Visual effects supervisor Chris Ritvo came on-board just as director Olivia Newman finished her draft of the script.
“I had worked with Livi on a previous project and was excited at the prospect of taking on the difficult task of portraying the character like Marcellus,” he recalls. “My producer, Taylor Rockwell, and I initially broke down the script and discussed early methodologies with Livi and DP Ashley Connor. From the very start, Livi's direction was clear: she wanted to be able to cut between a real octopus and the digital one without the audience being able to tell the difference — a hefty task to take on.”
The idea of trying to shoot a real octopus presented too many production challenges, so the team decided Marcellus would be entirely digital.
“We decided that the best approach would be to surround him with as much in-camera photography as possible: using real sets, building a beautiful practical tank provided by the art department and shooting real photography off the coast of Vancouver Island for any ocean portions of the film. This gave the VFX team a constant base in reality to draw from — real water, real glass refraction, real world lighting — and the actors were performing within full 360-degree sets and never inhibited by the VFX requirements.”
During pre-production, the team spend many hours observing and recording a real octopus – Agnetha - at the Vancouver Aquarium. This provided considerable reference footage that would guide the CG character.
“We based our look and actions off her, regularly taking side-by-side comparisons in animation to make sure everything Marcellus did could be done by a real octopus,” Ritvo explains. “During shooting we always had a plan for what actions Marcellus would take in each scene.”
Production used puppets for lighting reference and to help establish sight lines for the actors.
“The goal was always to allow the actors freedom to do what felt right in the scene, and VFX could adapt to the performances.”
In post, Ritvo worked closely with Newman and editor Tamara Meem to draw out the right performance for Marcellus.
“We provided postvis to quickly rough in Marcellus's blocking throughout the film, and then our VFX team worked incredibly hard to bring him to life,” he shares. “We used as many references as possible to ensure our look and performance were always grounded in reality, using one-to-one reference for posing and animation. The goal was always to give Marcellus as much personality as possible, while keeping it rooted in reality. Lucky for us, octopuses are incredibly expressive in their own ways, and it was so fun to find unique ways to give Marcellus the personality and character he deserves.”
For more on Remarkably Bright Creatures, check out Post's interview with director Olivia Newman.