30 June 2026 – Subang Jaya
XZV Studio x INTI International College wrap up the Employer Project collaboration.
On June 25, XZV Studio made their way down to INTI Center of Art and Design (ICAD) for a final beat board focus group review session for Kappa, the studio’s family adventure feature film. This marks the end of the Employer Project, an educational collaboration between the participating students and the team.
The Employer Project was a 14-week beat board exercise designed to give hands-on experience with a real production pipeline. The project began with a workshop in April 2026, where the students were given a script breakdown and introduced the process of developing beat boards for film.
Over the course of the project, eight teams worked across all three acts of Kappa, revising their beat boards after receiving feedback. The process looked something like this:
Students create beat boards → XZV Studio gives feedback → Students revise their work → XZV Studio shortlists beat boards → Focus group review session
The final session brought participants and the team together once again for the last stage of the project. Instead of having a traditional presentation, the session functioned as a focus group review, where the goal was to evaluate how clearly the story could be understood from a different perspective.
“The idea was to form a focused audience and understand what this story will be about,” shared Vivian Syc, screenwriter of Kappa and CEO of XZV Studio.
The session began with a short briefing and continued until 5 PM. Participants were instructed not to discuss anything about the storyline during the review. Instead, they were asked to engage with the beat boards directly, without any given context.
“We’re asking which one of these boards actually explains the story best to you,” explained Syc, highlighting the purpose of the exercise.
Unlike storyboards, which include every detail and sequence of a scene, beat boards focus on the emotional highlights and major turning points. This focus group review is part of the filmmaking process, helping the team assess whether the story can be understood before moving into full storyboarding.
Multimedia students also joined the session for the focus group review component, contributing to the evaluation stage from an audience perspective. Participants also had the opportunity to ask questions about the industry and learn more about what goes into making an animated film.
With the beat boards officially back in XZV Studio’s hands, it’s the teams’ turn to figure out how this feedback further shapes the next stage of Kappa’s development.
As the Employer Project came to a close, it was amazing to see how far the students had come since the first workshop visit. It was a good reminder of how important these collaborations with local institutions are. The studio gets to see the film come to life, beat by beat, before jumping into storyboarding. Meanwhile, the students gain real-life animation production experience while contributing to a film with a strong social message.
Thank you to all participants for your hard work, dedication and for being part of the journey in bringing Kappa to life. Don’t forget to follow XZV Studio and Kappa‘s Instagram page for more updates!