From time to time we bring professionals, such as Mindy Verson, Owner/Executive Producer at Audio Producers Group and Laurie Lambert, agent at Voices Unlimited, into the Portfolio Center to listen to and critique student voice-over demos. They have tons of advice for emerging voice over talent and deliver their comments with candor.
But even after receiving feedback from the pros some of you still may ask yourself, “Self, what makes a good voice over demo and how could mine be better?” Those are very good questions. We suggest you do your homework. One stellar resource is Voicebank.net, a comprehensive listing of agencies who rep voice-over talent. The website contains links to demo reels for all talent represented by each agent. Nice! If you want to know which voice actors are working (nationally) and why; take a listen to their reels.
Not everyone got the chance to show off their portfolio to Michael Zajakowski of the Chicago Tribune Magazine and we felt a little bad about that. He's always a great reviewer and an excellent resource for anyone looking to make it as a photojournalist and we wish he had time to sit down with all of you.
Alas, we went ahead and did the next best thing: we asked Michael to discuss the basics of a successful photojournalist's portfolio for all of you to listen to (mp3). We're just that kind of Portfolio Center.
We made new friends with Tina Dugus, senior associate with the executive recruitment firm Bloom, Gross & Associates, when she participated in one of our portfolio brainstorming sessions with students. She left behind a nifty brochure titled: Tips for a successful search experience (PDF). It’s basically a brief guide on what creative recruiters expect from you and what you should expect from them. Although you may dream about searching the internet and finding a long list of marketing, advertising or public relations jobs (and that may happen); the reality is many companies prefer to use recruiters in their search for talent. Honestly, it saves employers the headache of weeding out the less talented. Assuming you have solid work, the more knowledgeable you are about recruiting practices the better prepared you’ll be to land a job and develop strong relationships with recruiters.
Another good resource that we found on Bloom, Gross & Associates’ website is PR Week’s 2007 salary survey (PDF). This is a MUST read if you have questions regarding salary, quality of life and the general job market for the public relations industry. One of the more interesting sections described the PR industry as a jobseeker’s market due to abundant opportunities and high demand. You’ll have to read the document to find out the rest.
Looking to polish your animation reel? Check out some advice from Oren Jacobs, Senior Technical Director and Animator Extraordinaire at Pixar. Having created movies such as Finding Nemo and Toy Story, he (and his company) stand at the forefront of modern animation as we know it (and we'd like to see you there too someday).
Want some live feedback? Get some advice from portfolio advisor, animator and motion capture expert Jon Krusell.
Pop quiz. Who has a better chance of getting animation work:
a) An amazingly talented animator who isn't very aggressive about showing off her/his work
or
b) An 'ok' animator who puts her/his work out to every corner of the animation universe?
Right. (You answered 'b' right?) And we found another corner of the animation universe for you to put your work in.
It's called MyToons, and it's a place for animators of all kinds to post clips and have the web community watch, comment and vote for their favorites. Like YouTube, the content is uploaded by you and can be seen by anyone accessing the Internet. Unlike YouTube, the audience surrounding MyToons is likely to include a wealth of professional animators, animation recruiters and other people looking online for an easy way to scout talent.
Don't forget, the Portfolio Center also has a (free) way for you to get your work online (pdf). It's not a case of either / or, but both / and.
C U online.
Visit the portfolio center on June 11th at 9am for a brainstorming session centered around the idea of building a portfolio in the form of a series of case studies. Our professional guests, Kimberley McArthur and Tina Dugas will brainstorm portfolio strategies with marketing & pr students and we'll discuss how these portfolios can be structured in a similar way to a marketing case study.
Kimberley is currently a senior member of Edelman's Tourism & Lifestyle and Multicultural team and has a background in cultural programming and event marketing. Tina is a senior associate with the executive recruitment firm Bloom, Gross & Associates, a firm specializing in the placement of advertising, corporate communications, PR and marketing professionals.
Students need only bring themselves and any samples (papers, case studies, class projects, projects from internships, photos from events, newspaper and magazine clippings, etc.) to be able to participate.
This discussion is open to all current students of Columbia College Chicago and May 2007 graduates and will be held in the Portfolio Center, 623 S Wabash, Room 307.
