Videography can be a potentially lucrative occupation or side-line.
Find the right niche and you can potentially charge thousands a day if you have a strong portfolio, good reputation and are prepared to put in a lot of hard work.
However, getting your foot in the door of the videography business can be daunting.
The videography business is highly competitive and in a global marketplace you’ll often be up against hundreds, if not thousands, of established videographers trying to earn an income.
Without a large portfolio, network, or reputation to leverage it can therefore be difficult to get contracts, let alone lucrative ones.
With that in mind, we’ve put together five simple but effective tips on how to get work as a freelance videographer.
Consider putting the ‘free’ back in freelance
Getting good contracts requires a strong portfolio and professional experience, neither of which you’ll have when starting out in the business.
So, if you are wondering how to get videography jobs, focus on offering your services for free to build up a portfolio, improve your craft and get some videography mileage under your belt.
See what your friends and family are up to and see where you can offer your videographer services free of charge, whether it’s a kid’s birthday party or a friend competing in a sports tournament.
Treat each of these jobs as a professional contract and deliver the best product you are capable of, making use of any feedback you can get along the way.
Persist with this and you’ll soon have a decent portfolio and may even start to get paid commissions from within your network.
Music videos
The growth of platforms like Spotify and Apple Music has driven explosive growth in grassroots music creation and production.
Tens of thousands of new songs are released on these platforms every day. And behind each of these songs is a band or artist who would like a music video to help them to promote it.
Instagram is a treasure trove of emerging artists who actively want to engage on a visual medium, also providing you with tools to locate and interact with local artists.
Many up-and-coming artists will be on tight budgets, which means you will need to be competitive on pricing.
However, there will be high demand and ample opportunities for you to create great content and build your brand and profile.
Weddings
If you have a large social network, keep an eye out for people getting engaged or discussing marriage plans.
Offering them a free or affordable video of their wedding is a great way to get your foot in the door, as the costs of wedding videos can easily run into the thousands of euros/dollars.
Furthermore, you are likely to get a very high level of investment and interest in the quality of your output, along with potentially invaluable feedback on your work.
Ensure you do your homework before attempting to capture a wedding on video, as these events present unique challenges to even established videographers.
Sports matches
Video analysis has become an important tool in the arsenal of many sports coaches but is one that not all coaches can afford.
This provides an opportunity for you to step into the breach, contact coaches of local sports teams and offer them your services.
There are several perks to this option:
- You can generally wear whatever you want to the shoot.
- Little editing or post-production will be required for the raw footage.
- Once you have provided a product of value to a coach you significantly increase your chances of being contacted by the same coach in the future, generating repeat work.
Freelance platforms for videographers
Several websites are available that allow videographers to browse for jobs and contracts.
Keep in mind that you will still require a decent portfolio to secure the more lucrative jobs, and competition will be fierce for the more entry-level opportunities.
Platforms to consider include:
- Cherrydeck — a platform dedicated to freelance videographers and photographers, designed to attractively showcase your work to a large audience of potential clients.
- Freelancer is one of the best freelance platforms for videographers and gives you the opportunity to bid for videography contracts.
- Upwork is another bid-based freelancer platform with a simple interface and the ability to bid for both short- and long-term contracts. While it is a great place to connect to potential clients, keep an eye out for scammers.
- Simply Hired is a more standard recruitment website that offers a large selection of postings within the videography field, ranging from newcomers to more experienced videographers
Get discovered on Cherrydeck
Cherrydeck is designed to connect photographers and videographers with potential clients while providing an attractive showcase for their work.
Our popular cloud-based platform enables you to set up a professional profile quickly and easily, providing potential clients with a tool they can use to find the right videographer for their needs.
Besides getting the attention from the right people, you’ll also benefit from:
- Being able to discover new commissions and collaborations made available on our platform.
- Tools to boost your Instagram reach and following.
- Discounts on software for creative professionals via our Partner Deals program.
- The ability to present your events to our large creative community.
Visit Cherrydeck now to sign up. ?
