What to film when you have no client yet, how many videos are enough, and how to present them to get hired.
What a portfolio actually is
It is not a gallery, it is proof.
The client wants to know three things in under two minutes: are your picture and sound decent, do you look like their customers, and can you follow an instruction.
Three consequences. Six videos are enough, ten start to hurt. Each video must differ from the others, otherwise it takes a slot for nothing. And one mediocre video in the set lowers the judgement on all the rest.
What to film when you have no client yet
Four avenues, with what you already have at home.
The product you use every day, filmed as if a brand had sent it to you.
The demonstration of a precise action: opening, assembling, cleaning, storing.
The piece to camera about a recent purchase, with the point that made you hesitate.
And the answer to a real objection, taken from the comments of a brand you like.
One rule: never say you worked for a brand that ordered nothing from you. Present these videos as exercises, which is perfectly accepted, and lie about nothing.
The minimum technical rules
Five points, and they are eliminating.
Natural light from the side, never uncontrolled backlight.
Sound recorded close to the mouth, with no echo of an empty room.
Vertical frame, subject centred, top and bottom edges left free.
Stable focus and the phone put down, never handheld while speaking.
And no editing app watermark: a marked file is an unsellable file.
How to present it
Three elements, and nothing more.
A shared folder that opens without sign-up, on a phone, in under three seconds.
Under each video, one factual line: the type of product, the format, the length, the language.
And at the top, three lines about you: your city, what you film, your usual delivery time.
The mistakes that cost clients
Five, and they are spotted immediately.
An edit full of effects, showing the software instead of the product.
Loud music covering the voice.
Videos all shot in the same corner of the same room.
A link requiring a sign-up to open.
And a total absence of practical information: with no city, no lead time, no format, the client moves to the next profile.
What goes first, and why
| Position | What you place there | What it proves |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The sharpest shot | Technical quality |
| 2 | A complete demonstration | The ability to explain |
| 3 | Speaking to camera | Ease on screen |
What is removed without regret
A sample more than two years old, a video with poor sound, and any job whose result cannot be shown because it was never released.
What is checked every month
That every link opens without an account, that playback starts in under three seconds, and that the first sample is still the one you want shown first.
When to stop adding and start selling
A simple threshold, and it avoids months of useless polishing.
As soon as you have six decent videos covering three different formats, stop producing for yourself and start writing to brands.
After that the rule changes: every week, replace the weakest video in the folder with the best of the week. The portfolio then improves while you are prospecting, instead of delaying the moment you sell.
