Film-Portfolio Reflection

The following writing prompts are excerpts from USCs School of Cinematic Arts, NYU's Tisch School of Film and Television, and Chapman's Dodge College Freshman Applications. Select one of the prompts below and write a 300 word response to the question or reflective essay. This is simply practice, not to be used as a final draft for college admissions. Rather, it is intended to give you some time to think about such questions and ponder possible creative answers. Even if you have no desire to attend a film school, the writing prompts are creative and reflective and will allow you to think about yourself, your learning and accomplishments. They may also be springboards you may use to shape a personal artist final statement for portfolio.

USC:

Cinematic Arts Personal Statement (please upload in PDF format under the "Forms" section)

The personal statement will be read by the Film & Television Production Admission Committee as a measure of creativity, self-awareness and vision. We are looking for a sense of you as a unique individual and how your distinctive experiences, characteristics, background, values and/or views of the world have shaped who you are and what you want to say as a creative filmmaker. We want to know about the kind of stories you want to tell. Bear in mind that enthusiasm for watching films, descriptions of your favorite films and the involvement in the filmmaking process is common in most candidates. As a result, we encourage that you focus on your individuality. Note that there is no standard format or correct answer. (1,000 words or less)

- See more at: http://cinema.usc.edu/production/firstyearprocedures.cfm#sthash.wChSOmT1.dpuf

Chapman:

Prompt: Describe something that you are passionate about. How could you use the art of storytelling to share or pursue your passion? How has this passion influenced who you are and what your goals are in life? 

Formatting: One (1) page maximum in length. 12pt. Times New Roman Font. Single-spaced okay. One inch margins.

NYU-Tisch
Part 2.  Leadership and Collaboration Anecdote - Leadership and collaboration are important ingredients for creating successful media projects.  In three hundred words or less (no more than one page, double-spaced), describe an experience in which you exercised leadership and/or took part in a productive collaboration. We're interested in both your insights into these issues and your ability to tell an engaging short story. (Save as a pdf and upload to tischfilmandtv.slideroom.com.)


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Following your 300 word writing response, using your 4 samples of collected portfolio work, reflect on the following questions and add to the document to be uploaded-upload link below.

You will also upload the document to this link.

Questions:

1. Name and describe your 4 selected works. Why did you chose the 4 samples of work for your portfolio?
2. Do you consider these 4 samples the best media arts work of your high school career?
3. In looking at this body of work, how have you grown as a media arts student? (include skills, experience, understanding of how projects are developed, audience definition). Is there a single project that best shows your growth as a student? Select and describe.
4. Using 2 pieces of work from the 4, describe how learning from one piece informed the development of another piece of work that followed?
5. What would others say (viewers who do not know you) are the greatest strengths you possess, by looking at your portfolio of work? Why? (this should be at least a paragraph)
6. What would others say (again, viewers who do not know you), are possible gaps in your skills, knowledge as related to the media arts. Identify at least 1 possible gap, or lack of skill.
7. What can you do to close that gap, enhance a skill? (at least a paragraph)
8. Select one work that was mostly individual. Discuss this project as sole creator. Is there ever a  benefit in working independently on projects?
9. Select one work and describe the process of conceptualization through implementation. How did it start? How did you complete it? What were the steps and challenges in between?
10. Based on your own experience, what can you do if a project starts to 'go south'? Do you think projects that 'go south' can be saved? How do you save a project?
11. Describe a project you have not yet created that would take your current portfolio to a higher level of personal expression and satisfaction.
12. What is the single most important thing you have learned from examining your work of the past 2 years?