![]() “We went around and shot a bunch of locations, to build a journey through the city that meant something to Billie. “Our initial inspiration was very much putting animation on live-action plates,” he describes. Osborne set out with a crew to shoot various locations around L.A. “Our target was always, how do you have these two versions of a character? You know, your ideal self as an animated character, and what you actually are on stage? What would those two characters feel about each other? And how do we build a little bit of a story about visiting some LA landmarks, but not in too touristy a way, that treats them in a timeless fashion?” The special features various animated elements nestled in-between songs, along with a climactic moment where live-action and animation combine at the conclusion. I built a deck of slides that pitched what this might be. “Robert and I had a few phone calls and we just kind of hashed it out. “Here are the collaborators… get together and talk,” Osborne laughs. “Would we be able to try some cool stuff within the allocated amount of time? It was also clear that regardless of our schedule, we could not miss capturing the iconic way Billie moves and looks on the screen.” “With Interscope and Disney behind it, we knew the calendar was the trickiest part,” he continues. “How do we integrate the vibe of the animation into the lighting design and plan for what the bowl program would be? Because the animation was designed as pieces placed in-between the songs, what could we do with that? The project ended up as a 100% collaboration the whole way between me, Robert, Billie, Kerry and Pablo, the live-action live concert director and DP, trying to figure out how to get the special to feel like one solid piece with a little bit of a story, even though the story is mostly in the album.” “The Hollywood Bowl is a super vintage, awesome location,” Osborne explains. In trying to incorporate Eilish’s ideas into something “neat and cool” that would mesh with the album, Osborne and Rodriguez needed to develop something that would fit the concept of the Hollywood Bowl concert with the LA Philharmonic. We talked more about it on Tuesday I talked to Robert about it on Wednesday, and off we went. But the plan was to come up with a cool, noirish story of a trip through vintage LA, inspired by Williams and Bakshi, people like that, and see what we could create that was exciting. Obviously, we're on a tight schedule that's going to make it really difficult to do rotoscope-style animation. She told me she loved this 80s look, referencing all kinds of things, including Richard Williams and Ralph Bakshi. ![]() She was just about to launch the change in her vibe that was part of her album release plan. ![]() “Billie had this idea of doing an animated character of herself that would go along with her new look,” he continues. So, whatever was going to happen would have to happen quickly.” “I've been working with Nexus Studios over the last year on various projects,” he tells AWN, “and they’d been talking to Disney+ and Interscope about doing this concert film for only a couple days before it was brought to me to possibly work on. The longtime Disney animator put all his experience and skills to work on the special, which from start to finish, took a mere three months to produce. Osborne is perhaps best known for his 2014 Oscar-winning short, Feast, which he followed up with the innovative Emmy Award-winning and Oscar nominated VR short, Pearl, in 2017. ![]() It’s produced by Interscope Films and Darkroom Productions, in association with Nexus Studios and Aron Levine Productions, with Kerry Asmussen serving as the Live Concert Director and Pablo Berron as Director of Photography. The special is directed by Robert Rodriguez and Oscar-winner Patrick Osborne, who designed and produced the film’s animated elements that take viewers on a dreamlike journey through the most iconic backdrops of Eilish’s hometown of Los Angeles. Now streaming exclusively on Disney+, Grammy Award-winning artist Billie Eilish’s Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles is a cinematic concert experience featuring her performing every song from her brand-new album, Happier Than Ever, on stage at the legendary Hollywood Bowl. ![]()
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