marketing Portfolios and Youtube for Filmmaking

So, I've been making videos for a while. But only really focusing on filmmaking as a professional hobby for the last few years.

In that time, my youtube channel (where I upload most of my content) has a whopping 66 subs, and barely scratching in viewerships or retention.
I want to keep pushing my filmmaking, but also start a VLOG showing behind the scenes antics in a fun and entertaining way (no talking head training vids for me!).

I've been struggling the last few months though.... Shifting between wanting to start a brand new channel, or pushing videos and making content on my old one.

I'm thinking of making a "professional" channel, where I can promote future films. It would be a portfolio channel. At the same time, keeping my old channel for the VLOG.

If anyone had the gumption, could you take a look at my channel and let me know what you think of this?


I don't want to remove older videos, because I want to remember where I came from.... But I know that some of those videos will probably hurt my chances of getting jobs in the future with filmmaking.

This isn't a promotion post, so hopefully I'm not breaking rules putting my channel. I just genuinely want feedback on which direction I should take.
 
Last edited:
I don't think people graduate film school and then show off their freshman year efforts at job interviews.

People will never give you the benefit of the doubt.
Whatever work they see of yours - that is what they will judge you by.

The way I look at it is as if I am in "indie film school"
I think perhaps i'm about ready to graduate and i could show off my next film as my "senior thesis"

Or maybe my next film will demonstrate that I have much more to learn :director:
 
Last edited:
I don't think people graduate film school and then show off their freshman year efforts at job interviews.

People will never give you the benefit of the doubt.
Whatever work they see of yours - that is what they will judge you by.

The way I look at it is as if I am in "indie film school"
I think perhaps i'm about ready to graduate and i could show off my next film as my "senior thesis"

Or maybe my next film will demonstrate that I have much more to learn :director:

That makes sense.

That's why I'm thinking I should set up an entirely new channel for future work I deem "professional". I want people to see the videos and want to work with me.

The current channel, while fun for me to share, I don't think promotes that feeling. BUT, that said.... I also want to create content just for FUN and for my family and friends. This means the occasional silly project, like a re-created music video. And also a VLOG.
 
Alrighty, sounds like a good idea. Only crappy part really is Vimeo's restrictive plan. You have to pay to have more than 5gb I think at once on their site.

I've been trying to cancel a lot of memberships lately. As a filmmaker, EVERYTHING we use seems to have a monthly fee attached. $10 here, $15 there... Eventually you are out $100 a month just for posting content.

That's the nice thing about Youtube. You can have almost endless storage for pretty cheap or pretty much free.
 
Vimeo does have a more polished platform for working creatives, but YouTube has the reach. And Vimeo has changed their user tiers over the past couple of years, making it more expensive for those doing less traffic. The free tier just doesn’t offer as much as it used to, so you have to pay to get even modest upload bandwidth an usability.

Have you considered simply changing all your old YT links to private or unlisted? That way, you still have them when you need them but you can re-brand your existing channel to the general public.

R.E. Linkedin: I really find that to function somewhere between Facebook and Twitter, but geared toward professional networking. I know a couple of production people who have posted their video work to their Linkedin timelines, but those posts just don’t get any considerable engagement. It can be useful if you’re connecting with potential clients and collaborators, so as a redundant level of coverage it can be good. Same with a well-designed website. People may not find you on those platforms, but they can be directed there quickly.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, I was thinking about rebranding. I planned on doing a video, kind of a mix between current thoughts/future plans/and a sendoff of my old content.

I compiled a video compellation of all my old projects (jeez, I was all over the place) which totals out at around 2 minutes. I was just going to explain my change in focus, play that compellation, and say adieu to the old me.

After that, all my videos would be focused content on filmmaking adventures.

My logic right now is to generate one VLOG video every 2 weeks, and have a live streaming watch party for other people's short films every week. Start out nice and easy.
 
Last edited:
After 11 years my YouTube channel has 66.606 views and 85 subscribers. The last number kind of spoils the numerical symmetry. ;)

The real question is: what purpose should your channel have and how can you achieve it?
My goal has never been getting a million subscribers: I just want to showcase my work to prospects. And when I make short films I want to be able to share them easily. Reaching many people is fun, but for me it is more important that the right people see the right video at the right time: this often means I direct their eyes to certain videos.
Most videos I make are uploaded to my clients'channels.

Btw, sounds like you have a good plan to grow your channel: consistently uploadiung new content is important to build an audience.
 
Yeah a YouTube channel is a great way to compile your works and put them into a playlist like a portfolio. It just takes a whopping big time and dedication to break up and into the larger sub view count. Unless if you get lucky. You could technically force your way into it with a hyped up project. Best of luck.
 
Since this thread was originally posted, I have dedicated myself to the YouTube channel. My thought is to use this as a testing ground for what and who my audience really is.

I feel its hard to really gauge interest in what I got without feedback and people to watch my current stuff. So, instead of focusing on being extremely professional and getting hired before I'm ready, I want to grind.

I've challenged myself to two videos a week. I've been experimenting, and found that I can create a video once a week while also doing a let's watch or something on the side.

52 weeks in a year, that will be about 104 videos total. I'd love it if you all could join me on there, but understand if you don't. Whether this plan goes good or bad is less important than just doing the work itself.

But it's looking to be a fun and challenging year. If any of you have youtube channels to share, I'd love to join them. Never hurts to have some friends around.
 
Since this thread was originally posted, I have dedicated myself to the YouTube channel. My thought is to use this as a testing ground for what and who my audience really is.

I feel its hard to really gauge interest in what I got without feedback and people to watch my current stuff. So, instead of focusing on being extremely professional and getting hired before I'm ready, I want to grind.

I've challenged myself to two videos a week. I've been experimenting, and found that I can create a video once a week while also doing a let's watch or something on the side.

52 weeks in a year, that will be about 104 videos total. I'd love it if you all could join me on there, but understand if you don't. Whether this plan goes good or bad is less important than just doing the work itself.

But it's looking to be a fun and challenging year. If any of you have youtube channels to share, I'd love to join them. Never hurts to have some friends around.


Sounds like you're doing something similar to our newest member 12PercentPhil, although he's going do only one short project a month.

In my opinion, you should do all the things you want to do, and when you feel you're ready splurge the extra ducats put your professional portfolio on Vimeo.
 
Last edited:
Sounds like you're doing something similar to out newest member 12PercentPhil, although he's going do only one short project a month.

In my opinion, you should do all the things you want to do, and when you feel you're ready splurge the extra ducats and put your professional portfolio on Vimeo.
Thank you very much! I do plan on taking everything learned from this year further with an actual professional business. Already got the domain address for the production studio name ready to go once it happens!

As always, thank you for the encouragement. It does mean a lot to me.
 
Your
Thank you very much! I do plan on taking everything learned from this year further with an actual professional business. Already got the domain address for the production studio name ready to go once it happens!

As always, thank you for the encouragement. It does mean a lot to me.
Your channel is doing great in all honesty! Joel Creates amiright? 115K subs? That’s like really great. You have done incredibly well man you should be very proud of urself. I am a subscriber and excited for ur future projects.
 
Update: I just checked your original post I’m a lil confused, there is that Joel Creates channel that has your INFINITUS film on it where it sorta got a lot of views I thought that was your channel at first? But I’m not so sure now lol. Are these both you?
 
Last edited:
Your

Your channel is doing great in all honesty! Joel Creates amiright? 115K subs? That’s like really great. You have done incredibly well man you should be very proud of urself. I am a subscriber and excited for ur future projects.
Joel is the fella that worked with me on "Infinitus".... lol. But yes he is an amazing guy!

My channel has 73 subs at the moment.

I'm attempting to focus entirely on making content and not worrying too much about the numbers. It's hard not to look at stats all day, but I've made that mistake in the past, and I lost my own originality and creativity from it.

If I focus too much on metrics, I lose my own taste. Honestly, I haven't yet fully tapped into my source, my zen. I need to though. I figured making and making videos all the time would get me into a flow state where numbers fade into the background and creativity is pushed to its peak.

I could be totally wrong, or crazy, or both... I may get only 80 followers by the end of the year... Maybe more... But at least I would have pushed my own creativity to the limit. I'm hoping it pays off to have a mindset like that in more ways than popularity.

You know what I mean?
 
Joel is the fella that worked with me on "Infinitus".... lol. But yes he is an amazing guy!

My channel has 73 subs at the moment.

I'm attempting to focus entirely on making content and not worrying too much about the numbers. It's hard not to look at stats all day, but I've made that mistake in the past, and I lost my own originality and creativity from it.

If I focus too much on metrics, I lose my own taste. Honestly, I haven't yet fully tapped into my source, my zen. I need to though. I figured making and making videos all the time would get me into a flow state where numbers fade into the background and creativity is pushed to its peak.

I could be totally wrong, or crazy, or both... I may get only 80 followers by the end of the year... Maybe more... But at least I would have pushed my own creativity to the limit. I'm hoping it pays off to have a mindset like that in more ways than popularity.

You know what I mean?
Oh right lol sorry 😂. Just subscribed to your actual channel now.

Yeah I get how that can be it’s like we r the underdogs with the smaller channels. All we can do is make good content and try our best with the YouTube algorithm. Which I’m sure you have researched about, based on your mention of metrics. I think what you said about pushing out lots of good creative content as much as you can or as much as you want to is a good idea. It has been proven to work by others who have done it.
As long as it is good content and not bad, you should see a pickup of subs but like you said that’s not your main point. Pushing your own creativity to the limit and maybe past that would be. It’s not crazy lol. I’m doing the same, starting this week I’m releasing 3-4 videos a week. If you have seen my (what’s next?) thread about my channel u will know what it’s about but yeah. Keep at it man, as long as your enjoying it, having fun, then there’s no reason to doubt.
 
Back
Top