A Week Behind the Scenes: A #FableTours Recap

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What an awesome week! Thanks for tuning in on Instagram each day to meet Hannah, Matt, Michael, Sarah, and Leigh from FableVision Studios. I had a lot of fun filming and planning the #FableTours videos, and I hope you had fun watching them!

My independent project started out as an idea to make a video about what it’s like to work in the studio. After brainstorming with Sarah, FableVision’s head of marketing and my supervisor here, we decided that FableVision’s behind-the-scenes-focused Instagram would be the best medium for a project like this, and since the videos on Instagram are so short, it should be a series of videos. And so, #FableTours was born!

The aim of the #FableTours series is to give you a sense of the studio, the atmosphere here, and the people that make FableVision so amazing. I loved the challenge of Instagram, from the aspect ratio to the time limitation of just 15 seconds. I had to ask myself, how can I tell a story in such a short amount of time? How can I condense a whole day to a matter of seconds? I hope you’ll find that these videos offer a glimpse of what it’s like to be a producer, an artist, a developer, a director, and a marketing team member here at FableVision.

If you missed some of the videos, now’s your chance to binge watch the whole series -- but don’t worry, each video is only 15 seconds long.

This internship has been an amazing experience, I’m truly grateful for the opportunity. I know that I will be using the skills that I’ve garnered at FableVision when I go on to pursue my own career.

Interested in being an intern at FableVision Studios? Check out their listing here and apply!

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Karina Kolb is currently a marketing intern at FableVision Studios, and is pursuing her Masters of Education in Technology, Innovation, and Education degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Originally from Florida, she has a Bachelors of English, Film, and Media from the University of Florida. 

#FableTours: A Day in the Life of a FableVisionary

From building imaginary worlds, to creating vivid characters, to bringing science to life, everything that FableVision Studios does seems to involve a little magic. In reality, we have a top notch team of storytellers working non-stop behind the scenes on every aspect of small-to-large scale projects, and maybe we’ll toss in some fairy dust every now and then. 

As part of my independent project, Next week, FableVision will premiere our first ever Instagram video series, #FableTours! Every day for a week, we’ll take a peek over different team member’s shoulders as they work on various facets of all kinds of projects. We’ll follow a producer, an artist, a developer, a director, and a marketing team member. Check out this quick teaser, and tune into our Instagram account on Monday, Nov. 16 and meet the people who make our studio so great! 

You can follow along on Instagram and Twitter.

Meet the Fall Interns!

Fall is here! And with it comes cooler days, changing autumn colors, pumpkin spice lattes, and of course a new group of FableVision interns! After the back-to-school jitters passed, we began our work at the exciting and eclectic studio that is FableVision.

We are learning about FableVision’s projects, diving into social media, and bringing art to life, all while experiencing the inner workings of a multi-media production studio. We are a creative bunch, outside of the office you might find us performing for crowds, sketching strangers, or attending film festivals. Learn more about who we are and what inspires us as we share our stories.

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Isabella Boettcher, Marketing Intern

Hometown: Wilmette, Illinois

Education: Emerson College, Majoring in Media Studies: Television Production

Childhood Hero: My mom

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Jon Sudarkasa, Art Intern

Hometown: Johannesburg, South Africa

Education: Senior at the Lesley University College of Art and Design as an Animation Major with Creative Writing Minor

Childhood Hero: Andrew Stanton

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Karina Kolb, Marketing Intern 

Hometown: Gainesville, Florida

Education: BA in English, Film and Media. Currently a Masters Candidate at Harvard Graduate School of Education, focusing on Technology, Innovation and Education.

Childhood Hero: Bill Nye The Science Guy

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What is your favorite thing about autumn in Boston?

Isabella (I): Not feeling like I am trapped in the penultimate scene in Day After Tomorrow. A.K.A, that it's not Winter. Which means I get to walk everywhere. That's the best thing about Boston; because of its size, it's not impossible to avoid the T and walk instead. Also cool in autumn: the food trucks! Getting back to Boston means experiencing the joys of Roxy's Grilled Cheese and the Chicken and Rice Guys all over again. It also means seeing the money from my wallet slowly disappear.

You know nothing, Jon Snow.

Jon (J): When Boston turns into autumn everyone goes into a preparatory mode for winter, as if it could snow at any moment. The people walking down the street are on high alert and always conflicted. You can see everyone questioning whether or not to put on their scarves or gloves, etc. They create great caricatures to draw. Also the brown and orange overtone of the city is beautiful.

Karina (K): I just moved here so I haven’t experienced it yet, and I’m excited to finally see what autumn is really like! I’m from Florida and we don’t usually get to experience the seasons changing. Before you tell me ominously that Winter is Coming, I want to let you know that I’ve already bought a winter coat worthy of Jon Snow.

What are you most excited to learn during the extent of your internship?

I: How to employ marketing practices to increase a brand's visibility. In creating anything, it is important to know how to make sure people actually see it. I'm not 100% how to do that, and FableVision seemed like an excellent place to learn!

Jon's passion and talent is clear in this example of Robin from his work.

J: Well, for a start getting feedback from the resident animators to improve my character animation. But I'm most excited to gain the skills to manage the time I have in a work day to create efficient and well-timed animation. As a student, you set your hours and can often find yourself animating into the late hours of the early morning. But when working at a studio you have to be efficient to get your work done at a certain time. I'm hoping to get good at that.

K: I’m excited to learn about the studio functions! I want to know what everyone is working on separately and how they come together to make something amazing. I’m already learning that marketing plays such a diverse role in the studio because it is a part of every step in the process, from pitch to wrap.

When not at FableVision, what do you do for fun?

Isabella, far right, hangs out with her improv troupe SwoMo. 

I: I'm on a constant search for the best burger in Boston. Additionally, I'm in an improv troupe (called SwoMo) at Emerson College, direct a satirical news broadcast (Breaking News!) and Executive Produce a late night talk show (Closing Time with Amanda Breen) and Emerson's award show, The EVVY Awards, which is the largest student-run production in the nation. I also sell cupcakes at Georgetown Cupcake on Newbury Street -- come visit me!

J: I'm currently in my senior year so I'm usually working on my senior film, animating for fun to loosen up and then getting back to work. I also like to storyboard and watch movies. Occasionally, I'll storyboard the movies I'm watching, which is always fun.

K: I watch a lot of movies. I come from a film studies background, so movies are a major passion for me. I love watching movies over and over again, and also going to see what’s new in theaters. I’m a part of a fantasy-football style movie league, in which we pick a “team” of movies coming out in each season and get points based on how well the movies do in the box office, among critics, and if they win any awards.

What do you hope to do once you graduate?

I: I want to work in television content development and production for children and teens, specifically 11-16 year olds. I think the television currently being presented to that age group can potentially undermine the intelligence and creativity of its audience. I am eager to change that.

J: I hope to ultimately end up a director of either, a short, a feature film, or television show. Once I graduate, I hope to get a job as a story artist and work my way up from there.

K: I would love to work in a studio like FableVision! I have a passion for educational media and informal learning. I hope to design/write/direct/produce/improve educational media as a career.

What art supply best represents you and why?

I: Does Play-Doh count? It would represent me because I'm happy to adjust and mold to any environment I'm put into. Also similar to Play-Doh, I am entirely composed of flour, water, salt, boric acid, and mineral oil.

J: Oh, this is tough...but if I had to choose one I would probably say an eraser. I find that reflection and revision is the best tool an artist has. Sometime it can cause you to move backwards, always taking away your first artistic impulse, but it always leaves room for growth. I love learning new things and growing and erasing what you think you know, opening yourself up to a completely new mindset, in order to learn new things can lead to pure enlightenment that rapidly matures your artistry. I always encourage collaboration and revision to first passes to get the best possible end result.

K: I think I am best represented by finger paints. I like to be hands on, I like to let my creativity flow freely (I’ve never been a fan of coloring inside the lines), and I really like to get messy, or maybe I just can’t avoid getting messy (I’m really clumsy).

Introducing “Make School Work”

I’m excited that the first episode of Make School Work is live! The opportunity to produce this podcast has enhanced my internship and has given me a window into what it’s like to work here at FableVision Studios.

Before I dive into Make School Work, let’s step back one year to see how the idea for this podcast came about.

In the fall semester of my junior year at Tufts University, I wrote a research paper called Restoring the Educational Relationship: Viewing an Ineffective Model of Education Through the Lens of Entertainment Media. It explores the ways that media reinforce a negative and top-down depiction of the student-teacher relationship and its effect on learning.

In developing my independent project at FableVision, I wanted to repackage this idea for a younger audience: from academia to the iPod. What evolved was Make School Work, a podcast that uses personal storytelling to explore mentor/mentee relationships in a school setting, and how students can use them to become better people.

When it came time to record, I brought in Laila Goodman, who you’ll learn more about by listening to the episode. It was an honor to have her in the studio; being able reflect with her on my experience was a strangely apropos experience.

Sarah Ditkoff, Andrea Calvin, and Jordan Persson helped shape my idea and guided me toward making this vision a reality. I hope to expand upon it as I being my senior year at Tufts and I hope to take all of the valuable lessons I’ve learned at FableVision with me into the real world. Happy listening!

Interested in being an intern at FableVision Studios? Check out their listing here and apply!