The Passenger: A short film 8 years in the making

 


    The Passenger is an animated short film released in 2006, written, directed, and produced by Melbourne animator Chris Jones. The Passenger is an impressive film, not only in the quality of animation, but also in the cinematography, lighting, FX, and countless other achievements. The most impressive aspect of the film is, however, that it was done entirely by Chris Jones.

    In the modern day, it's easy to say that this is no longer possible, to complete such a high-end film by one's self. I would argue, that that's also what you may have said in 2006, when the film was released. Maybe even more so considering how much CG filmmaking was still growing. The quality of the FX, lighting, and texturing of The Passenger easily still holds up today and I find that the older it gets the more impressive it is.




    Chris completed the film by himself, but he had one thing many of us just do not allow for. Time.

    As documented in Chris's blog, this film took over 8 years to complete. Big studios today complete a feature-length animated feature in about 2-4 years. With that knowledge, it starts making sense how this was possible for the lone filmmaker. The film is still remarkable, even with the 8-year production schedule. But in his blog, he goes over every detail of the process, from concept to creation in painstaking detail, allowing us the rare glimpse inside a person who would go to such great lengths for complete creative autonomy. You can read about his financial planning for the film and ultimate failure. His design and burn method year after year. It's easy to see a film like this and just assume he had everything together, but it was quite the opposite. He had a spark of an idea, but everything else he had to fight for.




    The film is definitely something to see, it's great. But his blog is where the real interesting story is. Maybe a young creative just looking for ideas, maybe someone who wants to peek behind the curtain. I like the fact that sometimes, in these rare moments, we can see how hard and truly rewarding the art form we chose can be.



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