Create a self portrait video (about 60 seconds). The video should show your personality and creativity.

  1. by Tuesday September 7th, 6pm, the first text also called pitch (about half page).
  2. by Sunday September 12th, 1pm, the updated pitch or screenplay.
  3. by Sunday September 19th, 1pm, your YouTube video link.
  4. Read all the screenplays, watch the uploaded videos on OpenLab and comment on at least 2 projects at the bottom of the post.

The pitch: written concept

Write one paragraph pitch to present what you intend to do in your video project. You can add a quick storyboard if you want. If you need help with the pitch and storyboard, watch my tutorial video: How-to write a pitch.

Pitching: sharing of storyboards to other artists to portray characters, important story points, and emotions in order to get feedback to improve a story.

Here is a list of topics you can talk about:

  • The location, where do you plan to film it.
  • The style, how you want to show yourself.
  • The text, what are you going to say.
  • Find an example of one or several videos you like and that are inspiring.
  • Make a sketch of the main frame or a storyboard if you like.

To help you, watch the video “The Art of Storytelling” on the homepage, in categories: Homework, video project.

Email your text directly in the email text, if you have a storyboard, attach a picture of it in the email.

The video 

For you video you can use, for example the questionnaire game we did. You can film yourself answering a few questions of your choices. Like Billy Eilish in the commercial, find a fun location, wear something that defines who you are, your favorite colors or hat for example. If you don’t feel comfortable in front of a camera, this is a good exercise for you, because you will probably have to do it at one point in your professional career. But you can find creative accessories to hide yourself a little, you can wear a hat or a wig, or sunglasses.

  • Create a video with your device. Make several short films to edit together. Use can use any software you like, TikTok is a great and fun tool.
  • I like to edit my videos with Adobe Premiere Pro. Here is the link to a tutorial on Editing your Video Project given by Michael Cannetti, one of our amazing COMD Computer Lab Technicians and teaching an Intro to Film & Video class. You also can find many tutorials in the Adobe platform or on youTube.
  • Post it on YouTube and place it into a page in your ePortfolio in OpenLab.

Here is a list of what your video should be and have:

  1. Time: 60 seconds or shorter.
  2. Subject: the video is about you, you are presenting yourself to me and the world.
  3. Opening title with your name and end it with credits, your name as director and the music credit.
  4. Have music incorporated into it at one point. Can be at the beginning or at the end.

A Few Things To Follow

  • DEADLINES: Please respect them. Delayed handed work will affect the time I spend on it and if necessary, the time that we can work together to make sure it is really good. Therefor late homework will affect your grade.
  • HANDING CONVENTION: Homework will ultimately be uploaded to your OpenLab portfolio. The work in progress can be emailed to me.
  • NAMING CONVENTION: title all your files with your first and last name. I need to see to whom the file belongs to without opening it. Write something like your first and last name + project name.
    Example: valeriatrucchia-searchpaper
  • BACKUPS: Be sure to backup all your work on a drive or a cloud such as Dropbox or Google Drive.
  • GRADE COMMUNICATION: Grades will be communicated on the OpenLab. You can find them on the sidebar on the right. You should check them regularly. This semester, per the college’s academic calendar, midterm grades must be posted by October 29th. Don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions about them.
  • FEEDBACK: every time I receive your work at all stages, I will give you a personal feedback by email. At the more final stage of your visual work I will create slideshows with all the stages and do a group comment for everyone to watch. We all learn from each other.