Creating My Portfolio Website

I wanted to take this time to talk a little bit about the freelancing side of doing my own Personal College Curriculum. Being able to freelance was one of the reasons I was excited to start creating my PCC. Adding this, as one of my classes allowed me to experience dealing with clients, doing projects and building one of the most important tools you’ll need as a freelance videographer, your portfolio or your resume. This is an important collection of your projects that you will be showing your prospective clients.

I started doing client work during 2019, but it’s only recently that I was able to collect and really edit videos that I am proud to present to my clients. I was on the fence about just creating a powerpoint presentation of my client works but decided that creating a website would be easier for me since the services that I wanted to put out to my clients were video editing and graphic design. Although if you are a freelance videographer looking to put together your own portfolio and are offering one type of service, then doing these steps that I’m about to share with you will still be useful.

Step number one, build your empty portfolio using stock footage. If you are just starting out and have no client projects then starting out with stock footage is another way to show what you can do. There are websites that have free stock footage and ones that you can subscribe to. Just make sure the footage is all in HD. From there you can create as many projects as you want, but it is ideal to put 9 of your best works in your portfolio or website. It’s also important to use good thumbnails that best show the best scenes of your video and are eye catching.

Step number two, categories your projects by types. This portion depends on the type of services you do. If you are a video editor and you want to show off your skills from editing YouTube videos, shorts, Instagram, to MV, then make sure these projects are segregated so it’s easy for your prospective clients to roam through your website and they can tell the type of videos you can create. Since I also offer graphic design I sectioned my website to 2 parts to showcase both services, video and graphics and in them, pages of the different projects with their own categories like Commercials, Music Videos, posters, social media marketing collaterals etc.

Step number three, present your projects with a clear description. Since you won’t be able to present your client projects face-to-face with clients that go through your powerpoint or website portfolios, it’s important that the descriptions on them are clear and show how you worked on them. I wanted to show the clients my problem solving skills so in presenting the work, I wrote what the client wanted me to do for them and how I took on the challenge and solved it. It’s also important to credit the owner of the footage as well as the music you use.

Step number four, lastly is your contact information. This info needs to be right there and easy to find. Adding your instagram account can give your client an idea of who you are and is also a place where you can showcase your work. The process of collecting and creating the projects that would go into your portfolio will give you a sense of achievement. When I finished creating mine, I was certainly proud and even made me want to start on more projects!