‘Life’, a brand film for the California Academy of Sciences, broadcast throughout fall and winter 2026.

Life itself is born in the cosmos, travels through and takes different forms in various ecosystems, before finding a home at the Cal Academy. The abstract story is told across the surfaces of real leaves, stones, bark, kelp, and other organic matter through stop motion animation.

Credits

Client: California Academy of Sciences

Production Company: Earthstar Images

Director & Producer: Nik Arthur
Producer & Director Rep: Ben Wittkugel (Ploeg Arts)

Earthstar Animation Lead: Nik Arthur
Earthstar Animation Team: Emi Takahashi
Earthstar Animation Team: Toko Hosoya
Earthstar Animation Team: Marvin Lau

Agency: Strange Family
Executive Creative Director: Ben McNutt
Director of Production: Myles Soderstrom
Producer: Luke Proctor
Art Director: Michelle Wang
Aquarium DP: Allen Danze

Editor: Marvin Lau
Score, Sound Design, Audio Mix: Nicolas Snyder
Voice Actor: Kaitlin Cavallaro

Over an intensive 3-week period the Earthstar Images team worked on animated across several materials:

Moving water, oil, and light on a scanner bed as the cosmos
Engraving into stones
Burning into bark
Etching into flower petals
Etching into leaves
Peeling bits of kelp
Cyanotype printing watercolour frames onto gelled water

Thank you to the Cal Academy and Strange Family team for the trust in this fun and unconventional project.