Painting Portals: Musicians

A central part of my production management internship at FableVision Studios was leading the team of my fellow interns— including one developer, two artists and one archival intern—to produce an original animated video game under the mentorship of the professionals at the studio.

As the producer on the project, I was reponsible for maintaining, adjusting, and communicating the asset list and production schedule, accounting for all deliverables. I also conducted one weekly meeting with our managers to communicate our progress and one meeting for our intern team to work through roadblocks, implement feedback from QA testing, and pitch new ideas. Collaborating with the archival intern, I co-wrote the script and formatted the branching dialgoue in Unity using Inky Editor.

At the end of the summer, I organized two presentations of our finished product, one for the whole team at Fablevision and one at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the home of Giorgio Vasari’s “Musicians,” the painting and environment on which we based the game. I could not be more proud of my team and what we createded together. This project, the first animated work I solo-produced, will always have a special place in my heart.

Play below or at: https://15dogss.itch.io/painting-portals-musicians

Title Card 

Introductory Animation

Early Environment Concept

Final character designs for the interactable NPCs

Walk cycle for Sasha, the main character

Game flow diagram

The University News Cycle Halloween Special (Season 9 Episode 2)

The first student organization I officially joined on campus was The University News Cycle, a satire news show similar to Saturday Night Live that airs on CitrusTV. During my first semester, I wrote headlines and packages for the show in addition to volunteering for every production role I could, including camera operator, floor director, and even actor. I was asked to take over as Executive Producer starting at the beginning of my sophomore year.

The episode below is the second one I executive produced. My work on the project involved finalizing and formatting the rundown for the show in addition to coordinating the teleprompter, on-air talent, technical director, floor director, crew in the audio booth, and camera operators to have a successful shoot in the CitrusTV studio while providing real-time directorial notes. I was also responsible for leading writers’ meetings, approving final scripts, casting, and scheduling the out-of-studio shoots.

Although The University News Cycle is live-action, my experience with the show as both a crew member and as Executive Producer has been instrumental in the development of skills such as managing a team in a studio environment, making key creative decisions, holding writing and production meetings, organizing multiple schedules, maintaining an inclusive environment that fosters creativity, and overseeing post production. I am eager to apply these skills to my chosen field of animation.

Why Did the Pigeon Cross the Road?

I joined Orange Shorts, Syracuse University’s student-run animation studio, as a first semester freshman. At the second meeting, I pitched the story of a hungry pigeon who embarks on a daring mission to cross the road for the only food in sight: a moldy bagel. To my surprise and delight, the rest of the team voted to produce it.

I took the lead on story development and wrote the screenplay for the project, incorporating the ideas of the other artists into my original vision to craft a narrative that excited all of us and included touches of everyone’s creativity. To keep the project on track, I managed the production schedule and asset list throughout the animation pipeline.

This was only the second year of our club’s existence on campus, and we were a small but mighty group. Over the course of the year, we progressed through storyboards, animatics, rough animation, and final animation, with each animator maintaining their own art style for their parts of the project. Although we were only able to fully produce the last sequence of the film, I am incredibly proud of our work. As development ramps up for the 2024-2025 school year, I am excited to announce that once again my newest pitch was chosen for production and I am honored to hold the position of Head Writer. I cannot wait to see what we create as our organization continues to grow.

Storyboard for final sequence

Animatic of the pigeon starting to cross the road