Making a Digital Video Portfolio DVD
Showing Your Work
After you have completed a few digital video projects you may decide that you would like to use your films to help you find a job or enter an educational institution to further your video education. To do this you are going to need to create a portfolio that clearly displays your work to those that will be judging you. A portfolio DVD should include certain things on it and a good one is your best key to the next step.
Base Menu
The first thing you are going to need to create is a base menu. It is usually best to use a template unless you have the ability to create your own menu using an outside graphic art program. Apply some photos to the picture boxes in the base menu template that will help “sum you up.” These can be photos of you, images relating to your films, or general pictures that correlate to your interests or career goals. From here you are going to link to the other sections of your DVD, which will be the section where the films are, one for biographical and resume information, and one for photos or other media.
Film Menu
On the film page you are going to need to create a general visual style utilizing a template that will work for all of your films. What this means is that the visuals on this menu need to be non-specific and not represent a single film. Here you are going to create buttons that will link to each individual film’s menu. You may want to use picture buttons for that and then put the compressed videos that you will already be importing into the asset browser into them for more lively buttons.
Individual Videos
From here you can either create new menus for each of the films or import the DVD menus that you made for them earlier if you have already made DVDs for each of them individually. You do not need to make a complete DVD interface for each of these menus, but you may want to put a chapter selection menu and some special features if you already have them.
Bio and Resume Menu
For the resume and bio page you essentially need a menu with a picture of yourself. Link to a separate page each for your biography, resume, and video resume. You may want to also do a complete filmography if all of your work is not on the portfolio. For the bio and resume you just want to have the text on another menu screen. Choose a template that will allow for a large blank text area. The resume does not need to be complete, but put your education and major work in the field. This can include professional video work, publications you may have written for, and any internships or volunteer positions in the field. The biography should just be a medium size paragraph about your background and career or educational goals. You do not need to give an entire menu page to the video resume, just have a direct button to it from the biro/resume menu.
Photo and Media Menu
The photo and media page is optional technically, but it is a good idea to put something there. A photo slideshow is a good way to get across a little about you, and most DVD authoring programs have an option to create one of these. If you have done some music or performance work you may want put some videos or audio tracks of these here. Again, you create a base menu for this section and then link to other menus according to their sub-topic.
Specific About Content
Each educational and business institution has different requirements for its applicants so you are likely going to need to alter your portfolio DVD according to their needs. Usually they will not want to look at anything that has a total running time of more than twenty or thirty minutes. They may also be looking for certain types of work, such as documentary or narrative film, so keep certain things on priority for certain places. No matter what you should put your absolute best work on the DVD and not just all of it. Quality is much more valuable than quantity in this case.
Make It Count
A good portfolio DVD is going to tell the people watching it exactly what you can do and why you will be successful. They want to know that no matter what you are up to the challenges that are in front of you. Put your best foot forward, and feel free to make the DVD as nice as possible.
