Fabrizio & Gioia Interns at Fire Without Smoke

Fire Without Smoke

Escape Studios Undergraduates Fabrizio Bergamo and Gioia Varago recently landed summer internships at the leading UK games company Fire Without Smoke.

We asked them to talk a little about their internship, how they got it, and how other undergraduate students can follow in their footsteps.

Fire without smoke

What is your internship?
Fabrizio and Gioia: We have been doing a summer internship at a game agency called Fire Without Smoke. We applied because we thought that it could be a great experience where we could learn more about the game industry and how it works.

How did you get the internship?
Fabrizio and Gioia: During the last day of the academic year at Escape Studios, some of the best projects of the year [done by the undergraduate students] were presented.  On that day, Dominic Davenport, the founder of Escape Studios, saw our work and asked us both if we would be interested in doing a summer internship. He put us in contact with Fire Without Smoke. I [Fabrizio] sent in my online portfolio, hosted at Behance.net. After a few weeks, Fire Without Smoke contacted us for an interview.  Shortly afterwards we started working there.

What have you been working on?
Fabrizio: During the first few weeks at Fire Without Smoke I worked on the logo for an expansion of a VR game, and I helped the graphic designers with 3D renders for the key art. After that I worked on the art direction for the takeovers of an eSport game.  Now I am working on an animatic for the release trailer of a new game, helping with the development of the layout and camera movements, using Autodesk Maya, and I'm doing renders for other projects when needed.
Gioia: I also worked on the eSport game, alongside Fabrizio, and did some character design, which I really enjoyed. I also worked as graphic designer for another Esports game.

What advice would you give to other students hoping to get summer internships?
Fabrizio and Gioia: Always do your best in your personal projects, so you can use them to create a strong portfolio and/or showreel. Keep searching for opportunities, without giving up, you will never know when an opportunity will presents itself! Be patient and don't underestimate yourself.

To see some of Fabrizio's work in his first year at Escape Studios, check out the videos below.





And to see his online portfolio, follow this link.

You can see some of Gioia's work here:



The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To find out more about our new BA/MArt, follow this link.  To apply, visit the official page here.