How To Create A Film Portfolio

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One of the most important aspects of beginning a career in the industry is creating a filmmaker portfolio.

This helps show potential clients and the people who are going to hire you exactly what you can do and why you're the right pick for the job.

Being such a visual industry, it's crucial that you have one. No portfolio, no job.

So, how do you stand out from the crowd? What makes a good videographer portfolio?

Below, we've laid out everything you need to know about creating a simple filmmaker portfolio website.

Keep It Simple

First, before looking at where to host your filmmaker portfolio, let's look at what you need in it. Try to keep it simple. A lot of the people you share your videographer portfolio with are very busy. They may receive 10 portfolios just like yours every day. They don't have much time to look through your work and if it's cluttered or confusing to navigate, you've already lost.

Therefore, you need to break it down into three simple sections.

About me

Firstly, make an 'about me' section. Share a professional photo of you working in the field or a headshot. Then write a little about who you are and what you do. Focus on where you're based, what your experience is and what you enjoy working on most.

Next, the most important section in any filmmaker portfolio – your work. This section should comprise of your main showreel. It should also feature a selection of your best work and projects you've worked on.

Showreel

Above all else, it's your showreel that really matters. Indeed, when you share your filmmaker portfolio with a client or someone looking to hire you, this is ultimately what they're looking for. Therefore, this one piece should sum up exactly what you do and really sell your skills as a filmmaker.

As a rule of thumb, keep it short – no longer than two minutes. Remember, these busy people don't have much time!

Essentially, this piece should show off the work that you're really proud of. It's the shots from the projects that you really love. In particular, it should reflect the type of work you're really interested in and enjoy – the type of work you want to be focused on going forward.

Additionally, if you can, make it unique and catchy. Don't be afraid to show some personality. Make it a little different because that's what will help you stand out. There are plenty of great (and not so great) examples of showreels on platforms such as Vimeo and YouTube. These will help give you a great idea of what you want yours to look like.

Work & Projects

Alongside your showreel, share a few links or embedded videos from your favourite projects on your videographer portfolio. These should be your best pieces – the ones that you're really proud of. Again, they should reflect the type of work you want to work on going forward.

Contact

Lastly, you should have a contact section on your filmmaker portfolio. Make it as easy and simple as possible for people to get in touch with you.

A very simple page giving your email address along with a phone number (if you wish) will suffice. Also, depending on what platform you're using, you can potentially utilise a contact form section here as well.

Which Platform Should I Use?

So, now that you know what to include in your filmmaker portfolio, it's time to look at where you should host it.

Good news – sharing your videographer portfolio online has never been easier! Or cheaper, for that matter.

YouTube & Vimeo (Free)

Firstly, you may not even need a full website for your filmmaker portfolio. YouTube and Vimeo are both great options for hosting all of your work. And they're free!

With one link, you can instantly share all of your projects and showreels with potential clients and producers. Indeed, even if you're still building a website for your videographer portfolio, chances are you'll be uploading your work to one of these sites and embedding the videos there.

Moreover, on top of hosting your filmmaker portfolio, you can also include some 'about me' content. Furthermore, make your contact details nice and clear. It's a really easy, no-hassle approach to building your online videographer portfolio.

Top tips:

On YouTube, you can pick a video to be your 'channel trailer'. This is the first video that will sit front and center on your channel. So, if you're using this as a portfolio, it makes sense to use this space to place your showreel.

Additionally, at the end of all my videos, I make sure to leave a 'business card' that shows my contact details and social links.

Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn (Free)

While we don't recommend using these social media platforms as the sole platform for hosting your filmmaker portfolio, you should be utilising them. Likewise, they're free!

Indeed, if you were just a photographer, you could get away with using Instagram as your sole portfolio.

However, for a videographer portfolio, these platforms are more about being able to share parts of your work. Show a bit of personality and keep people up to date with what you're doing. They're still very important because sometimes, the first point of contact for someone who's going to hire you may be your Instagram page or LinkedIn.

First impressions matter, so keep these pages up to date, looking neat and tidy. You just never know how it's going to help you.

Top tips:

We really like the 'featured' section on LinkedIn profiles. It sits right below your 'about me' and 'contact' sections. Consequently, if someone is viewing your profile, they can find links to your website, your YouTube channel and all your showreels very quickly. It's perfect.

Squarespace, WordPress & Wix (Paid)

Moving on, some paid options. there's a few great website-building tools and platforms out there. In fact, the chances are that if you've watched a YouTube video in the past two years, you will have seen a pre-roll ad for either Squarespace or Wix.

Obviously, back in the early days of the internet, building a website wasn't the easiest or accessible thing to do. Nowadays though? It's a piece of cake.

What we like about Squarespace is just how easy and simple everything is. You don't have to worry about any back-door coding or the complicated stuff. They take care of all of that and enable you to get really creative and design the site you want.

Filmmaker Portfolio

Before you get started, they ask you to pick a template. There are a tonne of brilliant options and they really help, acting as the foundations and the starting point for your build. Likewise with Wix – it's very much the same.

Alternatively, there's WordPress. If there was one downside to using Squarespace or Wix, it's exactly what we just described. They don't really allow you to tinker with the back-door code. So, although you have a certain degree of creative control, you are playing within boundaries.

Differing from the others, WordPress is seen as the step up. It allows you full creative control. You can build a whole website from scratch and do just about anything, providing your skill level is up to the challenge!

Top tips:

When picking a template for Squarespace, try to go for one which allows a video to be embedded as the banner on the front page. For a filmmaker portfolio, it's nice to have those clips playing on the homepage rather than a static image. As a result, straight away, as soon as the visitor is on the site, they're seeing your work.

★ Our Favourite ★

Format (Paid)

(We now get 15% Off Annual Subscriptions!)

Recently, we also started using Format. It's fantastic!

What we like about Format is that they're a website-building platform that's tailored specifically to creatives.

Whereas tools like Squarespace and Wix are for all types – whether it's dentistry, accounting, photography or copywriting – Format is all about the filmmaker and videographer portfolio. It feels like they know exactly what you want and need.

Quick & Easy

For example, when you get started you'll be picking a template. Each one of these is brilliant in its own right. We really appreciate how they've broken them down into subcategories such as photography, video and art. Immediately, because we're looking to build a filmmaker portfolio, we know that the templates best suited to us are under the video section.

Personally, my favourite option is the Motion template which you can check out here.

Looks Great

It's a unique, professional design with a dynamic full-width view on the images. It puts your work front and centre, making it look gorgeous. At the top, there's a space to fill in your 'about me' details and then it's as simple as clicking one of the images to go ahead and watch the full video. Most importantly, It's enabling visitors to easily navigate around your videographer portfolio – the number one goal and aim here.

Creating the actual site is really easy – their tools interface is very intuitive and there are literally thousands of options so that you can really tailor each and every detail. Furthermore, we were impressed by how fast the imagery loads, despite uploading full-sized photos with no compression. That's always a win. 👍

Great Support

Within a few moments of being on the site, we already had a message from one of the Format staff letting me know that they're here to help in any way. A direct support line 24/7 is always appreciated!

Additionally, they've got all the other stuff to get you started such as the ability to create your own domain, a personalised email run by G suite and even the potential to add an online store. It's all here, ready to go.

Better priced, easier to use and more focused on filmmakers than other competitors, we think that Format may be a winner for those looking to build their online videographer portfolio. 😉

Top tips:

Right now, you can head to their website and start a free 14-day trial. This allows you to play around and build your filmmaker portfolio, ensuring that it's the right fit for you and you like what you're getting before you actually start paying for the service. Well worth it!

Wrapping up – Filmmaker Portfolio

So, that's all our best advice on how to create a filmmaker portfolio website!

In conclusion, when building your videographer portfolio, it all comes down to one key thing. Simplicity.

In other words, the simpler and easier it is to navigate and view your best work quickly and efficiently, the better. With such a wealth of options now at our disposal, building a brilliant portfolio has never been more accessible or easier!

Author Bio

Filmmaking Tips

How To Create A Film Portfolio

Source: https://www.freelancevideocollective.com/how-to-create-a-filmmaker-portfolio-website/

Posted by: muellerthateadthe.blogspot.com

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