Hi P&Sians,

I have been approached to submit a portfolio in the hope of 'potentially'  exhibiting at a gallery. It's a quirky kind of place that look for unique exhibitions (my ideal!) so I'm feeling the pressure a little! The problem is I don't have a portfolio. I have knocked up a 3 minute clip of stills with trippy music using movie maker in the hope it will set me apart a little from other people submitting but wondered if you have any specific tips on creating a unique but professional portfolio?

My clip is in black and white as a crude attempt to hide the fact that all the photos were taken in my house! Sadly, as much of the work featured has sold, I am unable to re-shoot the material and feel this really impacts on the professionalism of my clip. I went crazy trying to edit out the background in photoshop but the fact is I have no idea what I'm doing and it looks terrible so I gave up. I can upload it if anyone would care to critique it for me but am most interested in how you approach this area. I should mention I have been asked to provide a snap shot of my work so in addition to some puppets, the clip features largely cloth dolls and other designs.

Thanks!

Lizzie

While I think it is a good idea to have some really good professional pictures for a portfolio (i.e. neutral background good lighting), if you don't have that then don't sweat it.   Would love to see what you worked up.  Not sure about the black and white but well wait and see.
 

Thanks Shawn. Wasn't sure how to upload it here so have uploaded to youtube as a private clip. I agree the black and white isn't such a great idea but it looked dreadful in colour... your eyes were drawn to the mess, half drunk beer and artwork in the background rather than the actual pieces! 

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?YwiNcxa_jrE" target="youtube">YouTube Video</a>

Any pointers you can give me would be greatly appreciated it. I need to send off whatever I settle on submitting by the end of the week.

Thanks

Lizzie

I think this is great!  The music is weird and beautiful, and the black and white is very in tune with the overall feel of the clip.

That said, it looks like a few of the images are probably quite striking in colour, particularly the ones with feathers and other adornments, as well as the one that I assume is a Lizzie puppet.  It might be nice to do a little mix of both.  What about fading the audio mid-clip and dissolving to colour with a different yet equally unique song?  Create the mood of the characters and then provide a more realistic visual.

Just a thought. 

Your work is amazing.  I love the giant furies and the robot looks like it was influenced by the Death Cab for Cutie video for Crooked Teeth.  Love it!

 :'( wish I could see it, too. I love black and white movies- classic...

Thanks so much Poor Fishy - that means a great deal coming from someone as gifted as yourself. The idea of merging colour with black and white in time to music is brilliant! I shall give it a go however I am a first time 'movie maker' user and find the whole thing pretty frustrating - but will persevere if it helps to sell my wares! Thanks again. Oh, and yes, I adore Death Cab for Cutie but haven't seen that clip. Time to do some youtubing!

Rikka I've noticed you're unable to view a few things uploaded here. Is that due to your location?

Yapp- see, we have this performance rights organization GEMA (Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte, English: Society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights). Since it is the only one in Germany they are representing 65.000 artists (many of them international, of course) whose works are used in Germany. And they are at odds with YouTube. They want 12 Euro Cents per streamed video which YouTube called "prohibitive". So since March 2009 Germans are unable to watch YT- vids that include content of GEMA- represented artists. It is said, in Wiki, that they'll take it to a Californian court (that's where YouTube is stationed, I gather) but knowing Justitia this could take a while. So, until they resolved that, I am out with popular music... (Sometimes I do wish I was living a bit North- in Denmark I wouldn't have that problem... )

I agree with PoorFishy that the black and white with the music does work. I do think that some of the pieces would be nice in color. If you can't come up with enough of them in color to justify changing the music you might be fine simply moving back and forth from black and white to color. In fact to soften the move you might be able to start with the picture in black and white then fade it into color. Then show the next in color and then fade it back to black and white. That may not be needed but could be cool.  The only other thing I can think is that you should put your information at the end of video. You never know when it may get separated from the rest of your package and viewed and if someone sees it and likes it you want to make sure they know how to contact you. 

I did not see any backgrounds, your work is too exciting for anyone to notice anything else. Best wishes, hope they bite.

I like it, but I do think you need colour pics. People judge the quality of art based on colour - unless it actually is something that's B&W - and I think without colour it's hard to tell what qualities/personalities the puppets have.

As for pro photos: go to Theatre.asn.au and have a look if you can find some photography ads. A lot of people (students in particular) offer deals on portfolio photos and even though they aim them towards actors, they may be interested in working with puppets. Students in general are more likely to do shoots for free/cheap.