Hi there, mates.

This is my first post here, but I've been following up the discussions for several months now (including several on portfolios)

However, my question is: how one is supposed to make a portfolio?

Do you guys just put your films on the DVD and send it, or do you make an introduction, make a title screen talking about the project they're about to see, etc?

I have three short videos I am putting in my application.

A short-film - 3 minutes
A short documentary - 6 minutes
A screenplay reading session in a Canadian film festival - 2 minutes

I want to know if all I have to do is stitch them up and put it on a DVD, you know? So it plays right away after inserting it in the DVD Player.

Any help would be appreciated

Cheers!

Come on guys, no one?

You should have the dvd go to a menu when inserted. Give it a nice portfolio title and just list your videos like you did in your post. Maybe even mail it in with a resume-like document that describes or says something about each video. Ya know? so they know what it is before they watch it.

Hmmm. I don't know about the menu. For festivals you're not supposed to have menus. For scholarship reels here at USC you're not supposed to have menus.

Absolutely do not introduce ANYTHING unless it's an excerpt of a larger piece...if your films need disclaimers, then something's wrong.

Thanks for your insight.

Since Jaymess was more specific when talking about scholarships (that's what the portfolio is for)I think I'll go for the no-menu and no-introduction way. I haven't seen any college saying they want menus, but now I've read that some want no menu at all. So I'll play safe here.

I was also considering taking out the screenplay reading session video. What do you think? The short-film and documentary are of my authorship, but the last video is just a recording of 3 actors reading my screenplay for an audience at a festival. I don't know wheter that would be good or bad? Any opinions?

And thanks for the help so far!