The Making of 'A Very Long Carriage Ride': The Production Journals (Abridged) from the New Machine Cinema archive by Hooroo Jackson (Author)
In November 2024, Hooroo Jackson set out to do what no filmmaker had ever attempted: make one film in two completely different animation styles simultaneously, released on the same day. Six months later he had done it?and it nearly killed him.
These abridged production journals document the complete solo creation of "A Very Long Carriage Ride," the first AI stop motion animated feature film, the first AI classic 2D animated feature film, and the first film in cinema history released in two animation styles simultaneously. Every frame of animation, every voice performance, every note of music, every sound effect is AI generated made by just one single person.
From workshopping the screenplay with Claude AI to generating MidJourney location boards, from directing machine voice performances to animating 156 minutes of film across two formats at a pace of two minutes per day, Jackson's journals capture every stage of an impossible production in real time. The writing of the screenplay's "killshot." The racial architecture of three Black characters navigating white power structures. The many sound design breakthroughs. The agonizing mocap vs. generative debate. The day the MacBook died.
What emerges is not just a making-of but a primary source document in the history of a new art form: a lone filmmaker pushing himself and the technology past every known limit, documenting the cost with total honesty. The abridged edition preserves the full production workflow and creative exchanges while streamlining the six-month journey into its essential arc. The uncut journals are preserved separately for the historical archive.
"A Very Long Carriage Ride" premiered April 22nd, 2025, on a budget of $1,850.
