New to Technical Theater Major- help please?

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
1

<p>Hi all,
I’m a transfer student who just recently changed my major from mechanical engineering to technical direction. My high school didn’t have any theater opportunities though I did participate in robotics for two years. My ultimate career goal is to build/manage major motion picture sets (think Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Pacific Rim, ect ect.). Though right now I have a few questions and I was wondering if I could get some feedback/advice.

  1. I’m entering my third year at community college and I was wondering, should I just finish up the three associate degrees I’ve been working on and transfer our or should I stay another year so that I can build up my resume and portfolio (which are very very small)?
  2. Since schools I’m looking at require a portfolio, and the whole idea of a portfolio is completely foreign to me. I was wondering what exactly does one put in a portfolio and what does it look like? I have props I’ve been making on my own, some assignments from my set design class as well as some volunteer work at a community theater…should I include those?
  3. Now my grades are not stellar since my advance math classes are bringing down my GPA, so should I focus more on building up my portfolio and resume?
  4. For my portfolio some of the pictures of my projects are not of the best quality, though they’re the only pictures I have of that project. Should I include the not so good pictures in my portfolio? Also, I’m earning my associates in Welding Technology, should I put some of my welding projects in my portfolio? And last but not least, is it ok to create a website that acts as your portfolio, or should I create a physical portfolio as well? </p>

<p>So those are all of my questions for now, and hopefully some of you will be able to answer some of them. Thanks! :slight_smile: </p>

2

<p>I’m currently working on a portfolio myself (for stage management and props), so I can really only answer 2, but:</p>

<p>You should check at the requirements for the portfolio. Generally, though, you just want photos of things you built, plans/blueprints of things, photos from the production, etc. You can include anything that’s relevant to theatre/film, really.</p>

3

<p>Search the forum on the subject of portfolios. This question gets asked a lot. Basically the schools will tell you what they want. Some will be interested in everything you’ve listed, including the welding. </p>

<p>I don’t know what opportunities you will have to build your resume and portfolio if you stay at your community college. Obviously, it would help to have tech directed at least one show. But even without that, you can still create portfolio pieces that show what you would do if you had a chance. A tech direction portfolio could include production concepts, drafting for construction, and even budgets and schedules for shows that never happened. </p>

<p>Showing how you constructed your props would also be useful. And perhaps you could put your not-so-good photos next to drawings that show how you made the projects, or how the projects worked. A website is great but I would guess you still need a physical portfolio. After all, you’re applying to programs that are all about physical objects. But I’m a dinosaur in this respect. I could imagine a fantastic online portfolio that allows the interviewer to zoom in on any aspect of the construct that he or she would find interesting. But, again, check the school websites.</p>

<p>In general, grades do not seem to matter so much to BFA programs, so it’s probably a good idea to focus on theater. But of course really bad grades never look good. </p>