‘Octopus!’ Creative Lead Michaela Olsen Dives Deep into Cephalopod Stop-Mo

The new Prime Video documentary series Octopus! explores the amazing world of one of the smartest and most fascinating life forms on the planet. Written and narrated by Phoebe Waller-Bridge and directed by Emmy nominee Niharika Desi (Gaycation, Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss), this whimsical doc is described as a story about being murdered by your lover, getting lost in Mexico, finding a unicorn, a competitive quilter, Tracy Morgan and exploring our connection with a possible alien! It also has a special appeal for animation lovers, since it incorporates some wonderful stop-motion animated scenes by New York studio Mighty Oak, led by award-winning executive creative lead Michaela Olsen (Under the Covers), Hayley Morris of Shape & Shadow and Julie Gratz of Kaleida Studio.

We had the chance to chat with Olsen about how they brought this charming eight-legged wonder to animated life:

Animation Magazine: Can you tell us how you got involved with this project?

Michaela Olsen: Jigsaw Productions originally reached out to us to create animation for the two-part docuseries while our partner, Julie Gratz of Kaleida Studio, handled graphics. It was the easiest “yes!” of Mighty Oak’s 10-year career, because Octopus! featured two of our favorite unique forces on planet Earth: octopuses and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Then, our frequent collaborator, Niharika Desai, signed on as the director, and it became an actual dream project for us. We previously worked with Niharika on The Principles of Pleasure for Netflix, a project that earned us our first Emmy nomination for Graphic Design and Art Direction. We love working with Niharika because along with being a brilliant director, she knows exactly how to utilize Mighty Oak when it comes to creating memorable and unique animation and graphics that mix emotion with just the right amount of edge — which is why Octopus! was the perfect project for our next collaboration.

What attracted you to this unusual documentary?

The project perfectly encapsulated everything we love at Mighty Oak. We have a strong affinity for animals, and we even have another short film out right now called Henrietta Finds a Nest, produced with Mercy for Animals. I think we’re also drawn to the weirdness and mysteriousness of the octopus  —and the drama of their lives  —for instance, females cannibalize their lovers after sex. The drama!

I also really loved how this series focused on the human side of octopuses  —how people connect with them and what that says about us. Plus, it totally matches the cheeky wit and observational style of Phoebe Waller-Bridge.

What did you enjoy most about working on the animation?

I loved seeing Doris’s puppet come together piece by piece. My business partner, Emily Collins, and I knew early on that we needed to bring on our dear friend and longtime collaborator, Hayley Morris, owner of Shape & Shadow, to lead the design for Doris. Hayley has a unique, handmade, tactile ability to create entire worlds and has made some gorgeous underwater stop-motion music videos in the past. She really brought artistry and elegance to Doris.

Doris’s armature was almost entirely ball-and-socket, custom-built by Maxwell Sorenson, so she was ready to be animated for many months by our talented stop-motion animators: Anthony Galante, Matt Christensen, Mikail Ekiz and Victoria Arslani. The magic of seeing Doris come to life with such fluid animation was incredible! That first day of testing her out completely blew our minds!

What kind of material did you use for the animation?

During the design phase, we experimented with a huge variety of textiles for Doris and her world — wool, yarns, lace, chiffon, fabric, buttons, beads, crepe paper and found objects. For Doris, we aimed to creatively capture the texture of octopus skin while ensuring she remained flexible and movable.

For the backgrounds, Minkyung Chung built rock formations using foam and paper, layering them with all kinds of materials. Meanwhile, Hayley scavenged the woods of Vermont for things that resembled mysterious underwater objects and reefs, returning with mushrooms, moss, rocks and other assorted treasures.

How long did it take you and your team to create the animation? 

From preproduction to final delivery, the project took about six months. The animation and post-production phases spanned roughly 10 weeks, during which we averaged about seven seconds of animation per day. That’s a fairly swift pace — especially considering that each of the octopus’s eight arms functioned like its own puppet, requiring precise repositioning in every single frame. That level of complexity added significant nuance and precision to the process.

While there’s usually some overlap between production phases, this project demanded extremely close collaboration. The team had to problem-solve in real time, pass off shots to compositing the same day they were animated, and receive post-approval before striking a set. This level of coordination was essential, and the project simply wouldn’t have been possible without tight integration across all departments.

How much animation was used in the series in total?

Nine minutes of stop motion and about three minutes of graphic sequences like archival treatments and data viz.

What was your biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge was telling the entire story of Doris within about 10 minutes of stop motion. We had to manage this limited time and budget while making the narrative feel expansive. Most of the scenes we shot using frontlight/backlight setups, allowing us to isolate elements effectively so that we could reuse them as much as possible. We composited Doris into various scenes and reused set pieces, like the rocks and seaweed. Our animators created perfect seamless loops that could be used over and over. Huge credit goes to our post-production team, led by Sabrina Chaney, for beautifully pulling everything together.

How closely did you work with the director of the documentary?

We maintained a close working relationship with Niharika Desai, the director, and Melissa Wood, the showrunner. Collaboration is key in documentary work since we’re all building a story together. The scripts for the animated scenes were provided to us, and our team crafted the visuals to align perfectly with Doris’s narrative.

In the early days, creating animation for documentaries wasn’t easy because the two processes are quite different — animation involves building a story, while documentary work is more about finding and narrowing down footage to shape a narrative. But now we’re in sync and moving together like a well-rehearsed dance, all orchestrated by our absolute maestros of production, Megan Barbour and Kelsey Usher. Their organizational, budgetary and scheduling skills would put NASA to shame!

What was the most unusual thing you learned about octopuses as a result?

A little something called senescence. When a female octopus lays her eggs, she doesn’t eat for years and ultimately sacrifices her life for her offspring. Again … the drama.

What are you working on next?

Two documentaries that Mighty Oak and our amazing partner Kaleida Studio created graphics for will be premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival in June: Dear Ms.: A Revolution in Print (HBO), which explores the 50-plus-year history of the feminist magazine co-founded by Gloria Steinem, and And So It Goes (HBO), the Opening Night Film at Tribeca, which charts the Billy Joel’s meteoric rise  — from humble Long Island roots to international superstardom.

Beyond that, we are developing our first graphic novel, our first original documentary and a first-of-its-kind animation program with a major network — all of which will be announced soon as we lead up to our 10-year anniversary celebration this fall.

Additionally, we continue to offer educational courses through our Mighty Oak ED initiative, which provides monthly classes to the animation community.

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Octopus! is now streaming on Prime Video.