Billy Eilish “Prime Day Show”

On a very short schedule our team transformed Universal Studios Backlot into the streets of Paris for Billy Eilish’s Prime Day Show.

We settled on a 2.5d approach as it would give us the greatest speed and flexibility to work within the roughly 10 day schedule. Our main focus was the opening establishing shot of a neighborhood in Paris, the park roof extensions, and the final shot coming off the theater revealing Paris at night.

On every project I end up shooting quite a lot of reference using a variety of devices. I try to anticipate anything we may need to recreate or augment regardless of if it was a part of the plan. For this location I captured 12 lidar positions to cover all the streets in anticipation of needing to further extend the sets. Copious texture reference and hdr’s where captured along with full lens grids to aid in the building extension work.

The Production design on the project was very specific, Paris Cinema vibe. We reworked the building facades to remove certain contemporary features and replaced street lamps that felt too modern. The final color grade brought everything together in a rich, painterly look.

The shoot was over three days and captured Billie and Finnis performing each song live, which was a unique experience in and of itself.