One of the most important aspects of beginning a career in the industry is creating a film 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 film portfolio?
Below, we’ve laid out everything you need to know about creating a simple film portfolio website.
Film Portfolio Structure
First, before looking at where to host your film portfolio, let’s look at what you need in it. Try to keep it simple. A lot of the people you share your 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 so if it’s cluttered or confusing to navigate, you’ve already lost.
Therefore, you need to break it down into 4 simple sections.
1. 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 film portfolio.. your work. This section should include your main showreel. It should also feature a selection of your best work and projects you’ve worked on.
2. Showreel
Above all else, it’s your showreel that really matters. Indeed, when you share your film portfolio with a client or someone looking to hire you, this is ultimately what they’re looking for. Therefore, it should sum up exactly what you do and really sell your skills as a filmmaker.
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.
As a rule of thumb, keep it short – no longer than two minutes. Remember, these busy people don’t have much time!
3. Work & Projects
Alongside your showreel, share a few links or embedded videos from your favorite projects on your film 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.
4. Contact
Lastly, you should have a contact section on your film 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 utilize a contact form section here as well.
Film Portfolio Examples
Not sure how your film portfolio is going to look? Well, here are a few examples from top industry professionals to get you inspired.
| Director | Cinematographer | Production Designer | Editor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adrian De La Pena | Rafa G. Arroyo | Felix Coles | Lluís Murúa |
Hosting Your Film Portfolio
So, now that you know what to include in your film portfolio and you’ve seen some examples, it’s time to look at where you should host it. Good news – sharing your 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 film 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 film 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 portfolio, you can also include some ‘about me’ content and make your contact details nice and clear. It’s a really easy, no-hassle approach to building your online film portfolio.
Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn (Free)
While we don’t recommend using these social media platforms as the sole platform for hosting your film portfolio, you should be utilizing them. Also, they’re free!
Indeed, if you were just a photographer, you could get away with using Instagram as your sole portfolio.
However, for a film 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.
Squarespace & Wix (Paid)
Moving on, some paid options. there are 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 most 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 film portfolio you want.
Before you get started, they ask you to pick a template. There is 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.
WordPress (Paid)
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 film portfolio from scratch and do just about anything, provided your skill level is up to the challenge!
Format (Paid)
Finally, we end with Format. What we like about Format is that they’re a website-building platform that’s tailored specifically to creatives. While Squarespace and Wix are for different industries, Format is all about filmmakers. It feels like they know exactly what you want and need.
For example, when you get started you can choose from premade templates broken down into subcategories such as video, photography, and art. Also, the interface is very intuitive which makes creating a film portfolio really easy.
Film Portfolio – Wrapping Up
In short, when building your film portfolio, it all comes down to one key thing. Simplicity.
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 portfolio has never been more accessible or easier!
