Hello Students,
ROP stresses a strong foundation in the basics of career development skills. We will introduce that foundation today by learning how to write a resume. This is just the first part to your career skills portfolio. In this class you will develop:
Creating Your Resume:
Having a solid resume is the cornerstone to your job future. A well written and well designed resume is what sets you apart from other job applicants. A perfectly written job application, a quality resume and a list of positive references is the job seekers trifecta. In this class we will teach you these skills and more. Below is a list of writing tips, read over it before finalizing your resume.
It should describe:
Make you resume well written, without typo's, mistakes or incorrect or misleading information. You resume's appearance will reflect your ability to organize. Use bold text and clean formatting to highlight the different sections of your resume. Make it easy to search out the information that your potential employer wants to see...
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A resume is meant to convey an impression of your skills and experience, it's appearance also says a lot about your organizational skills and attention to detail. Note the difference in layout styles above.
You should use a document layout program, such as Indesign, so you can control the appearance of your resume. Additionally you should save your resume in a format that can travel over the internet or email easily, such as a PDF file.
Download the ROP Portfolio Handbook and begin working on your resume. The handbook has an example of a resume and a good list of information to include in yours. This is your model to follow when creating your own resume.
If you have advanced skills, use this tutorial to create a grid-based layout for your resume: Grid Based Resume Layout Tutorial
Resume Writing Tips:
Have an objective:
Know the purpose of your resume and edit it for different job scenarios. Having a focused job objective listed on your resume will help you with attaining an interview and getting hired.
Back up your special skills with job experience:
List your skills but make sure your listed job experience, training or education reflects those skills. Are you really good at making websites? Let them know how and where you learned that skill.
Research and use the right keywords:
Every industry has its own language, research job offerings and pay attention to the keywords that are used. If you put your resume online with a job placement service they will often use certain keywords to search their database for potential hires.
Be descriptive with job experience:
A job title will communicate your role, but not the details of your work experience. List the duties, tasks, activities, skills and achievements that were part of your job.
Format your text:
Use bold text to start each section. Use bullets for lists. Make the document easy to quickly scan and read. Clarity of format is crucial, you have ten seconds before the employer will move on to another applicant.
List most recent job experience first:
This also goes for education, list the most recent first. If your still in High School you can say "future class of 2012", or "Currently attending HS".
List most important skills first:
When writing out your skill list make the most important skills the first ones on the list. If you are applying for a web design job, list your web skills first. Change and edit this for different industries/jobs.
Leave out the obvious:
It is not necessary to add "available for interview" or "references available upon request". References are standard and expected, and of course you are available for an interview. Thats the whole point!
Avoid negativity:
Don't trash talk past employers or state that you didn't like a past job. Simply state that you were looking for future opportunities, or that the job wasn't a good fit for you or a good fit for your schedule.
Go with what you got:
If you haven't had work experience yet, just list any summer jobs, volunteer experience etc. If you have hobbies that are relevant to the job you can list those. If you don't have a diploma or degree then just list your estimated date for completion.
Proofread your resume:
Have your neighbor or classmate read your resume. Sometimes the spellchecker doesn't catch typos. The more eyeballs that see your resume before it gets in the hands of the employer the better.
Have fun!
- Mr.W
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Thursday, January 17, 2013
How To Write a Good Great Resume Using InDesign
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Final Project: Portfolio Development
Hello Students,
Tips For Winning The Portfolio Competition:
Having a polished and professional looking portfolio is key to your success in finding work after High School and moving on to developing a career. Download the ROP Portfolio Handbook to use as a guide for creating your own portfolio, a requirement in all ROP classes.
Portfolio's are due by the end of the semester and must be ready for presentation, evaluation and critique. You will complete a digital version as a PDF file for evaluation. Class winner will be able to print and prepare their portfolio for inclusion in the Portfolio Showcase competition
Remember that the best portfolio in class will be sent to the portfolio design competition that ROP has at the end of each school year, your portfolio will compete against other graphic design classes across the county, and there are prizes!
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A judge evaluates print portfolio's from past entrants...
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Portfolio Development Assignment:
- Your portfolio must be created in Indesign and the final file must be a multi-page PDF document
- Use the Pages palette to create multiple pages for your portfolio with Indesign
- Your portfolio cover, table of contents and all materials should look clean and consistent. Use consistent design style across all aspects of your portfolio, this includes color, typography, layout and style
Your Portfolio must contain in this order: See portfolio handbook for more details...
- Cover page with your name, class title, year. Spend some time on this, it should show good design skill and be reflective of your personality
- Table of contents
- Letter of Introduction
- Resume
- Handwritten Job Application
- List of References
- Letter of Recommendation - cannot be from your ROP teacher or a family member
- 3 or more work samples with written explanation about the work, why is it important to your career choice? What did the project entail, what were the challenges and difficulties? Give us details.
How Your Portfolio Is Evaluated:
- Contains required content and format
- Well organized
- Free of grammer problems
- ROP related work samples
- Shows creativity
- Nice appearance
- Shows skill development
- Appropriate for use in job search
- Professional appearance
- Nice presentation
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A print portfolio can take many forms, it can be professionally bound, stitched by hand or bound with a spiral ring... how will you create your portfolio, what will make it stand out above the rest?
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Tips For Winning The Portfolio Competition:
In the last few years the portfolio competition has gotten fierce, especially for the graphic design category. Other schools have printing facilities that we don't, so you must use your creativity, ingenuity and eye for design to stand above the rest. Consider purchasing a large format portfolio binder and printing work samples at 11X17", or consider making a hand-bound book format to showcase your work. The limits are only contained by your creativity!
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Use this as a rough guide to laying out your own portfolio...
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Ok, have fun!
- Mr.W
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Mid-Year Course Survey
Hello Students,
ROP uses a course survey mid-year and at the end of the year to gather information and receive feedback about our courses and class material. This information is used to provide evidence of the course work, student achievement and relevancy of our curriculum in ROP classes. This information ensures funding and helps to ensure that ROP classes continue to be offered to future High School students.
Please click this link and complete the survey: Mid-Year Course Survey for ROP
Thank you for your participation!
- Mr.W
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Special Guest Speaker: Steve Voizin from SOV Interactive
Yesterday our class was honored to host Steve Voizin as a special guest speaker. Steve is owner and operator of SOV Interactive, a media development company located in the San Lorenzo Valley. Steve is a visual designer and creative director for desktop, web, video and mobile projects. Steve provides his clients with elegant interactive multimedia marketing solutions, cutting edge collateral and has a passion for graphic design, typography and color theory. Steve shared his time with our class to discuss his work and career path and showed portfolio examples and behind the scenes images from his client projects.
About SOV Interactive:
SOV Interactive LLC, is a multimedia company that provides the marketing and advertising services to promote the particular lifestyle related to the product. The company was founded in 1999 and SOV Interactive is a cutting edge, independent digital media studio, specializing in motion graphics, video production, flash design, web engineering, and multimedia presentation services. SOV Interactive currently operates as an LLC in the State of CA. Steve Voisin, the chief creative office and business owner, has over fifteen years of professional multimedia experience working with major consumer and entertainment companies producing digital marketing collateral for events, trades shows, advertising, sales demos, and product launches. His goal is to offer “Highest Quality at half the price”. All of SOV's staffing are consultants and our company operates on a lateral and global level, where everyone has an equal part and voice on our creative projects.
Our class extends a big thank you to Steve Voizin for sharing his time... Thank You Steve!
- Mr.W
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Special Guest Speakers Jono Schaferkotter and Vanessa Tomasello
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| Vanessa Tomasello and Jono Schaferkotter |
This week our video production class was honored to host two special guest speakers, Filmmaker and multi-media artist Jono Schaferkotter and producer and owner of The Design Jungle, Vanessa Tomasello. Jono was kind enough to share his time and give two guest lectures about the storytelling process in film and guided the class through the creation of a beatsheet for our next class project. Jono returned with Vanessa to give another lecture about screenplay development and stayed to help the student teams work on their film concepts and screenplays. The class extends a big thanks to Jono and Vanessa for sharing their time, knowledge and expertise with us.
About the Guest Speakers:
Jono Schaferkotter is an artist whose work easily jumps mediums and genres. His portfolio includes large-scale paintings, mixed-media sculpture, interactive art installation, multi-media choreography and much more. In the last decade, he's created three feature length films, an internationally award winning short, music videos, international documentaries and numerous award-winning commercials. Recently, he has expanded his horizons, tackling both the world of fiction with his new novel and developing his skills as a singer/songwriter. His work has taken him around the world. While he primarily works out of San Francisco (and more recently, New York), in the last few years, he's traveled and lead teams filming in Kenya's Rift Valley Region, Tokyo and the Heilongjiang Province of China.
Vanessa Tomasello is a producer, editor and owner of The Design Jungle, a local video production house that specializes in creation of stunning corporate media for video game trailers, corporate branding videos, product and tech demos and web campaigns.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
"The BIG Project" Phase 1: Loglines and BeatSheets
Hello Students,
This next project will be the most in-depth attempt to date for our class. You will be working in teams to create an original narrative short film or documentary. Your project will utilize story development and screenplay development techniques to create a video that is engaging, well produced and follows a 3 act story line.
Beat 5—Into the Wide Unknown
This is a big moment for your protagonist, and you want to make sure that your audience knows it. He or she is leaving the old world behind, and stepping into a dangerous and unknown world to embark on the adventure. Because these two worlds are so distinct, the act of actually stepping into the new one must be unmistakable. A great example of this is in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy steps out of her house and into the Munchkin City. (Below, describe the moment where your protagonist steps into the new world.)
Beat 6—Subplot
The subplot, also known as the “B story,” is oftentimes a love story involving the protagonist, but it can also be based around supporting characters or even a brand new gang of characters. The subplot will make your script more dynamic or exciting; the more subplots you have, the more fun your film will be to watch. (Using the space below, brainstorm some ideas for various subplots and how to introduce them into your script. You may want to go back to your “Supporting Character Worksheets,” and see what each of them wants more that anything in the world.)
Beat 7—Having Fun and Getting to Know Your Characters
This is the portion of a film where most of the trailer clips come from. As you might guess, this part of the script is more upbeat; it is less about “your characters moving towards an end goal” and more about “your characters having fun and getting to know each other.” This does not mean that it is less important. This part of your script helps your audience get to know what your characters and your story are all about. For example, this is the part of Wizard of Oz where Dorothy sings and dances with her newly-found friends along the Yellow Brick Road. (Write out some rising action that might fit into this section of your script in the space below.)
Beat 8—The 50% Mark
The fun and games are over, and it is time to get back to the story. The midpoint of your script can be tricky. It is said that, at this point in your script, your protagonist either reaches a point where he or she thinks that things can’t get any better or any worse. The trick is that neither is true. The movie is only halfway over, and things are going to get worse before they are going to get better. This is the moment when Dorothy looks across the poppy field and sees the Emerald City. Though it looks like her journey is almost over, it has only just begun! (Below, describe the midpoint of your script.)
Beat 9—The Antagonist Returns!
Your protagonist has already had some run-ins with the antagonist, and has been successful so far in keeping him or her out of the way. At the 50% Mark, your protagonist may believe that he or she has seen the last of the “bad guy or gal.” Unbeknownst to your protagonist, the antagonist has been getting ready to come back with a vengeance. (Describe how your antagonist rears his or her ugly head again in your script in the space below.)
Beat 10—The “All is Lost” Moment
Just like the 50% Mark, the “All is Lost” Moment is a false defeat. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. The antagonist has come back with a bigger army and a brilliant game plan right when your protagonist thought all his or her problems were gone for good (or when he or she thought that things could not get any worse). After such a huge defeat, it is no wonder your protagonist is ready to throw in the towel and give up on his or her dreams. (Describe the “All is Lost” Moment in your script below.)
Beat 11—The “Ah Ha!” Moment
This is the moment when your protagonist pulls him or herself off the floor and back into action. Oftentimes, with the help of the supporting characters, he or she will come up with a brilliant plan (Ah ha!) to finally defeat the antagonist—this time for real. (Describe the “Ah ha!” moment of your script below.)
Beat 12—The Final Push
These final pages of your script typically contain your climax, falling action, and your resolution. This is where your protagonist learns to overcome his or her fears in order to defeat the antagonist, consequently changing—and sometimes even saving—the world! (Describe all the events that make up your climax, falling action, and your resolution below.)
There is a lot of information here. Also, this is a “formula.” It is something that many screenplay writers use to write their scripts, but it not a requirement. You can write an “off-beat” film by rearranging all the beats or by making some longer and others shorter.
This next project will be the most in-depth attempt to date for our class. You will be working in teams to create an original narrative short film or documentary. Your project will utilize story development and screenplay development techniques to create a video that is engaging, well produced and follows a 3 act story line.
The BIG Project
Project Specifications:
Format: The goal of this project is to create a compelling narrative, either fictional or factual (documentary) short video. Work in teams of 3.
Grading: Your project should reflect the skills and knowledge you have developed throughout the semester. Camera work must be smooth. Audio must be appropriate and well mixed. Edits must be used properly. Direction should show use of production techniques learned in our scavenger hunt video, use different angles, closeups, midrange shots, wide shots etc.
Note: Teams are encouraged to recruit help for their projects, stagehands, actors etc... Teams may help each other. Make sure any volunteers are committed. All project beatsheets/storyboards/scripts/shot lists must be approved by me before production can begin.
Each team member is responsible for editing their own final version of the video, no group efforts with editing. Special exemptions made for difficult special effects sequences, must have prior approval.
Phase 1, Brainstorm and Create a BeatSheet:
Deliverable: Create a proposal for your teams film by brainstorming ideas for your short film and create a Logline and Beatsheet to develop your 3 act story arc. Follow the worksheet below to make your idea fit into the Beatsheet format.
Script Title (Your script or movie title)
____________________________________________________________
Logline (A catchy, one-sentence summary of your script)
____________________________________________________________
Logline (A catchy, one-sentence summary of your script)
Beat 1—Opening Scene
The opening scene is an opportunity for you to give the audience the starting point of the protagonist’s journey. It can be an image of your protagonist, an important setting, a revealing conversation between characters, an object that is essential to the plot, etc. This should give your audience a “snapshot” of what the rest of your film might look like, or what your film is all about. The opening image in the Wizard of Oz depicts Dorothy and Toto running down a dirt road with storm clouds approaching in the background. Once you watch the whole film, you realize how important that first scene really is. And remember, just like the first page of a novel needs to draw the reader in, the opening image of a script needs to draw the audience in. (Describe your opening image in the space below.)
Beat 2—Setting Up the Story
All the important characters (your protagonist, antagonist, and supporting characters) in your main plot will be introduced during the first ten pages, or at least hinted at. You want your audience to know all your characters’ strange tics and behaviors—basically, what makes your characters unique. You will also want to set up your conflict (or what your protagonist wants more than anything and how his or her fears and antagonist are in the way of him or her getting it.) By page ten, your audience needs to fall in love with your characters enough to care about their conflict. (Below, brainstorm character behaviors and events that you might need to write into your script in order to set up your conflict.)
Beat 3—Inciting Incident
In the set-up, you have told us all about the world of your script. The inciting incident (also known as the catalyst) will turn that world upside down. Protagonists get fired, find out they have a long lost brother, get news that they have three days to live, meet the girl or boy of their dreams, get blown somewhere over the rainbow by a powerful tornado, etc. This is what forces your protagonist out of a daily routine and into the adventure of a lifetime. (Describe your inciting incident in the space below.)
Beat 4—The Big Decision
Page 25 is the point of no return. From page 10 until then, your protagonist should be debating whether to embark on his or her journey or just continue living his or her uneventful, everyday life. Unless you want to write a really boring script, your protagonist will choose the more dangerous and exciting path towards his or her goal. But just like it might be hard if you had to decide to leave everything behind, it will be a hard decision for your protagonist. (Below, write two lists from your protagonist’s point of view. One stating why he or she should stay, and one stating why he or she should embark on the adventure.)
Reasons why I should stay:
Reasons why I should embark on the adventure:
The opening scene is an opportunity for you to give the audience the starting point of the protagonist’s journey. It can be an image of your protagonist, an important setting, a revealing conversation between characters, an object that is essential to the plot, etc. This should give your audience a “snapshot” of what the rest of your film might look like, or what your film is all about. The opening image in the Wizard of Oz depicts Dorothy and Toto running down a dirt road with storm clouds approaching in the background. Once you watch the whole film, you realize how important that first scene really is. And remember, just like the first page of a novel needs to draw the reader in, the opening image of a script needs to draw the audience in. (Describe your opening image in the space below.)
Beat 2—Setting Up the Story
All the important characters (your protagonist, antagonist, and supporting characters) in your main plot will be introduced during the first ten pages, or at least hinted at. You want your audience to know all your characters’ strange tics and behaviors—basically, what makes your characters unique. You will also want to set up your conflict (or what your protagonist wants more than anything and how his or her fears and antagonist are in the way of him or her getting it.) By page ten, your audience needs to fall in love with your characters enough to care about their conflict. (Below, brainstorm character behaviors and events that you might need to write into your script in order to set up your conflict.)
Beat 3—Inciting Incident
In the set-up, you have told us all about the world of your script. The inciting incident (also known as the catalyst) will turn that world upside down. Protagonists get fired, find out they have a long lost brother, get news that they have three days to live, meet the girl or boy of their dreams, get blown somewhere over the rainbow by a powerful tornado, etc. This is what forces your protagonist out of a daily routine and into the adventure of a lifetime. (Describe your inciting incident in the space below.)
Beat 4—The Big Decision
Page 25 is the point of no return. From page 10 until then, your protagonist should be debating whether to embark on his or her journey or just continue living his or her uneventful, everyday life. Unless you want to write a really boring script, your protagonist will choose the more dangerous and exciting path towards his or her goal. But just like it might be hard if you had to decide to leave everything behind, it will be a hard decision for your protagonist. (Below, write two lists from your protagonist’s point of view. One stating why he or she should stay, and one stating why he or she should embark on the adventure.)
Reasons why I should stay:
Reasons why I should embark on the adventure:
Beat 5—Into the Wide Unknown
This is a big moment for your protagonist, and you want to make sure that your audience knows it. He or she is leaving the old world behind, and stepping into a dangerous and unknown world to embark on the adventure. Because these two worlds are so distinct, the act of actually stepping into the new one must be unmistakable. A great example of this is in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy steps out of her house and into the Munchkin City. (Below, describe the moment where your protagonist steps into the new world.)
Beat 6—Subplot
The subplot, also known as the “B story,” is oftentimes a love story involving the protagonist, but it can also be based around supporting characters or even a brand new gang of characters. The subplot will make your script more dynamic or exciting; the more subplots you have, the more fun your film will be to watch. (Using the space below, brainstorm some ideas for various subplots and how to introduce them into your script. You may want to go back to your “Supporting Character Worksheets,” and see what each of them wants more that anything in the world.)
Beat 7—Having Fun and Getting to Know Your Characters
This is the portion of a film where most of the trailer clips come from. As you might guess, this part of the script is more upbeat; it is less about “your characters moving towards an end goal” and more about “your characters having fun and getting to know each other.” This does not mean that it is less important. This part of your script helps your audience get to know what your characters and your story are all about. For example, this is the part of Wizard of Oz where Dorothy sings and dances with her newly-found friends along the Yellow Brick Road. (Write out some rising action that might fit into this section of your script in the space below.)
Beat 8—The 50% Mark
The fun and games are over, and it is time to get back to the story. The midpoint of your script can be tricky. It is said that, at this point in your script, your protagonist either reaches a point where he or she thinks that things can’t get any better or any worse. The trick is that neither is true. The movie is only halfway over, and things are going to get worse before they are going to get better. This is the moment when Dorothy looks across the poppy field and sees the Emerald City. Though it looks like her journey is almost over, it has only just begun! (Below, describe the midpoint of your script.)
Beat 9—The Antagonist Returns!
Your protagonist has already had some run-ins with the antagonist, and has been successful so far in keeping him or her out of the way. At the 50% Mark, your protagonist may believe that he or she has seen the last of the “bad guy or gal.” Unbeknownst to your protagonist, the antagonist has been getting ready to come back with a vengeance. (Describe how your antagonist rears his or her ugly head again in your script in the space below.)
Beat 10—The “All is Lost” Moment
Just like the 50% Mark, the “All is Lost” Moment is a false defeat. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. The antagonist has come back with a bigger army and a brilliant game plan right when your protagonist thought all his or her problems were gone for good (or when he or she thought that things could not get any worse). After such a huge defeat, it is no wonder your protagonist is ready to throw in the towel and give up on his or her dreams. (Describe the “All is Lost” Moment in your script below.)
Beat 11—The “Ah Ha!” Moment
This is the moment when your protagonist pulls him or herself off the floor and back into action. Oftentimes, with the help of the supporting characters, he or she will come up with a brilliant plan (Ah ha!) to finally defeat the antagonist—this time for real. (Describe the “Ah ha!” moment of your script below.)
Beat 12—The Final Push
These final pages of your script typically contain your climax, falling action, and your resolution. This is where your protagonist learns to overcome his or her fears in order to defeat the antagonist, consequently changing—and sometimes even saving—the world! (Describe all the events that make up your climax, falling action, and your resolution below.)
There is a lot of information here. Also, this is a “formula.” It is something that many screenplay writers use to write their scripts, but it not a requirement. You can write an “off-beat” film by rearranging all the beats or by making some longer and others shorter.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
After Effects Tutorials: Advanced
Hello Students,
Your next assignment is to choose an advanced motion graphics tutorial that can be completed with Adobe After Effects. Choose one from the list below to work through, or research websites like aetuts.com or videocopilot.com, make sure the tutorial you choose only requires After Effects and don't require any 3rd party plugins or programs. You will need to shoot your own sample footage to use with these tutorials, put some time into it and make it look great!
Difficult!!! ---> Adobe After Effects Tutorial: Track Your Golf Swing
Adobe After Effects Tutorial: Light Rays
Adobe After Effects Tutorial: Fairly Realistic Fire with CC Particle Generator
Adobe After Effects Tutorial: Floating Hologram Effect
Adobe After Effects Tutorial: Droste Effect - Endless Zoom
Have fun! - Mr.W
Your next assignment is to choose an advanced motion graphics tutorial that can be completed with Adobe After Effects. Choose one from the list below to work through, or research websites like aetuts.com or videocopilot.com, make sure the tutorial you choose only requires After Effects and don't require any 3rd party plugins or programs. You will need to shoot your own sample footage to use with these tutorials, put some time into it and make it look great!
Difficult!!! ---> Adobe After Effects Tutorial: Track Your Golf Swing
Adobe After Effects Tutorial: Light Rays
Adobe After Effects Tutorial: Fairly Realistic Fire with CC Particle Generator
Adobe After Effects Tutorial: Floating Hologram Effect
Adobe After Effects Tutorial: Droste Effect - Endless Zoom
Have fun! - Mr.W
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