The Mystery of the Giant Octopus

THE STORY & THE CHALLENGE

A real production challenge, solved in the edit.

A corporate award announcement becomes an absurd action-comedy. After CEO Johan Aussenac is apparently kidnapped by a giant inflatable octopus, his colleagues begin a rescue mission through Lisbon.

The ambitious script had to be filmed in a single day around employees’ work commitments. Missing action and connecting moments became a practical production challenge in the edit.

Where AI contributed

Generative AI reconstructed missing scenes and performances, created new transitional actions and helped repair continuity. Recognisable employees, inflatable octopus costumes, eyelines and movement had to remain consistent.

Generated material and voice reconstruction were combined with original footage. One performer’s own newly recorded dialogue was synchronised with an AI-generated character.

The filmmaking craft

Direction, editing and comic timing shaped the finished story. Rotoscoping, tracking, match moving and compositing integrated the creature, glass award and generated action with the live-action footage.

Motion graphics, layered sound design and colour finishing brought cinema-camera footage, GoPro images, aerial material and generated scenes into one audiovisual language.

What this approach makes possible

The film needed to feel like one continuous comic adventure, even though its source material came from different cameras, locations and production methods. The useful question was not how much AI could be added, but which missing story beats prevented the existing footage from working.

Continuity repair became a directing task. New action had to explain what happened between shots, while characters, costumes and screen direction remained recognisable. Selection and refinement were followed by conventional compositing, sound and colour work.