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The First Portfolio Some time ago on the Stagecraft list (http://stagecraft.theprices.net/), a student inquired as to what should be/should not be included in a young designer’s first portfolio. Here is one reponse: Your question is a huge topic that has filled chapters, papers, seminars, and books. And no matter what you do, someone will always have another opinion.There is no perfect answer, and no one has a perfect portfolio. Here’s one short answer: Include pieces that demonstrate what you have done, what you can do, and what you envision you can do. Provide the viewer with the information that shows that you have an "eye" for composition, color, and contrast, to name a few. Present your work in such a manner that it shows that you’re clean, professional, and organized. Not only are you judged by what you present, but also how you present it. Be sure to include your name and what you did on, or adjacent to, each example. As a designer, your work can include graphic drawings, color renderings, or collages, possibly compared with pictures or production photographs (”this is what I envisioned, this is what the final product looked like”). Or it may include paperwork (”this is the list of steps or tasks required in order to achieve the final product”). Sometimes this is represented by show designs. Since you don't list your focus or objective, let it be said that different design diciplines require different information. Costume design portfolios usually include sketches (with fabric swatches) and photographs, while scenic portfolios often combine drafting, sketches, color renderings, with photographs. On the other hand, I”ve seen young portfolios that contain no show photography, and instead show only class assignments. Whatever you present, it”s usually a good idea to have your work packaged in some kind of book or large notebook so that pages and pieces stay in place and in sequential order. Then you can design the sequence of the presentation as well. Using that kind of format also provides a universal background for all of your work (often black or neutral-colored pages) so that the focus is on what”s on the page, not the background. Many portfolio books and binders have plastic covers on each page, so you can quickly rearrange your work under the plastic. Usually the front page includes your resume (with copies available to be presented to the reviewer.) As a side note, the portfolio always has embedded in it your name and contact information, for when you accidentally leave it on the bus. (Yes, you’re hearing the voice of sad experience.) Most important, the portfolio is a representation of you, what you know, and by omission, what you don't know. Include things that you think make you look good and show you in a good light. Have your present instructors and other mentors look at your portfolio before you go on the actual interview. Showing your work, and talking about your work, can be very difficult. Going through the experience at least a couple of times before the real interview allows you to rehearse the presentation, and allow you to form responses to some of the same questions. The ”rehearsals” will also hopefully allow you to feel more relaxed during the actual interview. That way, when you’re in the interview, you can hear what’s being said to you, rather than just freaking out about being in the interview. You’re starting on a very long road. Listen and consider all advice, and apply what seems right for you and your path. Good luck. Portfolio Content When I'm looking at a portfolio, I’m typically satisfied that I’ve seen a broad overview of someone’s work after viewing four to six shows per specialty. That said, I’ve also come to realize that, as a lighting designer, I often want a hard copy of the light plot, or the magic sheet, or the cheat sheet, or the section at hand when I’m looking at pictures from the show. I want to compare and analyze what I'm seeing as a final presentation, and try to quickly relate it to the paperwork. Likewise, when looking at photographs of scenic designs, i often want to refer to groundplans, sections, or even just lineset schedules. While it’s not necessary to have hard copies of all of those documents for each show in the portfolio, I think it’s valuable to at least one set from a single show available to pull out. That way you show that you know what the documents are, and that you can create them. In either a hard or soft portfolio, it often seems that the point is to just wow them with incredible visuals. After educational theatre, showing that you began with a concept that followed through the completed realization is a rare interview, typically with directors. Demonstrating that you also have drafting, sketching, painting, coloring, and dimensional skills are also important components of any portfolio, especially when they approximate what was actually realized on the stage. If that means that you need to go back, after the fact, and change, modify, or even completely recreate the initial sketches, renderings, or draftings, so that they more closely resemble the production photographs, then so be it. It is an unwritten theatrical ”mulligan” that, as long as your original visions match the final production photos, all is forgiven. If that means that you have to go back, after the fact, to alter the ”original visions” so that they match the shots, then so be it. It’s part of the game. Often the total number of pages in a portfolio may be determined by the overall size of the critter. My first portfolio allowed for a show to fit onto two pages, but much of that was achieved by the fact that it was 36 x 48. After dragging that sucker around airports for a couple of years, I began to realize that sometimes smaller really is better. Nowadays, regardless of size, I advise an "even" number of pages, with the ability to compare initial or final sketches/drawings to pictures with only a single "flip" of the page. The ideal is to have the ”visions” on one page, and the matching production photos on the opposite page. I often find that no more than two pairs of facing pages are required to show the best sketches and photos for each show. An additional sleeve may be employed to pull out one or two larger examples of drafting or paint elevations. And certainly there’s a sleeve in the back or front for resumes. With four to six shows, I usually recommend starting with the one of the big shows that show you off in your best light, in case the producer gets interrupted and never makes it further than the first show. Then I advise diversity with the next three or four shows. And finally the final show is also a well-produced, complete piece, showing you off to your best, regardless of your discipline. One note for young designers: Don’t fill the portfolio up with inferior work merely to show that you’ve done a lot of things. Keep only the top notch work; remember, the portfolio is showing only your selected designs. Hard Portfolio When i construct my next portfolio, I’m going to do it right. I’m going to find something like an 11 x 17-sized (or certainly larger than a letter sized) portfolio book. Regardless, it will be something that will be able to be taken as carry-on on a plane, or comfortably carried in a shoulder bag all day on a convention floor. It will have a zipper cover and pouches; the zipper to stop stuff from falling out, and pouches for the two or three full-scale draftings. It will have some sort of snapping binder, with interchangable pages for quick rearrangement, and elimination of blank ones at the end. Each page will be black or neutral colored, and wrapped in non-reflective plastic. The stuff under the plastic will be trapped, so after someone's pointed out a layout mistake, I can rearrange without the angst of glue. I’ll decide which orientation I want to view the portfolio, either landscape or portrait, and then I’ll design the layout of each page so that the entire book will be viewable on a table or on a lap, without twisting the book from one layout to the other. I’ll re-do all of my photos so that they’re large enough to fill the page, or a pair will fill the page. I’ll redraft my basic ”see I can draft” drawings so that they’ll be readable even at a reduced scale (increasing the font size as needed). I’ll divide my portfolio into two sections; one chunk that’ll be shown to producers (see, I can design!) and one chunk that’ll be shown to lighting designers (see, I can be your ALD and make you look good! Look at my paperwork!) The producer’s chunk will have one or two draftings but will focus more on pretty stage shots. Dramatic, musical, opera, box set. The ALD chunk, on the other hand, will focus more on one or two complete shows, with reduced drafting, magic and cheat sheets, sections,other paperwork, and pictures. Of course, there will be extra copies of the resume and my business cards in one of the pouches. And one business card will be welded to the inside cover of the portfolio so that it will always have my name. When I do something silly like leave it in the wrong place. That's what my next portfolio will look like. Is that the only way? Of course not. Digital Portfolio Presentations In my experience, when in doubt, keep the presentation simple and clean. Don't get caught up in the effects or the focus becomes that, instead of the product being presented [your work]. In praise of digital portfolios, I find that photos on screen look better and show much better depth than as printed matter. When the photo is scaled larger than the computer screen, though, having the distraction of panning around to different areas of the photo takes focus away from the shot itself. Drawings also look good, but again be careful about the overall size of the document, so that time is spent looking at the drafting, not trying to pan around on the screen. If the pictures are to sell you as a designer, it’s generally accepted that some portion of the digital photo may be enhanced by PhotoShop (or equivalent). Don’t go overboard, though; getting caught making wholesale editing changes is still these days often perceived as a disappointment. One problem I’ve discovered, when looking at digital portfolios, is my desire to compare information. While looking at a photograph of a set, I want to compare it to the painted color rendering. When I’m looking at a photo of a light cue, I want to compare it to the light plot, magic sheet, or cue description. For that reason, if you decide to take a laptop instead of a separate portfolio notebook for that portfolio review, consider also taking some amount of hard copy such as the drafting, the paperwork, or the things that you created that were used as reference to make the things in the photos. There have been numerous times when I’ve been a member of a group reviewing a digital portfolio. We’ve seen something exciting in the pictures on the screen, and asked to see the support paperwork. And when we’ve been told ”it's all in the computer”, it just deflates the crowd. If my ”need to compare” is the same as anyone else’s, one solution might be to include a reduced printout of the light plot in the same envelope. Another tactic might be to include a separate pdf file of the groundplan, or some such, directly on the cd. In the ”read me” file, indicate which pdf’s refer to which portions of the digital portfolio. (I freely admit I’m now making this up, I have no idea if this would work. Would a reviewer actually read the ”read me” file?) Digital Portfolio Applications While folks have their own preferences for programs to be used in digital portfolios, I’ve found that sending a compact (and functional) file is often appreciated more than whiz-bang presentation. If you know what applications the recipient has on his/her machine and want to tailor your presentation to that application, then great. Or if you want to send a cd that has the application on it, great.If, on the other hand, you want to get a relatively small file that will quickly email and hopefully work on either platform, you’re pretty much stuck with PowerPoint. Yes, there’s certainly a case for Keynote, but to my knowledge that’s Mac-specific. And frankly, once I get a presentation working in any way, shape, or form, the last thing I want to do is translate it to another application and reconfigure it, again. If you decide on PowerPoint, be aware that slide changes, x-fades, and other fancy stuff don’t necessarily translate between platforms. I have often seen the digital portfolio that makes coffee and spin plates on one platform, cough to an embarrassing stop when transferred to another. I’ve read a post from Mr. Richard Fisher, who stated the following: ”After saving your PowerPoint presentation file, go back to the ’save as’ menu. Below the file name, there is a drop-down menu that allows you to pick ”PowerPoint Show”, or PPS file. Save it in that format then burn it to a CD, or send it as an attachment.” ”All the recipient then needs to do is click on the file and it runs itself (or they can manually flip through the slides as desired). The added benefit of this method, is that it can not be manipulated or altered. I am not sure if PPS files work on Mac computers, but I feel like we were assured it would by our faculty.” I’ve not tried this, but it may be the best of all possible worlds, especially if it works cross-platform. Your Mileage May Vary. ©2008 Steve Shelley, all rights reserved. |
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