Welcome to Arts Portfolio Night, South Orange Maplewood Schools. We're really glad we can host this kind of event. Um, a lot of people have been doing curriculum night, but I thought it was important um discussions with guidance to do a portfolio night to help everyone
prepare students uh for these college portfolios in the arts. Um, you know, the purpose really was to give you an overview, parents and and students of how to get these different
content areas for arts um, ready in terms of what you need to have in your portfolio and hear from some experts. We have some wonderful experts here tonight on our panel. We have Anna Shukilo. Did I say it right? Anna Shukilo. Yes. Close enough. Kane University. She's in the
fine arts department. Miss Holly Evans, a professor at Pace University in the dance department. She's also a Soma community member. And Mr. Howard Liboff, who is the professor and the film chair over at Fairley Dickinson University.
Thank you so much panelists for joining us tonight and be part of this event. We really appreciate your time. We really appreciate your expertise. I wanted to just start off with music, but I think this first piece kind of translates to other content areas. I
wanted to talk about a definition in terms of a high school music portfolio is a collection of work that demonstrates the students musical talent and experience. And it can usually include recordings and videos and written work. And so I think just in general, some of those concepts
translate to all the arts content areas. Is everybody okay? Thumbs up. You can see my screen. The PowerPoint's coming through. Okay, thank you. But what's the why? Why we do these kinds of things? Well, the portfolio does help
showcase your students talent and experience. And many colleges these days, right, do require a portfolio for admission to their music program and other arts programs. And then finally, the portfolio gives you an opportunity to stand out in this application
process. I designed this next slide to kind of talk about in terms of thinking about your journey. Here we talk about your musical journey, but what is your journey in
that art content area? What does your music experience look like chronologically? And what what was your teachers like? Who were your teachers? What were your lessons like? When did you start? And and the reason I did this is is this. Um I used to or I take staff
members to different universities and colleges and we go and we observe classrooms and in those observations of classrooms the idea is to see what college um professors are doing what they're doing curricularly in their classes so that we can look at that as a
high school or as a district and say cool we want to kind of scaffold our curriculum to target those different areas and kind of reach those those peaks and what what's going on in the universities and colleges And one of the visits I took staff to, we observed um
drama and dance and music at uh Giuliard. And at lunchtime, Giuliard brought in their admissions office and we were sitting with other professors that we had observed that day and networking and talking. But the admissions office put on this incredible
um slideshow of what it looks like for a student to prepare themselves from elementary school to high school to actually get into Giuliard. And it included things like you see in the orange and red areas where what were the
students doing, you know, beyond the school day? What were their inschool music classes like? What were their lessons? Who were their teachers? What were they doing in the summer? Were they at Aspen? where they had interlock and you know what were the wards and recital
and you really got a great sense for dance and music and drama what students would do from middle school and even if if someone was very involved in music in elementary school through high school to take this kind of track to Giuliard and
it was very impressive and it really left an impression on me in terms of how you showcase yourself in terms of your journey um in in that art form that you're you're on a pathway to. A lot of kids these days and young people are uh approaching music as a
technology or music production or pop music. And so we talk about the electronic press kit as an opportunity to highlight what you're doing. Um and I have a sample here in the um in the slide of a student's
electronic press kit. Did the slide change? Did it Are you able to see that? Great. So, she very simply has three film clips that she scored compositions, right? And then she goes on to show her
discoraphy on Spotify and then she has two music videos on YouTube that she highlights on her website. Now, this website again being her website that she do designed as a EPK, right? Then she has kind of two
commercials that she created highlighting uh Splice for Women's History Month and Manifest Audio. And you kind of get a sense on her doing like a product placement or product promotion uh segments. Then she has like a jingle where she kind of um scored
this kind of cooking episode, Eat Okra. And then she gives you an endto-end production look at her editing abilities, her mixing abilities, and her sound design abilities with eight different podcasts that she worked on um
from start to finish. So there you get a just a really good quick look at what we're talking about in terms of developing this EPK. All right. I'll be managing the chat once I finish. So, if parents and people
watching have any um questions, throw them in the chat and we'll take a look at that. The next slide shows a very specific um portfolio requirements because each college university will have something very specific. And so if you clicked on
this link, you would go to Steinhard's music tech um application and then you would see right very specific pieces of things that they're looking for. Now that's not to say that many of these
aspects here will be universal. You want to see audio, video, notation, writings, photos, bios, press kit, contact information. But on the left side, you know, each college or university does have its own unique requirements. And so
you have to be astute to what those are. And then the caveat I put at the bottom paragraph is always right. Do do not rush it. Take your time. plan plenty of time for revision, um, for adding new things, for thinking
about what looks good, what you know, how you stand out, and compare yourself to other EPKs or other portfolios that you see online that students are posting. And one other thought is that generally for music performance, you don't get an
opportunity to edit. they'd like to see your per complete performance from beginning to end without any edits. So, just be be aware of that. That's usually prohibited when you're making your video, your audio recordings for your college portfolio. Um, this is just some quick
tips again on how to get those uh portfolios together. Be conscientious of the time that the university or the college is asking in terms of the allotment. Don't go past it. Think about the genres that you'll be responsible for. Usually like contrasting pieces.
Um, oh, sorry about that. Any lighting. It's always nice to watch a pleasant video with the right light than to strain and try to hear something or see something. The submission format's important again. And then your contact information. Um, and so take time to put
that together and prepare properly. Get familiar with your setting. um get familiar with the way the sound is being captured in your setting that it's not too ambient and you're getting some clarity on that. And then I put here for everyone
just some links in terms of where you can build your music portfolio online if you want to do this electronic press kit or electronic portfolio um between Adobe Portfolio and Wix and Sharpace and Linkree and Google Dropbox.
So those resources are available um for you in the slideshow and that ends my portion. So let's switch over to another person. Anna, I think you're up. You ready for um Yes, I am. Can you hear
me? Okay, fantastic. All right, I'm going to share my screen. I do have a presentation. It is a presentation that is specific to Keen University. Um I I'm
a foundations professor, so I teach pretty much almost all freshmen who come in. Um I do review portfolios. I also work with graduate students. So I kind of cover everything. Um we also have art
education. So I will mention that as well in my presentation if anybody is interested in that. that is a BA in fine arts with a certificate um with a teaching certificate um and clinical
addition uh to the program. Um I will also mention and James you have mentioned a few things that are coming from you know different sources. I will also mention and this is not just related to Keen National Portfolio Day.
Um for artists coming into an art program um you know this is for high school students. This is meant for high school students. We review Kane is one of the participants. There are many many
schools from around the nation who participate in these um and you have an opportunity to come in and show your portfolio um in to basically all these schools. So there are representatives there's some some send faculty, we send
faculty and some send um admissions counselors. So it is a a mixed you know bag of representatives from the schools but it's a great way to learn about the programs and also get some feedback on
your portfolio. So let me start with uh my screen no entire screen I will share my entire screen. One second. It is thinking. Is anything popping up?
I just made sure that your co-host privilege is open. I see now. while it popped up on the screen, but I it's connecting and spinning. So, give it a give it a moment. Um, maybe my entire screen has too many
tabs open and it's being judgmental. Uh, let me try that again because you did just make make me a co-host. So, I can try a window. Let me try a window. Maybe that. Yes. Now, did it
work? Can you see my screen? I can. Okay, great. Um, and you can see the BA fine art, correct? 100%. Perfect. Okay. So, um we offer at Keen University and I can really speak
more to our program. Um I would say this is fairly it varies but there is certain you're going to see certain kind of a continuity from um one program to another because New
Jersey for example does have a standard of degrees being 120 credits total. So um BA in fine art uh does not require portfolio. It is great for students who
are thinking of either doing a minor or a second major. Um it allows you uh to do a concentration such as traditional media, craft media or digital media. Um but and
also all the pictures up top are actually from our our students working. So uh this is this is material from our studios. Um, you do get 42 credits in your major, but you also get a lot of 27
to 28 credits in free electives and that is where it can be applied to a different major or it can be applied to a minor within the degree. Um, another benefit of entering a BA for
example and a lot of times BA will not require a portfolio is because you may not have had a chance to develop your portfolio. That doesn't mean everything is lost. That means you can have you can start
NBA and then transfer within the university to the BFA portfolio. web just had last week two students submit portfolios that they really made stronger in their classes um and they have just moved on to the B
BFA program instead of the BA the difference is a little bit well it's mostly within credits within the major it is 75 credits versus the 40ome credits in in
the major. Um, and we do require a portfolio for the BFA. The portfolio does does require some form of a concentration. Um, we kind of are looking for variety within the
portfolio, but also a little like let's say five drawings, five paintings, five sculptures. We're not looking to have one ceramic piece, one random installation piece, one drawing, one
something. We want kind of to see these small bodies of work starting to develop in your high school career. Um, we are we do offer various concentration within the BFA. It's a little bit broader than the BA. You can concentrate within
painting, drawing, illustration, print making. We have book arts. We have paper making, um furniture, woodworking, uh ceramics, metals, jewelry, digital media and photography. We do have a dark room.
So, that is one of the things that um also I don't know if Maplewood High School has um a dark room, but I know some high schools still do. So, that is one thing that, you know, high school students can
continue working on. um a more traditional um a more traditional kind of take on photography. Uh we do look for a portfolio of 15 to 20 pieces. Now one
thing I say to most of my students and I did put some examples um and this says 10 to 15. We really are looking for 15 to 20. Uh you can follow if you're curious, you can follow the
link within our um within our um um what is it called the slide room um application. So we would uh we would accept as little
as 10. We are really looking for 15 to 20. that is to show you show us the breadth of your work. So how how d how diverse is your work um but also multiple examples of each
concentration. We are really looking for observational drawing. Everything starts with drawing. If you have strong drawing skills, it shows us that we can teach
you almost anything. Um, we even accept uh sketches. Sketches should be the definition of a sketch can be fairly broad. We do look for more complete sketches versus, you know, the 5-second
sketches. But if you for example took a figure drawing and that drawing is maybe an hour, you could consider a sketch, but it is a good addition to the portfolio. Um, and we do look for works in color,
sculpture, uh, you know, you can, but that is kind of building on to the portfolio. So let's say you are a sculpture or you are an illustrator. We would still be looking for those observational drawings and observational
paintings. Um we do look we do have a GPA minimum that is uh true for the BFA not for the BA. So let's say you're entering with a slightly lower GPA that is okay. You can raise it and enter the BF BFA program later with a higher GPA.
That is general across I would say most universities. Um they are looking for at least a 3.0 GPA for the for these more demanding degrees. Um obviously official transcript uh two letters of
recommendation that is just something that you can see CV resume pay personal statement these are the things you can um expect let's say in addition to the common app. So you do submit your transcripts via
common app but there will be a separate statement uh that would be an addition for the BFA that is also true for art art education. And I mentioned art education. Art education does also require portfolio and it does require 3.
Uh 0 GPA minimum as well as a a separate personal statement. These are some examples of uh student work. You can expect kind of that kind of work from a
BFA student. These are actually assignments from the classroom. So, this gives you somewhat of an idea of some at least some of the things we're expecting in the BFA uh
portfolio. Um, these are also examples of student work. So, you can see photography examples also metals, ceramics, drawing. Um we do have for the BFA we have a final show that is part of
your uh tenure at at at Keen University. Um as a BA you can of request a show but it's not required. uh we do have mentors me faculty mentors who would kind of follow you and I feel like almost every
university does that that as well where there's a mentorship uh some kind of mentorship towards the end um and you do develop a much more serious artist portfolio that you could
then apply to MFA future jobs etc etc Um just some of the things that are pretty unique to Keen. Uh we do have a Skylands campus where we have drawing the painting days. We do New York City
trips. We're so close to New York. It's a crime not to go there. I am actually taking my class there tomorrow. So my intro to painting class is going um to a number of Chelsea galleries. Um we do have student shows. I do encourage you
if you're looking at a fine arts program, Kane is not far from you, you can stop by to see the annual student show which is up usually earlier in the spring, so around February. Um, we have
active student clubs. You are welcome to come to open house and kind of explore all this. Uh and we also do strongly strongly encourage internships and you can start them as soon as your freshman year. So
uh they also vary in in credit amounts. So a three credit internship does require more hours. Um and where one credit internship is a only like a two point, you know, it's it's kind of like you are involved and you're figuring
things out. I would say that's a good one for a college freshman who has a full load on their schedule. Um we do offer some scholarships. Um, and those are examples. That's
actually a scholarship recipient down there. Um, and one of the things that, you know, as a high school student, you may ask yourself, well, what are you going to do with an art degree? Well, actually, there's quite a lot. Um, you don't just
become an artist, you become a business, right? We have students who are working for major jewelry firms. Um we have uh like Noville Design Studio has several of our alums um in quite
um advanced positions. Um they we also have uh some students started their own businesses. Uh we have uh and actually the the Garden State Art Weekend is
coming up this weekend and we have alumni in the uh manufacturers village. We have alumni who have worked on murals there. Um we have uh there are several who are involved with open
studios and are active artists. So, um, but you can also teach. We do have, uh, the certification program with our art education. So, you do end up teaching in your last year full-time
with a stipend. Um, and basically, you get a job right out of right out of school. Uh we are NASA accredited and that means
we do have fairly small class sizes um a very basically we offer a very um wide variety of classes um and there are certain standard to be maintained for
that. So let me exit out of that. I think that is mostly the end of my presentation. Um but I also wanted to let me just share that one thing that I wanted to show everybody and it's the
national portfolio day. So for any student interested in submitting their portfolio, even if you're not necessarily going into an art just an art program, but you're considering
perhaps submitting your portfolio to be considered for scholarships or you are thinking of uh a design, you know, it doesn't have to be fine art. I'm I'm in the fine arts department, but it could be design, it
could be uh architecture. National Portfolio Day is the place to be, is the place to go. And there are a number and they're free, by the way. So, you just need to
register, bring your portfolio. There are virtual portfolio days um you can do you can schedule I believe you now you can they they've kind of advanced postcoid um and really built on the virtual
aspect of portfolio review but I even went as a student and it was incredibly valuable you can check their schedule ahead of time all over the nations So, let's say you are visiting
um here's one in on May 3rd coming up virtually. You you should join that one, right? Just to check it out. But, um they are a number of them, not in the summer.
I don't know if they scheduled them yet, but there's usually one in November. See, they're not scheduled for 2025 yet, but usually in October and November is when the big ones happen around this area.
There's usually one in Javitz. Kane actually hosted one this year because we just joined the National Portfolio Association. And uh if you are so curious, you can even
check out the graduate one uh just to see what is expected. Um you can just come and just browse. It really doesn't matter. So if you're a freshman, you can go ahead and just bring a couple pieces. You don't even really need to show your
portfolio. it is strongly encouraged but it's a great way to get information. So um that's the last thing I wanted to share with you. So let me just Thank you and I put the link for
National Portfolio Day in the chat. Great. And um Kane's been a great uh partner for arts people in New Jersey. We have a uh administrator art organization of New Jersey. Every year we have the emerging artist showcase and the von Ames
gallery. Yes, I'm actually almost every year one of the judges. So, very cool. Thank you so much. Um, we're going to switch over now to Miss Evans. Holly, I'm gonna share that slide
um I had created for you. Sure. I can talk first a little and then you can share it if you want. Let me know when. Okay, great. So, hi everyone. I don't have slides prepared. I have everything you're going to need on one link that will take you to Pace University's
senior showcase website. And from there, you'll be able to see examples of our graduating seniors in the commercial dance department. Their head shot, resumeumés, reels, websites, basically your electronic um portfolio, so to
speak. But in the dance world, we're we're focused more on reals. So, I want to start by just quickly saying I work at Pace University in the BFA commercial dance department. I'm a full-time faculty member there. I've been with Pace for about 10 years. Um, before
that, I dance professionally. And I want to make anyone who's listening for dance aware that there's really two sides in collegic dance now where we have traditional programs. They're based in ballet and modern dance. And we have a new commercial dance BFA that's
emerging. And that's what Pace is in New York City. We're a commercial dance department, meaning we are training our dancers more based in jazz, hiphop, and getting ready to work in the profession on Broadway and in the commercial side of the business. However, at Pace, we do
have concert dancers as well who end up in both places. So, just really quickly about PACE and then I want to talk about how you get your student um admitted into one of these programs. Uh we see about 600 applicants I think this last year and we have 34 spots. It's very
competitive to get into. Um our competitor programs are Giuliard, uh Purchase, NYU Tish, um Point Park somewhat merry Mount Manhattan. So, we're you're we're really looking at top-notch dancers who are trying to come
to college for dance. And a lot of times they choose Pace because we have a commercial dance major. Now, quickly, it doesn't matter what program you're going to. This is why I wanted to share with you tonight. You have to follow the directions. So, I also have a
18-year-old who's going off to college. He's in the district. He's graduating from Columbia High School. I have seen it now from both sides. I screen all of those 400 to 600 incoming freshmen at Pace and I see all their pre-screen
material and now I have my own student who just went through the process here in my house. So I cannot say how many times people just don't read the directions. So tonight before I hopped on here I I went and looked at some of our competitors websites for example
Giuliards and there are so many instructions on exactly how we want the pre-screen to be. Pace is very specific. Julia is very specific. I was just reading through their material. If you skip any of the steps in the process,
we're not going to look at you because we have hundreds to choose from. So, if you're going to a really competitive program, I would imagine it's the same for musical theater, for music, for art, like your student has to follow the instructions. Um, I will tell you this
year toward the end at the deadline, we were getting a lot of applicants coming in and my colleague and I who screen all of them for PACE, we're starting to just text each other and saying unless this person knocks our socks off, they're not they're not coming to an in-person
audition. We had already seen hundreds of people that we loved, right? So, I'd say the second thing I tell my own high schooler here in my house is submit early. If it says the deadline is at midnight on December 31st and you submit
at midnight on December 31st, I'm tired. I've already watched hundreds of videos, I don't really need to. I'm I'm just not going to be able to give your video the same attention I gave someone who submitted in October. That's just like the human side of this. I don't know if that's helpful for anyone, but that's a
little tip. And the same thing with auditioning at a competitive program like PACE. By the time we get to that last audition, inerson audition in February, we already have our freshman class. So, audition early as well. Like
at the final audition, we're only really looking at four people in the room because we already have all the people we need. So, that's another little tip. But, um I was going to just give a few little uh things about dance specifically. So, for dance, at the
competitive programs, you have to uh submit a pre-screen to get an in-person audition. So, for those pre-screens, that's the ones I'm saying you have to file the instructions. They're very specific with what we want to see. So, we we at PACE, we even give you the
combinations that we want you to do for ballet and for jazz. Your job is just to learn it and dance it back to us. then you have freedom to do some other videos of your own choosing. But for those specific ones, they're way more important because they are our exact
movement that we need to have for our program. And you can tell that the kids spend a lot of time on their own solo or their own favorite thing that they do and they kind of just quickly do ours. That's a mistake. They need to Julard says Julard has a demo video as well
saying this is what we want to see. They even tell you there here's a list of music to choose from. Dance to one of these. Follow that instruction. Um, another thing that I would like to say about the videos just quickly is the camera now is happening on Instagram
that when you're videoing your friend at the beach, you come into the video and you go up and then you go around the person and then you go back down. It's a whole Tik Tok um Instagram thing. So, this is the first year with our audition videos at Pace that we got a lot of
that. And that just isn't good for an audition video because I need to see your whole person dancing what I need you to dance. So, if your friend is doing these crazy camera angles, it doesn't help you. Also, I can't tell you how many students did not watch their
video back. So, they submitted something without actually watching it because if they would have watched it, they would have realized that the audio was off or there was a big mistake in the middle of it, you know, just and then we're saying, why wouldn't you re-record that?
You know, we can't take that person. They're not going to have it's showing us that they don't have the level of perfection that we need for them to be successful in our department if they're submitting a video that's really half done. Um, I had one boy this year that submitted a tap video and he had set the
camera on a tripod and he was on a Marley floor and every time he tapped and jumped, the camera jumped with him. Uh, I can't watch that video even though he was a very proficient tap dancer. We can't take him into our department because that's like a rookie mistake
that's going to he'll be eaten alive in our New York State dance scene, right? you have to have a certain amount of um uh I don't want to say integrity because I'm sure that student is a lovely person but just some smarts about how this business is going to work. Okay, so that
was another thing. Um we at Pace we allow you to submit a wild card video. A lot of the big schools do. Please do that. The wild card could be anything. But the kids who skip the wild card, I I need sometimes I just need to see more
of them and they have an opportunity to submit one more thing that we're not telling them what it has to be. It could be anything. They could talk to me on the video. And the kids who skipped that show me a level of um I don't want to say carelessness, but they just they
were done and they just thought it was good enough. So they just sent it in without the wild card. I'm not going to take them. So, that's another thing I'm telling my my own 18-year-old who says, "Ah, that scholarship application is good enough." I'm like, "No, it's not because the person reading it needs all
the information." Okay. So, what happens when I Oh, and also the space around them. I'm sure it's the same. I I think I heard James say that about the space that you're recording in. Same for dance. A lot is said about the space,
right? So, just making sure that it's a clean space or it's you what? Just looking at the video back. Okay. And then real quickly, I've watched this video. I love this student. They've checked all the boxes. Um, but I just need to see a little bit more because
I'm between two kids. And this is just to get in the room. This is the pre-screen. I will often go to Instagram or somewhere to see if I can find more about this kid. And that's just the world we live in now. So when I say
that, if your student is an advanced dancer and is looking one of the big departments, they really should have a real. And a real for us is a resume, so to speak, but it's of them dancing. Their real needs to show me all different varieties of what they can do
and how proficient they are. And that should be pinned at the top of your kids Instagram so I can find it. Um, often when we have that wild card, that's where people will put their reel. That's awesome. And so, quickly for a real, in case you don't know what that is, let me
just quickly say, um, I just made a little list here. A real would be about a minute to a minute and 30 seconds. Chances are, I'm only going to watch the first 10 to 20 seconds of it. So, hit me with the best thing first. I can't tell you how many videos I watch where
someone started on the ground and rolled around for a while. I don't have time for that. I'm watching 400 videos. Like, show me what you got real fast. Um, show a variety. Make sure it's clear. Make sure you do credit the choreographers always on your reel. If you can put a little thing here or you can say it at
some point. Also, if you're dancing in a big group of people, I don't know who you are. So, then every now and then, I'll get a student who will submit something and they'll put an arrow and they'll circle themselves. Great. I know who you are now and I know who to watch. And that shows me that that kid's
thinking ahead. They're saying, "Wait, whoever's watching this might not know which one I am in here. So, let me point myself out. I like that kid. That that works for me." Right? So, thinking of that, you can add in photos. Make sure you have your contact information. Make sure your videos are high quality. Make sure your music doesn't have cursing in
it. I know it's like a new world out there, but the people watching it, I don't want to hear a bunch of profanity in your music that you're submitting to us. And um that is basically it. And if you're lucky enough to get through the pre-screen and you get in the room, then
that's a whole another set of audition skills. And I guess I'll just quickly tell you for dance, you have to know the program you're going to. You have to know if it's ballet based, if it's modern based, if it's commercialbased. You have to know you dress appropriately
for what. It's like if you went in to audition for a Bob FSY musical, you wouldn't come in looking like you're auditioning for Oklahoma. You would you would dress differently, right? So, there's that. Follow the directions in the room. Listen to everyone around you. And um I don't know if that's at all
helpful, but I think these are things that I saw this year through our audition tour um that really just struck me as wow, I can't believe that they're not they're not listening right now or following directions. Like, you finally got your ticket. You're in the room.
You're in the big leagues. You're in New York City. You're competing for 34 spots in this top program. and you're just not listening when your name is called or your number's called or something like that. So again, I'm talking to parents, but I'm hoping that you would tell your students some of these tips. Um, two
more quick things. I like to say that Twilight Tharp always said that she that was a famous uh choreographer. She's still living absolute master of our time in choreography. and she would always say I could um tell who I'm going to hire by
the way they walk in the room and sit down their dance bag. So, I can't tell you how true that is there. We can tell who's confident from the moment they walk in, how they carry themselves. I have been in the bathroom and have heard kids complaining in the stall beside me.
They don't know I'm in there. You are auditioning from the moment you arrive on the block. In fact, you're auditioning on the subway ride there because you don't know who in the subway car is coming to the audition. It might be the person behind the table. So, I just think these are little tips that are fun. Um, if anyone has any questions
about PACE, please let me know. And everything you need to see. If you want to see examples of head shot, resumes, reals, websites. I have 34 of our graduating seniors that have been working um for the last four years to put together their senior showcase. So
you can see all of that on our PACE website that I know maybe you could put in the chat for the participants um the attendees and thank you for letting me talk to you about dance for a few minutes. Thank you so much Holly really
appreciate that. Yeah we hear we hear this um resonating be very conscientious of what is specific to each university. That's a very important point for everyone. And Professor Liboff, you're here to close
our show tonight. Um, thank you so much, Howard. I'm going to turn it over to you. Yeah, no pressure. Um, so what I'll discuss is, um, what we ask for at Fairley Dickinson University, but I'm going to try to make it general. I think
it's something you probably will find uh, will work for any film program. When we look for applicants, it's difficult in film because we don't expect someone applying for college to be an accomplished
filmmaker yet. Um, we're happy to look at films, of course, short films, but I'd say in terms of visual reels, the key word is short. We usually advise our students to send no more than five minutes of edited
material or to submit 5 to 10 pages max of a screenplay or just an essay on why they're motivated to enter the film world. It's probably much more important to me to get a sense of your curiosity
about the world than it is to see that you've made a masterpiece on film. Again, I don't expect that. uh some of the best students we've had um made really beautiful films as seniors and I remember one in particular who made a
very nice film when he was a senior and he had handed me a DVD back in the day you know DVDs um to watch a film he'd made in high school and after he'd been with us for some time I went home and watched it and I told him the next time
I see saw him I had no idea what was happening in that video Um, so, so you don't have to already be accomplished when you're a high school junior or senior. A couple of the films that I've seen that really made an impression on
me, one was called A Walk in the Snow by a young man. And what it was was a point of view as he took a walk in the snow for like three or four minutes. There wasn't a single edit in it. It was
mesmerizing. I felt like I was in a zen movie. There was something moody about it that just worked beautifully. And I'd say a common mistake in visual reels for filmmakers is to think that I want to watch a music video. Music video is not
interesting to me at all. I'd much rather see a dramatic scene. And here, if you don't mind, I'll show you a minute of a film that's going to premiere in a couple of nights. Um, and it's almost finished, but we'll just watch a minute just to show you that the
kind of material I'd rather see than um, you know, than a music video. And uh, James, I think I can share here, but uh, I just select screen. Is that right? Because I'm going to do a web page. Oh, uh, let's
see. Yeah. Okay, there we go. Is that working? Everyone see that? That a yes. That's Howard. Okay. So, we're just going to watch this um opening scene. I hope the sound plays as Oh, here we go.
So, just to give you a sense, am I back? Not that not that I'm the preferred image, but um just to give you a sense, I'd much rather dive into a drama for a minute than be um than looking at a
minute of quick cuts over music. I just think that's not very challenging. The other thing I'd say about both Walk in the Snow and Anything You Want that you just saw is they're both by u in this case young men who don't fit any predetermined profile. I always tell
students, you don't have to have a certain personality to be a filmmaker. You can be quiet, both young men in this case who are very quiet. Um you you just don't have to live up to any predetermined idea of what a filmmaker is. The main thing I want to know is,
are you curious? Tell me what films you've seen, what kinds of films you like. Give me a specific example of a film that meant something to you, that moved you. Why did you decide you want to work in film? What is it that moved you? You know, I've met people who say
when they come in, they want to work and study film, but over a period of time, you learn they don't like anything. That makes no sense to me. If you want to be a writer or I know in Holly's case, a dancer, probably you've witnessed something or you've been doing
something all your life, sometimes you can't even explain it, but it means something to you. It moves you. That's what I want to know. What is it that you care about that you love? What changed your life? um more important than just seeing you
know this week's top uh blockbuster go to film festivals go to revivals you know again dive into it's not so much that you be need to become a historian it's that I think there should be a level of curiosity that has led you
to understand how film has changed and moved over the years or even how similar things have been handled over the years. Um, so again, it's that sense of curiosity that I want to see. If you decide to submit a script, it's
absolutely vital that the script be in proper format. So, I want to show you uh one of those. So, let's see. I don't want to see that. I want to see how do I find my PDF? Oh, I see. Okay. Nope.
Window. Oh, you know, it's not letting me do that. I can send this out um as a reference, but um my point is that I get a lot of screenplays that are not screenplays, right? They don't look
like a screenplay. They don't act like a screenplay. And like Holly said, there are certain videos that she won't watch. I won't read it. And no one in the profession would read it because it just doesn't show um a level of understanding of what that format requires. Um it's
not difficult, but it takes a little practice. And I could send the uh the how-to to James after this and he can share it with you. Um let me just go back to one thing, which is really my notes.
Um, so I really said um most things that I that I wanted to get to. Keep your real short. Don't send me music videos. Make sure the format is correct. And above all, you know, make sure that your own sense of curiosity and why you think
filmm is for you uh on a personal level uh is apparent. Thank you, Howard. Thank you, Holly. Thank you. Anna had to jump off. She's not feeling well. Thank you so much for your time. Uh, and if anyone has any questions, you can send them to me in an
email and I'll share that with the professors. Otherwise, u again, thank you for your time, your expertise. I really appreciate this is incredibly informative for me and I'm sure for the community and we'll roll this uh video again, have it available to everyone um
for prosperity. Thanks so much. Have a great evening everyone. I appreciate your time.