<p>Question for all of you wonderful people who have been through this audition process. I remember much discussion about headshots last year and about cutting them down to 8x10 size and that you can put the resume on back if you so desire. Now we are thinking about getting that college audition headshot, and I have 2 major questions about the standard across the country - </p>
<p>I know most of them are black and white, but do the colleges want a glossy picture, or do most people do laser prints of a glossy picture?</p>
<p>Secondly, in our local theatre auditions, we've always had a black and white 8x10 headshot that was laser printed on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet that also had my son's name typed in bold at the bottom. Do the colleges look for the name to be on the picture in some way, or not? I've seen some recently where the name was across the bottom but on the picture rather than in the white area below the picture. We haven't had a headshot done in over 2 years, and I think all this new digital technology allows for more options.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any help you can give us!</p>
<p>I have not done the college stuff yet with D. but did get headshots of my Daughter done.
Basically there is no right and wrong from what we saw. Folks do it differently. Though black and white was once the norm, now a lot more folks use color.
We did color and we also had her name, email and phone number running along the bottom BUT not in the white space, we put it on top of her photo where her shirt was on the picture.
We went to a professional photographer and she sent us all the pics and we actually did the font work etc ourselves..but my older D. is outstanding at graphics
We also had business cards and address labels made and we did it so the photo took up the card and info was on top of that instead of a little square photo.
So really its how you like it.</p>
<p>We also had a composite made with her in casual clothes, a few other little head shots and a cute evening gown..all on one 8 x10..
The photographer took tons of photos and deciding on what to include was tough.</p>
<p>My feeling is that the headshot for a college audition has a little more leeway than what is normally used or would be needed for theatrical auditions. However, if you are gonna pay for a headshot for college auditions, you ought to have it be more standard or what would be needed outside of the college audition so you can use it more and/or later on. </p>
<p>Standard for theater is in black and white. I think it is personal choice where the name is printed but I prefer what is kinda the norm where the name is printed on the white border. I also like the black line that separates the photo from the border. You can pick a font type for the name, which goes at the bottom of the headshot. The size should be 8 x 10 which is standard. You don't want your headshot to stick out from the others on a pile and/or in a file. I would not call the headshots glossy. </p>
<p>My suggestion is to NOT just use any photographer, even if the photographer is great. I suggest using a photographer who is familiar with theatrical headshots because it is not quite the same as portrait photography. Years ago we went to a local photographer for a headshot and while she is good, they really were not the kind of photos that were right for a headshot. So, for many years, we have had the headshots done in NYC by a photographer who does headshots all the time. Yes, it cost more, I admit. It is hard to pick from all the shots but we let our daughter pick one smiling and one more serious and got copies of each. We had the copies made at Reproductions in NYC which you can arrange with online forms and use mail/phone. They print headshots all the time. We do not live near NYC either. What we did this year, because of the expense, is that we ALSO called this our daughter's senior portrait for family and yearbook. The headshot photographer, for an additional fee, made a digital copy of the black and white headshot into color and put it on a disk. For the colored one, we had copies made locally at home as we did not need as many and we wanted various sizes for that one. So we have two black and white headshots with 100 copies of each but then a selection of sizes of one of these in color for family and so forth. Senior portraits where we live are NOT done through school but through expensive private photographers anyway and I recall that package costing a small fortune for my other daughter last year when she was a senior so I figure the headshots and copies for theater auditions could be the same and satisfy senior portraits. But we got them done at a headshot photographer who we have used several times in NYC. </p>
<p>What you had made, Angstridden, sounds lovely but is not the norm for theatrical auditions. It is more useful for what your daughter is doing....the pop CD stuff and also the composite is more for kids who do print, modeling, and so forth. But for theater auditions, there are particular types of headshots in black and white that photographer who deals with theater headshots would know about more than a typical professional photographer. </p>
<p>While glueing or stapling a resume to the back of a headshot is common for regular auditions (we have done it many times), we did not do that for college auditions. Rather, the theatrical resume for college auditions was a bit more extensive (for example, it included related awards which normally we don't have on it for theater auditions) and thus it was on two pages but handed in with the headshot and I think many kids did this. </p>
<p>When you staple the resume to the back of the photo , is there a typical way to staple it..ie one staple at top or all four sides?</p>
<p>This is good information Susan. Before we had our headshots done I actually asked several music producers what they looked for. I was told that in the past black and white was the norm but folks were getting away from that. We also looked online to see what others were doing.
As you say daughter did this for her demo packet (2 songs down - 1 to go.) and I am sure you know what is right for theater. </p>
<p>The photographer we went to was incredible..took tons and tons of shots..in all kinds of clothing and poses inside and outside. It was a wonderful experience for daughter. After we made a core selection, togehter we planned the composite and selected two head shots. Our favorite she did in black and white and also in color. She gave us all the photos on a disc also so we could use the other shots for other things.
We can use the black and white version or the color or another shot depending on what we want. The photographer spent hours with us and the photos really capture her personality and different looks.</p>
<p>As far as the name etc goes we liked the contemporary look across the photo itself but we can always change it up..if we want to. Very flexible having the disc! We tried it a number of ways.
I also purchased a photo printer so I can make the photos we want.</p>
<p>Ericsmom, Susan is right. The photos needed for college auditions are not always the typical headshots which you may be thinking about. If your son has his list of colleges finalized, or even if he doesn't, you should check their websites and see what type of photo they recommend. Many do not require actual headshots, often just a regular photo will do. I remember when D2 auditioned at Tisch 2 1/2 years ago, all they requested was a photo. D2 had actual headshots so she took one of those with her but many kids that day did not have them, just photos. Susan makes another good point about the resume on the back. While that is typical for many regular auditions, it isn't typical for college auditions, in our experience. The reason being is that the artistic resume for college is going to be more extensive than a regular one would be. Colleges want to see exactly what these kids have had in the way of training and performance experience so you'd include more than you would in a typical resume for an audition. Lastly, if you are having headshots done for theatre, it's recommended that they be in black and white, which is the standard for theatre work. Color headshots may be more common for film, tv, music work but the theatre professionals still want black and white.</p>
<p>If you are interested in reading some of the earlier discussions about headshots, go to the archive and look at the posts from Aug. 12 and 13 on Part 23. There are also headshot discussions on Part 34, pages 5 and 6, and on Part 35, pages 7 and 8. Parts 34 and 35 are part of the current CC forum.</p>
<p>Angstridden,
You should staple the resume on all four corners, that way the headshot and resume are unlikely to become separated.</p>
<p>"I remember much discussion about headshots last year and about cutting them down to 8x10 size and that you can put the resume on back if you so desire"</p>
<p>More more piece of advice......if you decide to staple the resume, instead of printing it on the back of the headshot, make sure the resume is the same 8x10 as the headshot, so that the sides do not overlap. Since paper comes in 8 1/2 by 11, you'll have to trim off the edges.</p>
<p>Personally, I just put the headshots in the computer and print the resume on the back. But, I don't do it in quantity, since the resume changes constantly.</p>
<p>For professional auditons, the norm seems to be a one page resume with the headshot stapled (4 corners) to it. Look at the strawhat web site as they are very specific about info needed for a number of NYC and other area theatres resume/headshots.</p>
<p>For colleges, it is not as important, and I know kids who got into top programs without a real headshot, just a good photo. The resumes can be more extensive because it is good to have even non theatre things on it, particularly for interview purposes. However, if you are going to go through the expense and trouble of lots of auditioning, this might be a good time to find out exactly what a professional headshot with resume entails.</p>
<p>Jamimom - Interesting, I've never heard of all 4 corners. In NY it's always been two at the top, so they can lift the resume and write notes on the back of the photo.</p>
<p>I should probably know this by now, but please advise!</p>
<p>We have lovely headshots (at quite an expense) taken in June 04. My D now wants to get a significant haircut, which I think will look lovely, but does that mean these June 04 headshots will need to be thrown out? Are they too old anyway for auditions she may do in September 05?</p>
<p>My advice is to use the headshots from June '04 in Sept. '05. We usually keep headshots for about two years because they are quite expensive, as you know. And I am even talking when there were greater changes in "growth" growing up, compared to your 17/18 year old changing in a year or so. I realize you are talking a haircut change but that is not that unusual in a two year span of time and I don't think it is worth changing/paying for new headshots. I wouldn't. </p>
<p>My D got headshots in Sept. '04 and I highly doubt we would get new ones for at least 24 months now. Also, at the time, she had cut her hair last summer the shortest I had ever seen her do and thus by the time college auditions rolled around, it was quite a bit longer but the face is the same ;-). </p>
<p>There is no right or wrong here and I am merely saying if it were me, I would keep the headshot despite a change in hair length/cut. I truly think a headshot should last ya two years. I guess if I were rich, maybe THEN I would say, why not ;-). But they cost so much and we are not using them up in droves at the moment either. </p>
<p>bump....it is that time again for new Headshots...can anyone recommend a photographer that they were happy with in NYC...you can PM if you feel more comfortable doing so.</p>
<p>The business has moved to color headshots now. I got mine done in color last semester. Personally I like color more cause I think it shows off your personality more.</p>
<p>My son got his headshot in black and white originally, then had the photographer prep another proof in color. He has both and selects whichever seems more appropriate for his needs.</p>
<p>My daughter also had some made up in color and black and white but I don't think she ever handed out any of the black and white ones. She said most of the ones she saw were in color and liked her color one so she used that. Her picture is also done horizontal instead of the traditional vertical which was perfectly acceptable in all of her auditions.</p>