your approach to working in those spaces and what kind of limitations were you running into with gear, rigging, etc. Jeffrey: Shooting in the locations is spectacular. Our show is set in 1813. There wasn’t much electricity back then so I knew I'd be dealing with candlelight. There's a beauty to some of the locations that is unsurpassed. Most of them are museums now, so they're beautiful but difficult production wise, because as a camera crew, you're used to putting things up, and moving things around, and in a lot of these locations, you couldn't really touch anything, or only touch very little.   There was a person in the room while you're working to make sure you follow the rules. So, it was difficult, lighting had to be floated. Balloon lights become a big part of our gear. And the British crews there know how to work in these locations. To black out windows, you don't hang black material on the windows, you build a frame and push it up against the building very carefully. The locations also offered a lot of uniform compositions. Symmetry is such a big part of the design and construction of these places that you can't help but want to frame accordingly.