An audio portfolio can be visual. Yes it can. But whether it will be depends on what type of work you have. Soon to be graduate Ryan Tretter set up his online portfolio with Web Agent to showcase his audio design work for gaming. In his case, including video clips of gaming sequences in his portfolio was crucial in order to give a full picture of his sound design capabilities.
[Screen shot taken from Ryan's website.]
PC: What type of work do you do?
RT: I do sound design for video, video games, and interactive multimedia.
PC: How are you showcasing or promoting your work?
RT: I am showcasing my work in video format. I promote my site through sound design websites and game design websites.
PC: What type of information or samples are in your portfolio?
RT: The type of samples I have in my portfolio are videos of captured game play on created video game levels I have developed. Also video clips containing sound assets of my creation and implementation. I also have samples of music composition.
PC: How did you decide which work to put onto your reels?
RT: I decide to put work into my reels by relevance of what I wish to promote myself. I try to focus on game development versus video.
PC: What steps did you take to develop your reel and create the work shown?
RT: The work samples have been developed as a collection of my work through mostly class work. Throughout each class, on completion of projects I would save a copy for my own personal portfolio in order to show what I have created to others. So by the time I was ready to create an online portfolio I already had projects to work with in displaying what I have accomplished.
The game levels were from my independent study, where I focused on developing interactive worlds primarily focusing on audio implementation. There are also music samples on the site which I have created on my own. I will be adding more from my work at the Production studio within the next several days, as I prepair myself for a trip to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. Where I hope to network and meet with future coworkers.
PC: How did the Portfolio Center help or what services did you receive through us?
RT: Portfolio center set up a meeting with Tom Kim to go over my portfolio items and give me advice on how to showcase and what to showcase. He also gave me great advice on how to interview and what to demonstrate. I went to the Portfolio Center Web Agent (workshop) to initialize my website.
PC: Why do you think promoting your work online is important?
RT: It is important to give quick access to your portfolio. Prospective job agents possibly have many websites, demo reels, and other portfolios to browse through so simplicity yet, a professional website is needed to bring your work in a quick fashion to the job agent in a memorable way.
PC: Anything else you think students should know before putting their portfolio together?
RT: Don't be afraid to ask others and instructors for help. Everyone is willing to show off their websites/portfolios and have their own personal ways of go about developing it. If students don't know a format or what should be done, there is always someone willing to help just don't hesitate.
