Portfolios are a great visual aid for professionals in multiple fields looking for work. They’re much more common in areas somewhat related to art, like photography, fashion, graphic design, or even architecture; all extremely visual crafts. Just as cinema certainly is, too.
A portfolio, nowadays, doesn’t have to be“static” at all. Most portfolios are actually digital, which opens up the door for multiple possibilities, with a moving portfolio for filmmakers, filled with some of their best audiovisual work being one of them.
Doesn't even matter if you’re a consolidated figure in the business and have worked on big projects before, having a filmmaker portfolio just looks good for you. And besides, a decent-looking portfolio is far from being the hardest thing to accomplish.Filling it up with quality material, that’s the big task if you’re asking me.
But we’ll stick to portfolio-making today.So if you work with film and still don't have one of these, get ready, ‘cause we’re about to talk about why it’s so important and what are the options when it comes to building one.
A filmmaker portfolio is essentially a website for your work. It’s also the thing that can positively differentiate you from the person that’s trying to get that job you want. Filmmaking is all about showcasing – obviously, but you know what I mean. You simply gotta extend. that thought when it comes to actually looking for work.
People want to see what you’re able to do. Filmmaking is inherently a visual medium, but specifically in the digital age we live in, proving your capacity with previous work is absolutely necessary. A well-done portfolio can give you a confidence boost to meetings and be a very clear example of your abilities asa filmmaker.
This type of online practice can be used not only by directors, but also cinematographers, production designers, animators, etc. Basically any film-related role that you think can be properly showcased through a website format.
An online filmmaking portfolio will serve as an “online home” to your achievements, managing to present work for you without your presence. All it takes it’s sending the link to a producer that can be hundreds of miles away, and you can get your foot in the door of a great professional opportunity.
An online portfolio can help you grow in the industry much easier than it was for filmmakers decades before you, as people from all over the world will be able to see your work and analyze if it’s a good fit for their project. All of that in a matter of minutes.
When it comes to building your portfolio, there’s more than one way to go. We’ll do a roundup of some of the best options available for this type of website building, emphasizing qualities and pointing out the room for improvement.
Pay close attention and let us help you pick the best one for you.
You've probably heard of Squarespace by now, either on YouTube or podcasts, and if you didn’t skip their ads, you probably know that they are indeed a very accomplished website builder, especially for filmmakers.
Squarespace has more than 140 templates, and the majority of them feel like they were made just to fit a filmmaker’s collection of work. You can easily stand out images that can serve as thumbnails for your films and videos, creating an intuitive space that has your best work displayed beautifully.
All of the templates available are also optimized for mobile phones or tablets, meaning that regardless of the medium people will be viewing your online portfolio, they’ll always be having the full experience.
Practicality is also a plus, as the website builder is quite simple to use, even if you never handled a tool like this before. And this goes for both the web version and mobile version of Squarespace.
The website builder is also known for having great customer support services, with users being able to get an almost instant response via live chat. If you're a mere filmmaker, utterly noob to website construction, then you know that’ll be a good differential.
PROS
● Great templates
● Mobile compatibility
● Customer support
● Intuitive
CONS
● Website edits could be simpler
What Wix undeniably has in its favor is usability.The website builder may not have as many template options as Squarespace, but the overall usability manages to be even better than its competitor.
The drag-and-drop function of the website editor allows you to change every single element of your filmmaker portfolio with extreme ease. This allows you to go deeper into the “adaptation” process of the templates, making your work stand out in the most desirable format to you.
Wix also has a great animation effect tool that can highlight your content in a very cool way. You can highlight text within your portfolio to make the experience more dynamic for viewers of your work. Don’t overdo it though, as your website could get a bit too tacky.
Wix also offers a smart assistant(propelled by AI technology) that will help you build the best website possible. The assistant can connect to your other social media platforms to find a style that best suits your taste. Pretty cool, huh?
PROS
● Great quality and quantity of templates (+800)
● Excellent usability
● Good customer support
● AI assistant
CONS
● Loading speed on mobile
Webflow is the way to go if you want lots of customization options for your portfolio. This website builder is often recommended for designers, as the customization possibilities are so vast and, frankly, a bit overwhelming.
So, in the hands of a person with experience in design, the tool will definitely give you full creative control over the final design of your portfolio, but in the hands of someone with no experience, it could be a bit much. But if you really want those extra customization options, then you should try it, it’s never too late to learn new stuff.
Once you get the gist of it, you’ll be able to control design, responsiveness, styling, fonts, and website’s width, anyway:full control! You can even embed your own HTML code into your Webflow website, which widens the realm of visual and functional options even further.
Webflow is also known for its great. customer support and for going even beyond for clients, offering support materials that include articles, videos, and a support forum, all of which, trust us, can be very helpful for your web-building experience.
Oh, and there goes a bit of trivia for you:Red Carpet Rookies was actually built using Webflow.
PROS
● Full control of design options
● Great quality and quantity of templates (+1000)
● Great customer support
● Support material for users
CONS
● Not beginner-friendly
The answer for this could depend on many factors, and we’ll talk about this in a bit, but we must say that the website builder that probably attends to most filmmakers' necessities in the easiest of ways is Squarespace.
I mean, if you’re working in film animation, you probably have some notion on design and then Webflow could be the best thing for you. If you want practicality above anything else and want to make quick edits to your website whenever you need it, then Wix would probably be your thing.
But if we’re talking about filmmakers who have no strong notion of design building — let’s be honest, that means most of them –, and just really want the practicality of a website builder mixed with great template options, then Squarespace is simply the superior option amongst all.
Add some great customer support and both aweb and a mobile version that look extremely nice into the mix, and you have just the tool you needed to properly showcase your work to potential clients.
Having an online portfolio as a filmmaker will broaden your options of work and allow you to evolve your abilities and important work relations far more easily. And as you just saw, there are tools made especially to help you with that, and that can also get the most of the hard work done for you.
After all, a portfolio is supposed to be a collection of work that you really put some effort into doing, and some people may not want to work even more to get them all together.
If you’re a beginner in the filmmaking world and wanna get to know a bit more about the tools and practices of this amazing area, you should check some of RCR's previous articles on Editing Software, UK Film Schools, or Screenwriting Degrees.