An Animated Short by

Steven Payne

In an industrious English town, a young child, cast aside by his peers,

expresses his true self through his love of a somewhat unconventional pastime.

The Making of
stevenpayneuca.blogspot.com

by

Franklin

Steven Payne
s.b.payne@hotmail.co.uk
linkedin.com/in/sbpayne
@steven_payne

In an industrious English town, the pets of local residents are regularly going missing. Whilst there is no
evidence to suggest this, it is commonly believed that Ghastly Child from No. 6 has something to do with it.
Something particularly sordid and unsavoury.
Although the reality is all the more unexpected.
As well as the local pets, Franklin takes regular deliveries from various pet shops to help sustain his pastime.
Refusing to conform to the expectations of his neighbours, Franklin uses these animals not as a means of
morbid gratification, but to help hone his craft as an enterprising beautician.

The animation is heavily

inuenced by popular culture
of 1970s Britain, and as a result,
also takes inuence from other
things in that vein.
Particular inuences include the
dark humour of The League
of Gentlemen and the blog,
Scarfolk Council.
Thematically, the animation takes
inuence from Billy Elliot, for its
themes of social redemption.
Cinematically, the animation
draws inuence from
traditional cinematography,
as demonstrated in the films
of Alfred Hitchcock, and the
second act in particular is
inspired by the surreal imagery
of David Lynch and vivid use of
colour of Dario Argento.

Character Development

Franklins design began with

researching children of the
period.
The majority of these reference
images are candid photographs
by Colin OBrien and Terrence
Spencer, depicting children
as they interacted with one
another in the 1970s.
These images have inspired
Franklins aesthetic appearance,
and they will move on to inspire
his key poses and mannerisms
when animating him.

Franklin is intended to, for the

majority of the story, instil an
unsettling sense of dread and
unease.
This desire led to research into
characters of a similar nature in
popular culture.
The age of the character
was directly informed by this
correlation between preadolescent innocence and
outward creepiness.

Franklins overall design has

taken considerable inuence
from two contrasting aspects of
1970s culture.
His outward appearance is
inspired by the clean-cut,
family centric pop music of the
Osmonds and the Partridge
Family.

The other end of this musical

spectrum is that of Disco and
Glam rock.
These musical alter egos are
reective of the transformation
of the character in Act Three, as
well as the amboyance of the
subcultures.

I began developing Franklins

appearance by sketching very
simplistically, trying to establish a
general form initially.
Whilst these were helpful in
figuring the character out, there
is not much of these sketches in
the final design.

When it came to design

Franklins face, I found
myself drawing quite a cute,
exaggerated character.
The designs were informed
predominantly by childrens
television characters of the era.
Eventually, I decided that this
sort of character wasnt tonally
suitable as the story evolved.

Franklins age sort of uctuated

throughout his development.
The sketches and tests below
were an attempt to find the
perfect age for the tone of the
story, the level of intelligence
for the character and the most
appealing visual design.

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Franklins appearance
transitioned dramatically over
the development period. What
started out as quite soft and
illustrative gradually became
darker, more realistic and robust,
reminiscent of paper dolls and
fashion illustration.

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Drawing inuence from

1970s fashion magazines,
knitting patterns and shopping
catalogues, I began to generate
various colour options for his
clothing.

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The final colour scheme was

settled upon, as seen here, and
knitted detailing and a check
pattern were added.

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A number of hairstyles were

considered, each derived from
popular hairstyles of both men
and children of the time.
Torn between two distinct
options, I experimented with
colour variations in both
styles, ultimately opting for the
redhead, neat and tidy style.

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These are the orthographic

drawings used when modelling
the character in Maya, darkened
for visibility when working
against them.
A few visual adjustments were
made at this stage, notably, the
angle of Franklins shoulders
was adjusted slightly, as well
as his shoes being completely
redesigned from the original
drawings (as seen in the side
view).

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The characters appearance

takes inuence from the
traditional postal uniforms
around the world, appropriating
elements that encapsulate the
intended appeal of the character.
The most notable inuence
would traditional British
postmen, which I felt was more
in keeping with the overly British
aesthetic than a generic, modern
day delivery man.
Oddly, one of the most useful
points of reference was Postman
Pat. Screen grabs came in very
handy when trying to figure out
elements such as the jacket and
hat.

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Quite often, when I design

characters, I start off in an
orthographic view and block in
elements from there. Chiseling
away at the same illustration
until I get something that
appears to head naturally in the
right direction.
The Delivery Man was
developed using my traditional
method. He is built on a
proportionally accurate frame,
almost specifically designed to
transition smoothly into 3D.
Unlike Franklin, in 2D this
character is fairly underwhelming.
I was pleasantly surprised to find
this character found a bit more
charm and personality when I
began to construct him in 3D.

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3D Development

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I began by modelling Franklins

head, starting with a single
plane, and extruding each face
against the contours on the
orthographic drawing. This
approach allowed me to to
establish the required topology
from the beginning.
Gradually, the head began to
take shape, revising various
elements as a went along.

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The rest of Franklin started off

as a series of primitive shapes,
mainly cylinders, which were
gradually adjusted to conform to
the drawings.

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At this particular stage, Franklins

overall geometry is complete,
ready to be UV mapped,
textured, skinned and rigged.

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Head

Trousers

Collar

Jumper

These are the UV Maps used for

texturing the Franklin model.
They have been spread across
several maps, to reduce clutter
and make the process of painting
textures somewhat easier.
Arms

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Shoes

The coloured grid across the

character helps to determine
an even spread of UVs, ensuring
that eventually when textures
are applied, they will not be
stretched or distorted.

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Head

Trousers

Collar

Jumper

I work with both Maya and

Photoshop open simultaneously,
rapidly jumping between the
two to adjust the textures. This
results in messy, but otherwise
effective textures.
Arms

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Shoes

As well as the textures, several

bump maps were employed to
help sell the appearance of the
various items of clothing, as well
as a combination of a texture,
bump map and subsurface
scattering to create convincing,
reactive skin.

25

This is the final model for

Franklin in front, side, top and
3/4 views.
The views are fully textured and
rendered in Mental Ray.

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Overall, I was very pleased with

the outcome of Franklin. I feel
as though he fits the tone I
was aiming for, and this design
ultimately informed the aesthetic
of the world he inhabits in the
second half of this project

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These are singular frames

from the turnarounds for
Franklin, demonstrating various
components that make up his
design.
For the turnarounds, I chose to
pose Franklin in a somewhat
authoritative and menacing
stance.

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This is the rig used to animate

Franklin. It possesses a good
level of functionality, enabling
realistic movement of his limbs.
Additional controls include
phoneme and viseme
blendshapes for facial animation
and lip syncing, as well as
tongue controls, independent
eye blink controls and eyebrow
manipulators.

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The Delivery Man went through

the same stages of production as
Franklin, as seen here.

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These are singular frames from

the turnarounds for the Delivery
Man, demonstrating various
components that make up his
design.
I posed the Delivery Man in
a somewhat exposed and
naive stance, contrasting the
authoritative demeanour of
Franklin in his turnaround.

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Environment Development

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The general tone of the

animation has been inspired
heavily by the iconic, run down
aesthetic of 1970s British
architecture.

34

Thematically, the contrast

between bleak exteriors and
bright interiors reect the
tonality of the story.

35

As the story is set within an

industrious town, it made sense
that Franklin would live on a
street of terraced houses.
The reference used to develop
this environment was taken from
various online sources, most
notably, Google Street View.
This was used to view period
suitable locations without having
to physically scout for reference,
allowing me to view relevant
locations I would not normally
be able to visit.

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I began by sketching out

very simple forms in order
to establish the general
arrangement of particular
aspects of the houses.
I had considered more elaborate
designs, such as those with
intricate bay windows or sloped
roofing above the ground oor,
however, these elements were
far too modern for the time
period.
Research had proven that
terraced houses of the 1970s
were strictly function over form,
opting for a atter, more uniform
design in respect to their key
elements.

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To help inform the design of

Franklins house, I developed an
accurate oor plan of this nonexistent space.
The colours used signify the
visibility of that portion of the
house in the animation. Green
meaning completely visible,
orange meaning partially visible
and red meaning completely
unseen.
The unseen portions of the
house were established simply
to help determine a uniform
scale between the exterior of
the house and the visible aspects
of the interior.

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This is the final model for

Franklins home. It takes
elements from a number of
different houses, such as the alley
leading to the back garden, in
an attempt to create something
that accurately emulates the
period.
Like real terraced houses, this
model was designed to be
tessellated, making it easier to
duplicate the house and create a
full street for the animation.

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As with the exterior, I began

by sketching out very simple
arrangements of key elements,
such as the staircase and doors.
Once I had established the
general form of the space, I
created a piece of concept
artwork to inform the colour
scheme and tone of the
environment.

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This is the final model for the

hallway Franklins home. The
design is in keeping with interior
design trends of the time. Lots
of varnished wood panelling,
linoleum and oral wallpaper.
The hallway was modelled
originally as a separate
environment, then connected
to the exterior, the connection
masked by the doorframe.

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These thumbnails for the Cellar

were more about determining
object arrangement and space
than specific objects.
It was designed with
cinematography in mind,
with space for the camera to
manoeuvre the area logically, as
you would on a physical set.
These thumbnails dictate the
position of key points of focus,
such as the window, the desk
and the stairs.

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The Cellar environment was

set up from the outset to
accommodate volumetric fog,
and as a result, many of the
objects used in this environment
are very simple in their
construction. They act as more
of a representation of an object
than the object itself.

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I wanted to determine a
distinct contrast between the
tone of the first act and the
second. Franklin is meant to
appear unsettling in act one, but
menacing in act two.
To imply this, I experimented
with drastic lighting options,
taking considerable inuences
from directors such as Dario
Argento in order to establish
this vivid, yet menacing
atmosphere.

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The Cellar environment was

set up from the outset to
accommodate volumetric fog,
and as a result, many of the
objects used in this environment
are very simple in their
construction. They act as more
of a representation of an object
than the object itself.

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