What to film before you have clients, how many pieces are enough, and how to present them to get hired.
Every piece needs its context
Three lines under each video, and they change how it is read.
What was asked: the product, the thing to prove, the format.
What was delivered: the number of videos, the variants, the extra formats.
And the setting: shot as an exercise, or for a client, with their agreement to publish.
Without those three lines, a video is judged on its aesthetics. With them, it is judged on the ability to answer a request, which is exactly what people buy.
How to arrange it
Four rules, and they matter more than the content.
One single folder, opening without sign-up, on a phone, in under three seconds.
A classification by use, not by date: demonstration, opinion, unboxing, answer to an objection.
Explicit file names: product, format, length, version.
And a single entry page, with three lines about you: city, what you film, usual delivery time.
What must absolutely be included
Five pieces, and they cover most requests.
An in-hand demonstration, filmed in one take.
A piece to camera starting with an objection.
An explanatory format: how it works, how it is maintained, what to know before buying. That is the piece that distinguishes you most on this market, because it proves precision.
An unboxing with the real contents shown flat.
And one video declined into three hooks, showing that you can produce variants.
What makes a portfolio get closed
Five mistakes, spotted in ten seconds.
Loud music on the landing page.
Forty videos with no classification.
Editing effects showing the software rather than the product.
A video whose sound saturates or whose voice is covered.
And a total absence of practical information: with no lead time, no city, no conditions, the person moves to the next profile.
What you can put there with no client
Three categories, perfectly accepted provided they are presented as such.
Products you own, filmed as if a brand had commissioned them.
Exercises on a brief you wrote yourself, with the brief displayed under the video.
And responses to objections found in public comments, without naming the brand concerned.
The one absolute rule: never let anybody believe a brand hired you if it did not. There, that gets checked, and a single inaccuracy closes the door for good.
What the brand looks for in a portfolio
| Element | What it checks | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| The first three samples | Sharpness, sound, framing | Decisive |
| The price grid | Budget fit | Strong |
| The legal details | Administrative seriousness | Strong here |
What is added to the portfolio and makes the difference
A contract template, the general terms and a sentence on data handling. Those three answer the questions before they are asked.
What is removed without hesitation
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.
Upkeep
One habit, kept every month.
Replace the weakest piece with the month's best production, and remove anything more than two years old.
A portfolio is not built, it is pruned: its quality is measured by its worst piece, never by the number of videos it contains.
