SECTION 01 — THE WORLD OF WAXFORD
Gothic Melancholy, Tactile Wool & Uncanny Wax in Rural Britain
ESTABLISHING SHOT • 16:9
SYNOPSIS & DRAMATIC STAKES
Three days before Halloween, Percy Mallow, an anxious, meticulous London insurance agent, unexpectedly inherits Waxford Manor and its wax museum, closed for decades. On the telephone, his elderly aunt Agatha describes an idyllic estate and a spacious sculpture studio for his partner Maggie. But while Percy sees only paperwork and an unforeseen opportunity, the motionless shadows of Waxford are already waiting for him.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT • CYRIL CAINE
“Waxford / Percy is not an Aardman pastiche, but a respectful dialogue with the great British tradition of stop-motion animation. Where Wallace & Gromit embrace rounded plasticine and post-war optimism, Waxford enters a darker, more organic tactile world: needle-felted fabric, imperfect carded wool, translucent beeswax and the hushed secrets of the Victorian countryside.”
Authorial signature • Cyril Caine / Chocolate for Bunnies
PUPPET SCALE
1:428–32 cm tall
TECHNIQUE
Felt & WoolMetal ball-joint armatures
FRAME RATE
24 fpsAnimated on 1s & 2s
IMAGE FORMAT
1.85:1Fixed anamorphic lenses
SECTION 02 — VISUAL MANIFESTO
Aesthetic principles and physical dramaturgy
CENTRAL INTENTION
“To create a palpable tension between the gentle, fragile warmth of the felt puppet (the living being) and the cold, glossy, unsettling rigidity of the wax figures.”
01 / PRINCIPLE
Reject digital smoothing. Every shot celebrates the tiny wool fibres trembling beneath the spotlights, the visible seams and the marks left by tools in wax.
02 / PRINCIPLE
Lighting motivated by diegetic sources: 2800K incandescent lamps, storm lanterns and fireplace flames, contrasted with the cool blue of exteriors (5600K).
03 / PRINCIPLE
Humour grows from Percy’s anxiety and long silences. Fear grows from uncertainty: inside the museum, what is still breathing?
The Balance Between Living Flesh & Wax
Percy discovers his own wax double. Soft backlighting, a silvery reflection, pure psychological tension.
Silas Crowe and his surgical tools. Red photographic darkroom light reveals the heads being modelled.
Ezra, Ivy and Rowan around a fire. Clear-eyed youth confronting the manor’s oppressive mystery.
SECTION 03 — CHARACTER STUDIES
Canonical profiles, silhouettes, felt & stop-motion acting
The Reluctant Heir / Insurance Agent (40–45)
CANONICAL LINE
“There will be contracts? ... It’s probably very well insured.”
SILHOUETTE & BODY POSTURE
Average height, shoulders hunched, unstable centre of gravity; his body is bent by caution. A jerky gait.
EXPRESSIONS & GAZE
Eyebrows permanently arched, bulging bead eyes made of black glass, clenched jaw and an anxious grimace.
FELT MATERIAL & TEXTURE
Dense, pale skin-coloured felt; curls of carded wool for the hair; obsidian bead eyes.
COSTUME & PATINA
Worn brown three-piece tweed suit, narrow tie tied too tightly, small battered blue leather case.
ANIMATION LANGUAGE & ACTING
Micro-hesitations, checking every handle or drawer twice, frozen startled poses, dry, deadpan slapstick.
SECTION 04 — HANDCRAFTED WORLD
Sets, 1:4 miniatures & physical materiality
The entire Waxford world is physically made in workshops: weathered solid-wood structures, Victorian miniature wallpaper printed and aged with black tea, rusted ironwork and vats of hot wax.
BUILD SCALE
Standard construction scale: 1:4. This offers rich photographic detail while preserving cinematic depth of field with real 35mm and 50mm lenses.
Materials Through a Macro Lens (100mm)
Needle-carded merino felt. Its soft, diffuse surface absorbs direct light without plastic-like specular reflections.
Linen threads and strands of raw wool. Assembly seams are embraced as signatures of handcraft.
A blend of beeswax, microcrystalline wax and ochre pigments. Controlled underexposure allows inner light to shine through.
Polished glass beads set into felt eye sockets. A single pinpoint reflection creates the illusion of life.
Puppet Making & Animation Equipment
Cutting mat and collection of magnetic felt-and-resin phoneme shapes for Percy.
Micro-adjustment of eyelids to calibrate the precise angle of fear in the gaze.
Spherical brass armature with adjustable friction, ensuring stability between frames.
Tailored costume lined with fine weighted mesh to hold poses without unwanted creases.
SECTION 05 — CINEMATOGRAPHY
Cinematography, lenses & lighting
CINEMATOGRAPHY INTENTION
“Our lighting approach draws on the great masters of British Gothic cinema (Jack Asher at Hammer Films, Freddie Francis on The Innocents), combined with the discipline required by miniature scale. Every light source is physically calibrated to avoid a toy-model appearance.”
WIDE MANOR SHOTS & IMMERSION
Emphasises the perspective of Victorian corridors and dwarfs Percy beneath their imposing monumental ceilings.
NARRATIVE MEDIUM SHOTS & DIALOGUE
A natural, undistorted look, balancing the character with their environment.
EMOTIONAL CLOSE-UPS & TEXTURE
Very shallow depth of field (f/4 to f/5.6 in stop-motion), isolating a drop of wax or a wool eyelash.
8:1 (Deep shadows)
Key light: narrow overhead beam, 3200K
Fill: low cold fog, 5600K
“Mystery: still figures appear to watch the visitor.”
4:1 (Warm & Unsettling)
Key light: tungsten architect’s lamp, 2800K
Fill: red darkroom glow, 650nm
“Surgical obsession, the alchemy of molten wax.”
6:1 (Cool & Misty)
Key light: silvery backlit moon, 5600K
Fill: single yellow glow on the third floor, 2600K
“Absolute isolation, suspended menace.”
A low camera angle exaggerates the height of the display cases and Percy’s smallness.
Multilayer staging: a blurred foreground figure and sharp action in the second plane.
Geographical orientation: the green car disappearing alone into the fog.
SECTION 06 — COLOR & LIGHT
Colour palette & the dramaturgy of light
Dark foundation: shadowed corners of the manor, the void of night.
Reassuring indoor lamplight, the false warmth of home.
Living/dead matter in the figures; Silas’s waxen complexion.
Aristocratic history, Silas’s darkroom, latent danger.
October night fog, cold exteriors and the teenagers’ isolation.
Percy’s costume, London bureaucracy, human fragility.
Simulated 35mm Kodak 5219 film emulation, desaturated greens and dense blacks.
The real behaviour of felt and wool fibres under continuous tungsten light.
SECTION 07 — CINEMATIC SEQUENCES
Visual breakdown of the prequel (faithful to the screenplay)
SEQUENCE 01
EXCERPT FROM THE ORIGINAL SCRIPT
“Late October rain on the window. On the table: unpaid bills, leftovers and a little plaster head Maggie is sculpting. One eye is higher than the other. Percy checks the lock… twice. On the doormat, an envelope sealed with black wax.”
DRAMATIC INTENTION
Establish their cramped everyday life, the couple’s affection and Percy’s meticulous obsession as Agatha’s providential offer arrives.
KEY LIGHT & ATMOSPHERE
Modest interior light, softened tungsten, bluish rain reflections on the window.
VISUAL BREAKDOWN • 3 KEY SHOTS
Bills, a plaster head being modelled and the half-light of London.
Percy nervously pours Maggie a glass of white wine. She watches him with a gentle, amused smile, while he struggles to hide his anxiety.
Animation principle: restrained slapstick — Percy’s hesitation, his double turn of the key and comic relief at the word “forms”.
SEQUENCE 02
EXCERPT FROM THE ORIGINAL SCRIPT
“On the telephone, Agatha’s voice says: ‘And the village is wonderfully peaceful.’ At that moment, beside the misty road, Ivy, Ezra and Rowan look towards the estate in silent fear.”
DRAMATIC INTENTION
An ironic, unsettling counterpoint between Agatha’s reassuring words and the reality sensed by the village children.
KEY LIGHT & ATMOSPHERE
Inky night swept by dense mist (5600K), the distant headlights of the small green car.
VISUAL BREAKDOWN • 3 KEY SHOTS
Ivy moves towards the road. Rowan remains still.
Percy’s small green saloon slips beneath Waxford’s dripping trees.
The teenagers know what the manor hides long before Percy arrives.
Animation principle: atmospheric slow motion, tiny movements of carded-cotton mist animated frame by frame.
SEQUENCE 03
EXCERPT FROM THE ORIGINAL SCRIPT
“Elias looks after the grounds. He can help you with practically anything.” Elias Grindle trims a hedge that is already perfectly straight. A magpie watches. Elias suddenly turns towards the illuminated third-floor window.
DRAMATIC INTENTION
Introduce the unease of the estate’s obsessive order: why trim a perfect hedge in the middle of the night?
KEY LIGHT & ATMOSPHERE
Cool moonlight; one yellow glow outlining a silhouette on the third floor.
VISUAL BREAKDOWN • 3 KEY SHOTS
Shears held in the air; a furtive glance towards the branches where the magpie watches.
Dead leaves piled on the steps, a lit top-floor window.
A studded door ajar, inviting Percy and Maggie into the lair.
Animation principle: a dry binary rhythm to the shears, followed by an abrupt break into stillness when Elias stops.
SEQUENCE 04
EXCERPT FROM THE ORIGINAL SCRIPT
“There is also an old sculpture studio… Your Maggie would have all the space she could ever need.” Beneath a low lamp, Silas Crowe works alone. Moulds, plaster casts, rows of half-finished heads. Silas heats a tool and removes an imperfection from a wax cheek.
DRAMATIC INTENTION
Reveal the antagonist in his alchemical sanctuary. The sculptor’s obsession with a flawless human replica.
KEY LIGHT & ATMOSPHERE
Powerful amber backlight; a grazing lamp on wax shavings and the glow of a heated iron.
VISUAL BREAKDOWN • 3 KEY SHOTS
Surgical tool raised; a gaze of absolute surgical concentration.
Aligned wax faces watch the artisan in the silence of the studio.
Hot wax vapour, small bowls and tools heated in a bain-marie.
Animation principle: Silas moves slowly and fluidly, expressing complete mastery against the chaos of the outside world.
SEQUENCE 05
EXCERPT FROM THE ORIGINAL SCRIPT
“A dark gallery. Human silhouettes stand motionless behind glass. Their clothes look worn rather than displayed. At the end: an empty plinth. Silas approaches and places an exact miniature of Percy’s blue case inside a display case. He fixes the copper plaque: PERCY MALLOW.”
DRAMATIC INTENTION
The dramatic reversal: Percy has not come to inherit the museum; he is to become its next exhibit.
KEY LIGHT & ATMOSPHERE
Backlit display cases in chiaroscuro, shimmering reflections, a pinpoint beam on the copper plaque.
VISUAL BREAKDOWN • 3 KEY SHOTS
Characters arrested mid-breath; deadly stillness.
Percy faces his own wax reflection, a vertigo of identity.
Percy stands frozen inside a glass display case, his blue suitcase beside him. In the eerie silence of Waxford Manor, he looks disturbingly like one of the museum’s wax figures.
Animation principle: a tension of absolute stillness; nothing moves except Silas’s hand nudging the case back by a millimetre.
SEQUENCE 06
EXCERPT FROM THE ORIGINAL SCRIPT
“Deep inside the manor, a bell rings once. The wind pushes wet leaves across the drive. A carved pumpkin flickers beside the entrance. Beyond the gates, costumed children hurry through the mist. In the third-floor window, a figure stands perfectly still. FADE TO BLACK.”
DRAMATIC INTENTION
A masterful conclusion to the prequel, opening onto the world of the feature film.
KEY LIGHT & ATMOSPHERE
Flickering orange pumpkin light, night fog, the complete darkness of the fade to black.
VISUAL BREAKDOWN • 3 KEY SHOTS
Dead leaves swept along; the bell sounds on Halloween night.
Someone watches from the lit opening. Fade to black.
Animation principle: animate the flickering pumpkin flame frame by frame, then bring all movement to a complete stop on the figure.
SECTION 08 — MOTION & PERFORMANCE
Principles of stop-motion animation & physical acting
01 / ANIMATION RULE
Unlike fluid drawn animation, stop-motion derives much of its dramatic power from inhabited stillness. A character holding completely still for 48 frames generates unbearable suspense.
02 / ANIMATION RULE
Percy’s comic register emerges through brief, nervous anticipations: his eyes scanning a room before his head moves, a held breath, the double twitch of his fingers on the case.
03 / ANIMATION RULE
Each puppet has a box of 24 felt-and-resin mouths mounted on neodymium micro-magnets (A, E, O, U, M/B/P, L and F/V phonemes, smiles and expressions of terror).
04 / ANIMATION RULE
Stainless-steel internal skeletons with micrometric-friction ball joints to hold complex poses without vibration (anti-backlash).
Closed felt lips; subtle tension
Rounded open mouth, widened pupils
mouth corners pulled back
Pursed lips, puffed cheeks
Teeth pressing on the lower lip
Jaw opened to its widest, slapstick extreme. Upper incisors visible
Ready for studio integration of Percy’s walking tests and lip-sync videos.
SECTION 09 — REFERENCES & CREDITS
Cinematic influences & creative team
The definitive model for Victorian chiaroscuro, oppressive English manor houses and suggested fear.
Saturated colours (blood red, purple velvet) and a warm yet macabre British Gothic atmosphere.
The visceral tactility of materials; inanimate objects coming to life with a raw and unsettling force.
Workshop dust, miniature mechanisms, grazing light on worn materials.
An infallible sense of British comic timing, the art of the pause and miniature suspense.
WRITER & DIRECTOR
Cyril Caine
PRODUCTION
Chocolate for Bunnies
PUPPET FABRICATION
Cyril Caine Workshop (felt, sculpture, armatures)
ART DIRECTION & BIBLE
Visual Development Pitch Book
PROJECT
WAXFORD / PERCY (Stop-Motion Short & Feature)