Strap in and set sail on the S.S. FableVision during this summer vacation! To help your children continue learning once school’s out, FableVision picked a few pieces from our portfolio to bring you and your child on an all-expenses-paid cruise from the comfort of your home.

Through these pieces, your kids will travel throughout the galaxy, exploring Georgia with Savannah, playing at the GASHA GO! Arcade, and more. With pieces for a variety of ages, there’s sure to be a stop for you and your child to visit and enjoy!

GASHA GO! Arcade

First stop as you board the ship – visit the GASHA GO! Arcade on the S.S. FableVision and assist the Gashlings in their adventures.

Created for Georgia Public Broadcasting in its goal to provide a computer science curriculum for underrepresented students, the GASHA GO! World is full of playful and imaginative creatures who come alive at night to build toys.

In Bubble Build, kids learn numeracy and literacy by helping Mash and his friends solve math problems to refill the toy capsules in the empty machine.

Claw Control helps players practice resiliency, persistence, and grit as they help the Gashlings organize their tasks to efficiently create arcade toys.

Play the games and watch the animated shorts about Gashlings for free on Georgia Public Broadcasting’s website!

Play Bubble Build

Play Claw Control

Pinna Original Yes No Audio

Travel can be unpredictable. Find yourself trapped in a haunted house, sinking ship, or the Marshmallow Dream Forest in the Pinna Original Yes No Audio adventures.

Created by audiyo-yo, FableVision’s podcast division, this is an interactive audio experience that lets listeners drive the narrative and create their own adventure. By answering yes-or-no questions, explorers are led through the story, choosing their own path. They have five minutes to escape, or else they’re stuck in the story forever!

Pinna Original Yes No Audio is available through Pinna’s website with a subscription or a 7-day-free trial.

Escape the Haunted House

Escape the Sinking Ship

Escape the Marshmallow Dream Forest

So Few of Me Animated Storybook

Stop by a meadow with beautiful flowers where you can follow Leo as he struggles to deal with his overscheduled life and learns the importance of leisure time. In this Vooks animated storybook of Peter. H Reynolds’ So Few of Me, Reynolds invites us to include “time to dream” on our to-do lists throughout busy summer vacations and daily chores.

The animated storybook, along with the rest of Vooks’ catalog, is available with a subscription.

View So Few of Me

Georgia Race Through Time

Next, visit Georgia and time travel in Georgia Race Through Time with Savannah, an antiques collector. In this game created for Georgia Public Broadcasting, Savannah and her trusty canine companion Peaches follow cryptic clues that take them to locations throughout Georgia. Bonus: Savannah has a special gift to see back in time when she’s close to or touching a historical artifact.

This game is available for free on Georgia Public Broadcasting’s website.

Play Georgia Race Through Time

Zebra Penguin Skunk: Beach

It’s island time – visit the beach with Zebra, Penguin, and Skunk and get crafty with problem solving! The video, created by FableVision for Sesame Studios, a kids’ YouTube destination from the makers of Sesame Street, teaches children about friendship and ingenuity. The three black-and-white friends work together against the elements to build an elaborate sandcastle.

The short is available to watch on Sesame Street’s YouTube channel.

Watch Zebra Penguin Skunk: Beach

NoiseFilter Animated Video Series

Travel into the body with Dr. MarkAlain Dery and Dr. Eric Griggs (Doc Giggs), along with special guests Irma Thomas and Milan Nicole Sherry.

FableVision and NoiseFilter collaborated in this animated series that supports NoiseFilter in its mission to reduce health disparities and achieve health equity. The timely videos demystify how vaccines work and how variants evolve, the science behind clinical trials, and Hepatitis C and HIV education.

All videos are available for free on NoiseFilter's website.

Watch NoiseFilter Series

Discover SCIENCE Videos

Check in with friends Drew and Nia throughout your travels and continue to learn about the human body!

To help bring preventative health activities to children and families, Children’s National Hospital (CNH) partnered with FableVision for animated shorts featuring two tweens who met at CNH. The videos aim to destigmatize topics on how bodies work by focusing on blood, germs, mucus, digestion, sleep, and stress.

All videos in this series are available on CNH's YouTube.

Watch Discover SCIENCE Videos

Cyberchase Fractions Quest

For your last stop, blast into space to learn about fractions with Cyberchase Fractions Quest! In this game created for PBS KIDS and based on Cyberchase, kids use their mathematical sequences and problem-solving skills to outsmart the villain Hacker, who captured the CyberSquad.

Cyberchase Fractions Quest is available through FableVision Games!

Play Cyberchase Fractions Quest

Comment

With an extensive background in project management and event coordination, FableVision Producer Jill Letteney brings her masterful organization skills to every project she works on. She ensures that everyone knows what’s going on and there’s no miscommunication between the client and the creative team.

“It’s certainly a balancing act with creative and timeline – they are equally important on all of our projects,” says Producer Jill Letteney. “I throw a lot into planning and scheduling in the initial stages, planning backward to ensure that we can meet deadlines.”

Read the FableFriday to learn more about Jill’s favorite type of work, most rewarding part of producing, and love of museums.

What’s your “journey to FableVision” story?
My introduction to FableVision came quite some time ago from former Developer Erin Carvalho. I remember her telling me about the animation and games she developed from a studio housed in the same building as the Boston Children’s Museum.

Years later, once my kids went back to learning in school, I expressed interest in freelance work and Executive Producer Peter Stidwill reached out about producing a short animation for the National Action Alliance. I had the best time working that summer with the FableVision team and felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment when we completed the project. I knew I wanted to do more. When FableVision offered me another animation project, I jumped at the chance and I’ve been happy to work alongside such creative, fun professionals ever since.

You have an extensive background in project management and event coordination. How did you transition to production?
Project management has been at the core of every job I’ve held. No matter the role, special projects and events pop up, and I’m happy to take on coordinating. Transitioning to production was easy since it involves scope, scheduling, planning backward from a deadline, and breaking large tasks into smaller ones. At FableVision, I know who to turn to if I run into obstacles. Troubleshooting issues can be fun and productive when you are working with the right people.

What type of projects do you like to work on?
I really enjoy animation and seeing the components of a story unfold over time. There are so many little details that we have to think about when it comes to character designs, backgrounds, and story. It’s like assembling a vibrant, moving puzzle.

I also like producing live-action projects, from getting to know the crew to working on set. We recently filmed a series of videos where we put in a lot of hours to get everything shot in two days, but it was a lot of fun. And the studio we partnered with, Sound and Vision Media, featured us on their Facebook and YouTube pages.

How do you work with other team members to produce the best possible projects?
I try to stay as organized as possible so team members have access to everything they need to do their best work, like art assets, script copies, brand guidelines, storyboards, and schedules. I work to facilitate communication between clients and project team members so people aren’t spending time shuffling through various communication tools. It’s a challenge to tell a story or deliver information in short form and I’m always amazed at how effortlessly our artists, writers, and developers can work to pull it all together.

How do you balance the creative and timeline on complex projects?
I’ll share a high-level schedule with our clients so they know where we are throughout the project. I try to schedule meeting time with team members before we enter a new phase, like design, animation, or development, so we can discuss our project goals, assess existing work, and address any concerns or potential conflicts.

Once I’ve established a solid structure for the project and we know our direction, it’s easy to let the artists take charge of their work. And I’m never disappointed with the quality and quantity of work they put out. I truly believe we have some exceptional talent here!

What are the most challenging or the most rewarding parts about being a producer?
The most challenging part is keeping track of the moving pieces as we near a deadline. Fortunately, we use tools like Basecamp, Slack, and Trello so I know where we stand. I also work with fantastic production assistants who jump in to support so I can focus my energy where it’s needed. And without a doubt, the most rewarding part is hearing and seeing how happy our clients are at the end of a project. When they return later with new work, I get all of the good feelings again.

What advice do you have for aspiring producers?
Don’t overlook your creative intuition! Trust your gut and speak up when you notice something – that will help streamline the projects and bring them to their fullest potential.

You’re involved with several Harvard groups! Can you talk about your work with Harvard Square Script Writers and Harvardwood?
These writing groups kept me connected with people and the outside world during the pandemic! Screenwriting is such a craft – I admire writers who can tell a meaningful, visual story in just 90 pages. Depending on my schedule, I try to review one or two scripts per month, providing notes and feedback to help writers craft more realistic characters and dialogue. I’ve read some amazing work and I always leave these meetings inspired to write and collaborate. Fortunately, I can carry that into my work with FableVision. It’s a great feeling to have my hobbies inform my professional life and vice versa.

We heard you’re a big fan of museums – tell us more!
I love museums – they’re the first thing I want to see when I travel somewhere new. When my dad moved to Philadelphia, he and I visited four museums in two days. As an undergraduate student, I studied Classics and Historical Linguistics and spent a lot of time at the MFA deciphering funerary inscriptions in Latin and Etruscan. Then I got my graduate degree in Museum Studies and worked closely with the MFA Boston, Harvard Museum of Ancient Near East, and the Brooklyn Museum on various research projects.

Museums are responsible for so much when it comes to their audiences: quality content, meeting educational goals, and online and in-person accessibility, among others. Exhibition design has similar processes to multimedia production, except I don’t have to handle fragile, ancient artifacts.

More About Jill

Favorite show?
Mad Men! I’ve rewatched the entire series five times and always discover something new. My husband bought me the box set recently so now I’m enjoying the director’s commentaries.

Favorite game to play with your kids?
Mario Kart – I used to be able to beat them. I’ve also been playing a lot of FableVision games with them recently, like Echo Explorers, Bubble Build, Claw Control, and Lights, Camera, Budget!, to prepare for new projects. It’s fun to see what attracts their eye in games and they give me very honest feedback when it comes to what they like and what they don’t like.

Favorite holiday?
My grandfather’s birthday was March 17, so St. Patrick’s Day was a big deal for my family. We celebrate every year with a parade, live music, food, crafts, games, and prizes. I basically start planning right after Christmas because it gives me something to look forward to in the spring.

Favorite band?
I love Radiohead but I haven’t seen them perform live yet. :(

A Jill fun fact that most people don’t know?
My cousin Dillon and I inspired a children's song: “Jillian Dillon (The Hippoplatypus).” (For the record, I am neither part hippo nor platypus, but I hope to see each in their native habitats one day).