We were lucky to catch up with Annabelle Fandozzi recently and have shared our conversation below.
Annabelle, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
A big part of how I learned to work in post production audio was through school. I went to SCAD Atlanta as a Film and Television Major with a minor in sound editing. Another part of learning how to work in Protools and train my ear for sound was a combination of on set and post production audio work. I got into sound originally by finding older students who were making films and needed sound mixers on set. After taking sound 101, I knew how to use a sound device 633 and used that skill to meet people and get on sets to learn more. I did the same with boom oping and learned so much about the front end of audio that helped me in my post career. One skill that I wasn’t expecting to be a big part of post sound but has really helped me in my career is personality. You may think that post sound is being locked in a room diving into a session all day, but keeping clients happy and the energy up in a session during review or ADR is just as important. I think my personality has really helped in me in my career with being sociable and nice to work with. Another big part of learning post production sound was doing as much of it as I could in and outside of class. I would always take on extra projects and learned so much with each project I worked on, getting better and better along the way.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Annabelle Fandozzi and I am from a small town in southern New Hampshire originally. I went to a very math and science based high school, but knew I wanted to be in the arts and decided to go to film school. This love for art and film led me to SCAD Atlanta where I got my Bachelor’s of Fine Arts Degree In film and Television with a minor in sound editing. I did everything I could in college to get as much experience as possible working on projects outside of class and putting in hours in the studio. After graduation, I spent a summer taking the Pro Tools certification course and received my operator certification. I now work at Boom Post Audio as an Audio Producer and Audio Assistant. Boom post offers a personal and professional post sound experience right here in Atlanta GA. One of the things I am most proud of is graduating with the sound minor from the Atlanta campus. There was such a small group of audio students at the campus, about 5 in total when I started, that helped pioneer the now growing department led by the wonderful Ryan Peoples, my sound professor and mentor while I was at school. I am really proud of how much work I put into my college career that set me up for success post graduation.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
One of the most rewarding aspects of being in the post production sound industry is seeing the project come together and play in a theater or screen for the first time. It is such an amazing feeling to be in a room with the team that brought the project to life and to watch it collectively. You get to experience the project you put all your energy and heart into, but you also get to see all the ways the project was aided by other team members to make it the best it could possibly be. Another very rewarding part of being in the film world is to make a project that connects with the audience members outside of your team. One of the most moving projects I ever worked on was a film called “Glory to the Nation”, directed by Danil Pervukhin. It is a deeply personal and emotional film about a boarder control agent that was inspired by Danil’s experience as a Ukrainian during the dreadful Ukraine Russia conflict that is happening overseas. I am happy to say I had the chance to work on this project and build the sound design for this film and am looking forward to seeing where this film goes during its current festival run. It is the most powerful film I’ve gotten the chance to work on and is deeply moving. Watching that film for the first time in theaters was such a rewarding moment for me after the 60 plus hours I put into bringing it to life.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Throughout my time being a sound supervisor on school projects, I have learned a lot about managing a team that I am now starting to implement into my position as an Audio Producer. You learn a lot when you are put into a management role for the first time. One of the biggest lessons I learned is that having members that you trust is so important to your collective success. As the leader, you can’t complete all parts of the project on your own as that is why you have a team. You have to remember that it is their job to get the work done, and it is your job to provide them with everything they need to make that happen. One of the biggest tools to have when managing a team is empathy. When I was sound supervising, I was able to connect with my team members who were each tackling a different stem of a project because I knew the ins and outs of each task. I had been there before and done the same job. If you are managing a team of people who are working jobs you haven’t done yourself, make sure you take the time and prepare yourself for the project by learning as much as you can about what they have to do. Talk with them and make time to listen to how they feel about the project. One of the biggest challenges I have faced being a post sound person on projects was working with higher ups who didn’t know anything about post production sound. It made it more difficult to work with them, and I was finding myself doing more than focusing on the creative aspects of the project. My favorite projects I have ever done are with the directors who sat down, listened, and truly cared about learning the process and the different aspects of what needed to be done. It made the projects turn out beautifully in the end, and makes me want to work with them again in the future. Supporting your team members and being there for them will make both of your lives easier, and maintain a good work relationship which will keep the overall moral higher.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: afandozzi
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annabelle-fandozzi/
- Other: Boom Post Audio Website: https://www.boompostaudio.com
Image Credits
Addison Rudicile