Filmmaking 101: How to Brand Yourself as a Filmmaker? By Julian Wakefield
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Have you ever thought of the business side of being a filmmaker? We have you covered!
Check out the best tips by Julian Wakefield – co-founder and director of Teralon Media.
Filmmaking 101:
How to Brand Yourself as a Filmmaker?
A collaboration with
Julian Wakefield
How to brand yourself (as a filmmaker) by Julian Wakefield
Have you ever thought of the business side of being a filmmaker? Now's the time to get the best tips from Julian.
Trailer
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Intro
1
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What is branding?
98
Branding yourself
162
Picking a niche
196
Consistency
374
High-end vs. low-end
541
Choosing a clientele
658
Presenting yourself
855
Building a narrative
1175
Pricing yourself
1326
What not to do
1566
How to stand out?
1795
Summary & learnings
1879
Wrap up
1941
Meet Julian
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What you’ll learn
Showreel is just one piece of branding, branding is the whole experience.
Establish your goals, plan accordingly and reverse-engineer from there.
Don’t repeat what everybody else is doing.
Develop trust between you and your customers.
Be authentic and play to your strengths.
Be consistent!
Masterclasses Chapters
Julian Wakefield, through this masterclass, is going to teach us all about branding ourselves as filmmakers.
What is branding?
Julian starts by defining what branding is. Branding isn’t just logos and visual identity. What people say about you when you are not in the room is what matters.
Branding yourself
When it comes to branding yourself, you need to decide how you want to be perceived. Positioning yourself in the market is highly important.
Picking a niche
You also need to pick a niche and if you want to be a generalist or a specialist. A generalist shoots everything from wedding videos to advertisements. Specialists could only be drone operators.
Consistency
After developing a narrative and a brand, being consistent in your work is crucial. You want to be seen as consistent at all times, with your style and your deadlines.
High-end vs. low-end
High-end means having a larger crew, more equipment, and a budget. Everything is an art form by itself, and adapting rightly to each one is complicated but crucial.
Choosing a clientele
To pick your clients, you need to consider who they are and what they want. A production company, for example, might care more about which cameras are used.
Presenting yourself
Making a showreel that looks cool is easy. But focusing on a case study might be better, as it shows your skills and knowledge.
Building a narrative
Frame the story not as you being the hero. Your client needs to be the hero. You are playing the helper. Julian gives us some tips for building a narrative that serves us.
Pricing yourself
Julian tells us that pricing depends on how you want to be seen. He views his company as a premium one. Therefore he looked at the industry standard and decided to raise it.
What not to do
Julian then lists some things that you should avoid when branding yourself.
How to stand out?
Julian recommends we make a promotional video and pay for ads. But that can be very fast expensive. Putting the effort in to create a beautiful product is then essential.
About Your Instructor
Julian Wakefield
Director of photography
London, United Kingdom
"Ordering ramen on a first date is a very messy idea."
Teralon Media started back in 1929 with one of their co-founders’ great grandmothers. She inherited a small dotted porcelain lion ornament.
The lion was later named Teralon by witty family members. Get it? Teralon is the dotted lion. Tear along the dotted line.
During a Christmas visit, Julian received his very first toy camera. He opened it up, switched it on, and hit record.
The camera just pointed at the mantlepiece on which Teralon was. This lion was the first thing we ever (accidentally) filmed, and it is our original piece of content.
Julian Wakefield is the co-founder and director of Teralon. He used to be a portrait artist who went on to work with renowned PR and marketing companies. He directed photo & video shoots and designed and implemented social media campaigns.
He brings his wealth of industry experience and arts training to the table; directing the creation of beautiful and engaging visual content.
If you enjoyed this masterclass, be sure to check out our complete guide on how to brand yourself as a filmmaker!
