NOLLYWIRE STORY
From Sketches to the Screen: How a Nigerian Team Built 'Valli of Chaddos' in 3D
A five-minute Nigerian animated short about a young boy's dangerous journey began with sketches, character models and digital experiments before reaching international film festivals.
'Valli of Chaddos', directed by filmmaker and animator Edwin “Ed” Irabor, follows Nosa, a curious young boy whose adventure through dangerous terrain eventually leads to an encounter with death. Behind the story is a production process that brought together concept art, 3D modelling, texturing, animation, editing, motion graphics, sound and music.
The film was selected for the 2024 Religion Today Film Festival in Italy, where its official programme described it as a five-minute Nigerian film directed by Edwin Irabor. It was also listed as an award winner in the fantasy category at the LTUE Film Festival in February 2024.
But before 'Valli of Chaddos' could reach a festival screen, its world had to be built.
Unlike animation based on an existing franchise or established visual property, 'Valli of Chaddos' required its creative team to develop the visual language of an original fictional world.
Characters had to be designed and modelled. Objects and environments had to be created. Textures, colours, lighting, movement and camera angles all had to work together once the individual elements were brought into an animated scene.
The project's development materials offer a look at that process.
Character ideas began as sketches before being translated into three-dimensional models. Francis Irabor, who worked on the film as co-producer and co-director, contributed across several stages of the production, including modelling, texturing, concept art, editing and motion graphics.
His modelling work involved creating the characters and objects that would eventually populate the film's world. Project files show assets being developed in Blender, moving from relatively simple forms towards more detailed models and, later, textured and coloured versions.
The development of the film's masks and other character elements illustrates that progression particularly clearly. Early versions appear in raw, untextured states before further modelling and material work is applied.
The finished image on screen can therefore conceal a substantial amount of work that happens beforehand.
Concept art formed another part of that process.
The development materials show ideas being explored on paper before being translated into digital 3D assets. That transition involves more than simply reproducing a drawing in three dimensions. Characters, objects and environments have to work within a moving, three-dimensional space.
For Francis, that meant moving between creative and technical responsibilities throughout the project. His work spans 2D and 3D animation, illustration, motion graphics, creative direction, modelling and visualisation.
'Valli of Chaddos' brought those different skills together around an original fictional story.
The characters needed distinct identities. Objects needed to feel as though they belonged to the same world. Materials had to respond convincingly to light, while environments needed to contribute to the story rather than simply serve as backgrounds.
That makes the development process an important part of understanding the finished film.
Despite the focus on individual areas of the production, 'Valli of Chaddos' was not a one-person project.
Edwin Irabor served as producer and director, while Francis Irabor worked as co-producer and co-director. The wider credits include contributors to the story, screenplay, storyboard, concept art, animation, sound and music.
Each discipline addressed a different part of the filmmaking process.
The result is a short film in which the visual work serves the story of Nosa rather than existing solely as a demonstration of 3D technique.
That distinction is important. The models, environments, movement and other visual elements ultimately have to function within the film's narrative and communicate what is happening on screen.
The film's journey also extended beyond its production process.
'Valli of Chaddos' was selected for the 2024 Religion Today Film Festival in Italy. Its official programme described the film as following an inquisitive young boy whose adventure through dangerous terrain eventually brings him face-to-face with death.
The film was also listed as an award winner in the fantasy category at the LTUE Film Festival on February 16, 2024.
Those festival appearances provide another context for the work that went into building the film. What begins as sketches, models and development files ultimately has to function as a complete piece of storytelling for an audience.
For 'Valli of Chaddos', that journey moved from an original story and early visual concepts to a finished five-minute animated film that reached audiences beyond Nigeria.
And the development material offers a glimpse of everything that had to happen before those five minutes could exist on screen.