Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Oscar-winning animation director Patrick Osborne Happier Than Ever is a unique performance film starring Billie Eilish shot over 5 consecutive nights at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Focused on the No 1 album of the same name, Billie and her brother Finneas perform the entire tracklist front to back accompanied on various songs by the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus. Additionally ‘animated Billie’ drives across LA from the recording studio to the Bowl via various LA landmarks that have personal meaning to her. Billie Eilish at the Hollywood Bowl Bringing this to life on the hallowed Bowl stage was DP Pablo Berron. “One of my main concerns when I first got the call to the job was, how are we going to work with the stage lighting to make it cinematic? Because I knew a concert lighting designer was going to be involved with the general design of what was happening with the lighting. And I’ve worked with theatrical lighting designers before, and it’s a very different idea of how to light. They’re lighting for an audience; these very steep, hard lights from very high angles; they are very frontal and flat. And that’s really not the most flattering thing when you’re trying to photograph somebody close up. And I really wanted to shoot Billy really close, with the camera really close to her face and just do stuff that you wouldn’t normally be able to...
Published By: CineD - Tuesday, 7 September, 2021