Mighty Oak, an All-Female Brooklyn Animation Team, is Sprouting to Great Heights
After you’ve seen animation from Brooklyn’s Mighty Oak—a team of three that uses intricate hand-made art objects to make imaginative stop motion spots, as well as hand drawn animation with a notable sense of play—everything else you see out there looks, comparatively, kind of lame. Clever and nuanced, Mighty Oak animation creates visuals you want to watch repeatedly just to catch the tiny details you probably missed the first time around. Take, for example, a Giphy that loops a plant sprouting from a woman’s head; as she bats her eyes, the sprout grows in tandem with each blink. It’s a short loop, recorded slowly, in real time, as the plant grows. For something that has been viewed over 2.9 Million times, the small vase used to make it sits rather unassumingly in Mighty Oak’s office.
Despite the influx of client projects, Collins says their goal is to focus on original works. It’s there where Mighty Oak’s razor sharp storytelling and perspective shines, such as in an upcoming documentary about a clown named Chula, who brings laughter to refugee camps and afflicted areas, and another project titled Under Covers that uses stop motion animation, forced-perspective sets, and handmade puppets to explore our most intimate space: the bedroom.
Bucking trend, Mighty Oak doesn’t shy away from identifying as a woman-run studio. “There is a variety of different reasons we celebrate women; because obviously we are women, and are working in industries between the animation world and the world of film where there is a smaller percentage of women gaining recognition as directors, and producers,” Collins explains. Their work, too, highlights female founders and regularly celebrates women-run businesses—though it’s more nuanced than simply lauding Girl Power: they want to emphasize that, no matter how we identify, we’re all just people. “To be a woman doesn’t mean you only like feminine products,” says Jess. “We’re excited to be in a space where we can support other women’s voices, and show how, when we all work together, it works—but we’re not just doing work for women.”
Yet the fact remains: there is a dearth of women in animation. Olsen feels that despite progress it’s “certainly a boys club.” She’s quick to rattle alarming statistics, such as how Cartoon Network has only had two female directors. But their solution to this problem does not include being antagonistic toward men. “I don’t think it’s intentional that guys hire other guys, but it’s who they know, who they relate to,” Jess explains—and, similarly, “What I think is nice is that when we get to bring in other women who share our point of view or style, it’s nice that there’s a certain aesthetic or point of view we all relate to.”
“We’re excited to be in a space where we can support other women’s voices, and show how, when we all work together, it works.”
So, what’s next? The girls can’t disclose much, but one project involves Madame Gandhi, aka Kiran Gandhi, the badass MIA drummer who hit viral heights by free-bleeding during the 2015 London Marathon. There’s also a big future in store for Hatch Stories, which may see syndication with an editorial partner. It’s all very hush-hush and in line with the humble, business-oriented ethos of Mighty Oak.
For now, they’ll grow and ride the synergy of Brooklyn’s entrepreneurial community, which is another story they hope to tell one day. “I’m a big music nerd and watch all these documentaries on the history of punk and stuff,” says Peterson. “I told the director of Dream, Girl how one day there’s gonna be some story about the lady Founder movement that’s happening.”
I said it sounds like something that could happen sooner than later, to which Jess naturally replied, “We should do it!”
Images by Jane Bruce