Author Topic: Portfolio Reviews  (Read 4981 times)

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Lauren

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Portfolio Reviews
« on: Oct 12, 2009, 07:47 pm »
Hello,

I'm currently preparing for interviews at Syracuse University, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and Emerson College. I am hoping to get some advice about what exactly to include in a portfolio, what they will actually look at, and just generally what to expect. Will they actually look at a full prompt book if I bring it? What should I expect them to want to keep (other than my resume', of course)?
Any and all advice is much appreciated.
Thank you,

-Lauren
"The truth is rarely pure, and never simple" -Oscar Wilde

MatthewShiner

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Re: Portfolio Reviews
« Reply #1 on: Oct 13, 2009, 01:49 pm »
The best people to contact about this is the people you will be interviewing with, as a Portfolio Review for a SM candidate could mean many things.
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Anything posted here as in my own personal opinion, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of my employer - whomever they be at a given moment in time.

deletedoldnotanymore

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Re: Portfolio Reviews
« Reply #2 on: Nov 10, 2009, 01:41 pm »
I'm currently preparing for interviews at Syracuse University, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and Emerson College. I am hoping to get some advice about what exactly to include in a portfolio, what they will actually look at, and just generally what to expect. Will they actually look at a full prompt book if I bring it? What should I expect them to want to keep (other than my resume', of course)?
Any and all advice is much appreciated

Hey Lauren,

I'm a stage management student at Emerson right now.  My portfolio included selected pages from a few different prompt scripts, some schedules, some pre-production paperwork, some tech week stuff, and some of my design work.  If you bring a portfolio that shows off your best work, they'll be happy, don't worry about everything being from the same or from different shows.  Emerson kept just my resume and the cover sheet that you send in with your portfolio, other schools wanted to keep a copy, so have one just in case.

If you have any other questions about the Emerson program or the interviews please feel free to contact me here or by email (cdcarter@gmail.com).  I know we are starting interviews very soon here, and I'll probably be in the office when you interview, so if you have any questions before or after just ask!

Thanks,
Christian

Cedes

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Re: Portfolio Reviews
« Reply #3 on: Feb 21, 2010, 09:12 am »
Matthew Shiner is right, a portfolio could mean many things.  I have noticed a couple trends at various job conferences, and interviews, however. 

One is an 'edited' prompt book. and by this I mean you bring an intact prompt book, but only a few examples of each section, such as reports, sign in, daily's, weekly's, etc. 

The other is the portfolio book. As in, it's set up like a prompt book, but each section might have stuff from different shows.

And of course, there's always the ever-present design/shop work portfolio.

Some schools do like to keep copies of whole books for their archives. My best advice would be to check with the school. 

I hope this helps!

Lauren

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Re: Portfolio Reviews
« Reply #4 on: Feb 21, 2010, 10:18 pm »
Thank you, everyone.

I ended up bringing a sort of combination of those things mentioned by Cedes, with an assortment of work I had done and paperwork I had created, as well as some photos of design work I had done. I ended up with offers from 3 of 4 schools, and have made my decision to attend Western Michigan University, a school I initially considered a "back-up school", but significantly altered that opinion after visiting their theatre department. It is the best fit for me, and I am very excited to attend.
Thank you all for your assistance, and best of luck to those reading this thread who are about to go into the interview process!
"The truth is rarely pure, and never simple" -Oscar Wilde