"The Jinx Project" - Production Journal #1

...and so, "The Jinx Project" Production Journal Begins!

Well, this Production Journal has been a long time coming.... so,  I suppose I should get you up to date with what "The Jinx Project" is, and where it's at...

A few years ago, while driving to spend Christmas with my family, I had an idea to make an Animated Holiday Special, using my character, "Jinx the Black Cat".

By the time I reached my destination, I had worked out what the story would be about, who the characters are, and how they relate to Jinx. The emotional moments, the comedic moments, and the key plot points.  I had everything I needed to start, and believed I had something worth doing. 

"The Jinx Project" is currently an untitled story based around the Spirit of Giving during the Christmas Holiday Season...

...but, it spends very little time on Christmas Day!  It centers more around a journey that Jinx takes, and the people he meets along the way.  Hey that rhymes!... which is rather appropriate, considering the entire story has been written to be narrated in rhyme!

Initially, I did a lot of design work on this project. Everything from starting the script, to designing the characters, to building some test-environments in 3D software.

The final film, will be animated entirely in Flash, without 3D Computer Animation, but these 3D models will serve as a tool, and assist in planning some of the 'Jinx Point-of-View' shots.  I knew the story would be told through his eyes, which affects the direction and artwork... but also, how the story would be written.

Eventually, I ran out of free time on the project, as I was working on multiple freelance contracts for other animation companies. At the begining of 2009, I started working on it again. I still have a lot of my day used up with my career, but I've been able to work during my commute to work (train), and in my evenings.  In the first couple months, I have written a first and 2nd draft of the story... and I like how it's evolved.  It is a long narrative story that takes the time necessary for the animation, but also to build the emotional moments.

My plan is to ultimately make an animated special. However, the first part of the plan is to release the story as a hardcover storybook. This will give me a chance to 'put it out there', and hopefully find an audience... but also prepare a lot of the artwork, and backgrounds for the future animated version. This book will essentially be a visual guide and storyboard to the final film.

My hope is to have it printed and available for sale in time for this coming Christmas Holiday Season, 2009.

It would have been great to have a blog going years ago, from the beginning... it's also very possible that if I had, I would have finished 'The Jinx Project' by now.  Well, either way, I'm finishing what I started, because I think I have a good story...both fun and emotional, with good characters, and a good 'message'.  I will be putting a lot of time into the visual styling and background environments.... to bring to life the 'world' where my little cat is going to live.  I will post some of the artwork on this site, at some time down the road.

I hope you'll enjoy reading these 'production journal' updates, as you take this journey with me. I'll be talking about all areas of developing this project in future updates... just look for the Blog Title: "The Jinx Project".

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

Mike Hogue