Reminders:
Starting next week (Monday April 23 and Wednesday April 25), classes will be devoted to production, so bring in whatever footage you have so you can get started editing your rough cuts.
Your rough cuts will be due by class time on April 30. Class that day is not optional. We’ll be screening the rough cuts together and giving everyone feedback.
Your final cuts will be due along with your published portfolio websites on May 14, the last day of class.
I’ve only received breaking news stories from a small handful of you, so if you have not yet done yours, please email me before Wednesday’s class with your plan for that assignment.
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Discussion: Making a great portfolio website
A few popular website builder options:
Buying a website domain:
Things to consider:
What medium (or media) are you going to be featuring prominently? Keep that in mind when choosing a template.
A portfolio website is basically an online resume. You’re selling yourself, so make sure you’re putting your best foot forward. Link to your various social media profiles, Vimeo/YouTube accounts, etc. You can even post your resume on there if your like. And write a good bio for your About page.
Requirements for Final Portfolio
You need at least two main pages on your site in addition to an optional Home landing page that showcases your best work: a Video page where we can view your projects and an About page, where you describe yourself and your work (names/sections can vary, but that’s the general idea). Those of you who have work they’d like to showcase from other classes or personal projects are welcome to create a Photography or Audio page… or organize it entirely differently if there’s another system that works for you.
You might want to consider getting a nice professional-looking headshot taken for your bio page as long as you have your cameras. And make sure you proofread! I want to see a sentence or short paragraph introducing each of your projects, on the portfolio site if the template allows space for it as well as on the Vimeo page where the video is hosted.
It is recommended but not required for you to link the website to your own domain name. Most of the site builders listed above have basic options that will allow you to host your site for free if you have a ____.wordpress.com or a ____.weebly.com address; often your site will show up with advertisements unless you upgrade (the monthly fee varies). It’s up to you whether or not it’s worth it at this stage to pay for the more polished, professional-looking website that a personalized domain will give you. A domain name will usually run you about $10 a year and it’s fairly simple to link your portfolio site to it by going into the settings and making a few changes. Let me know if you run into any difficulty here and I’ll be happy to help you.