As a film director, your task is to capture people’s imagination. Be it romantic, horror, heroic, or even tragic fiction, your task is to turn all of those emotions into a compelling narrative and beautiful cinema. There have been many directors, both independent filmmakers or in-house directors, that have been able to do their job and won fame and money. You might be thinking of following in their footsteps.
However, getting a job as a filmmaker is often hard, especially if you are an independent one. Everyone now can gain access to filmmaking techniques and software, which caused lots of competition in the market. Securing a fund is also hard, especially when your film does not really align with the market demand. In short, the road to becoming a successful filmmaker is a tough one.
But, that does not mean it is impossible. The road might be hard, but becoming a filmmaker is still possible. The market might be saturated and that means that you need to find something that makes you stand out from the crowd. One way to achieve this is by having a film director website. With a website, you can easily showcase your works and tell your stories to create a brand.
Luckily, creating a website is something that everyone can do. Today, you can easily create a website with the help of website builders that offer ready-to-use template to create your website in a matter of a minute. You can even find one that will help you for free. However, you cannot do much with something that is free, and your mission here is to do something as much as possible that will make you stand out. Investing your money in a paid website builder will help you in the long run.
Strikingly is the best website builder if you want a professional-looking website at an affordable price. Strikingly also offers you many features that can help you to build your online presence.
Are you ready to share your work with the world? Follow these simple steps!
- Plan Your Website
Just like creating a movie, you need to plan your website beforehand. If your movie needs a story, then your website needs a layout. Having a good layout can help your website to look more user-friendly. For example, you do not want to put a contact form at the top of your website without any good reason. A good layout can help your website’s visitors to understand your website’s content better.
Next, just like you need to have an idea of what your movie will look like, you need to plan the visuals of your film director websites. A color scheme is an important aspect of your website’s visuals. A balanced color scheme can help your film director website look better and professional, or any feeling or emotions that you want to evoke.
Another important aspect of your website’s visuals is the image. As the saying goes, an image can speak a thousand words. Having a good image either for your background or to showcase your work can really help you to create a good image of yourself. Just make sure to optimize your images before you put them on your website to get the best result.
The most important thing to prepare is your portfolio. Your film director website will be used to showcase most of your work. Prepare your best footages and your acclamation or awards that you receive for your works. Write a description or summary of your work to help your audiences understand your works.
Last but not least, you need to prepare some contact details. Once your website’s visitor likes your work, what do they do next? They contact you for an inquiry or a possible job offering, right? Make sure to put contact details that can be reached. You can prepare an email, phone number, or social media account.
- Create A Brand
What you need to stand out from the crowd is a brand. With a strong brand, you can expect yourself to stand out from the crowd to the unique or specific image or feeling that people have in mind when they look at your work. Think of it as a directing style; many directors can direct a similar movie but it can result in a totally different movie. A brand, in this case, is your story on becoming a filmmaker.
There are several ways you can create your brand as a film director. The first one is to tell your own story. Maybe you had an emotional experience when your parents brought you to watch a movie when you were just a kid. Or maybe movies and stories are exceptionally influential in your lives. You can also craft your brand through your professional experience. You can list your education, work experiences, and so on. Make sure to always imbue your story with values or feelings that you want your audiences to feel or have when they come in contact with you or your works.
Image taken from Strikingly user’s website
Let us take a look at one of the director websites created by Strikingly users, Yukari Kamiya. Yukari is a filmmaker located in Japan. She has worked professionally in several countries in the world. Other than filmmaking, she also has an interest in other activities, such as art, blogging, and singing. As one of many independent filmmakers in the world, she believes that films have the power to make people dream.
As you can see, Yukari combines both stories about herself and her professional world. She also imbues her story with strong emotion or feelings that is her belief about the power of movies. She also states her mission to make many people happy in her filmmaking process.
Yukari Kamiya’s film director portfolio website is a good example if you need inspiration for your brand. It is important to always remember that you can always learn from others when you are feeling stuck. You can easily find other filmmaker websites on the internet and take notes about what you like from them.
Once you have everything you need, it
- Choose a Template
You can easily create a website with Strikingly. You can browse catalogs of templates and find the ones you like. If you do not find anything to your liking, you can always browse dozens of websites created by other Strikingly users. This way, you can browse more templates and find out how people are building their websites.
Image taken from Strikingly website
Once you have found your film website template, you can start adding and deleting sections to make your film director website.
- Title Page
The first section that you and your audiences see on your film director website is the title page. This section can contain several things. You can put a welcoming message, your title or occupation, or a video introduction. You need to make sure that you put something interesting and engaging in this section. Why? Because this section can make people want to browse your film director websites or not.
Image taken from Strikingly user’s website
Yukari, for example, puts a director’s reel video on her title page. This way, visitors can immediately get to know her works and her style even before they begin to scroll through her website. If you want to put a video on your title page, you can find how to put a video on your website at our help center.
- About Section
Image taken from Strikingly user’s website
Once the visitors got to know a little about your work, it is time they get to know more about you. Now, you need to create an about section. This section is the place where you put the story that you have prepared before. You can also put some details about your education or professional achievement.
- Portfolio section
Now, your visitors have an idea about your work and your story. The next thing you need to do is to introduce more of your works. The portfolio section is the meat of your director portfolio website; it is the thing that turns a visitor into your client. With sections provided by Strikingly, there are several ways on how to build your portfolio section. You can create a gallery, for example, or put a big media section to showcase your works.
Image taken from Strikingly users's website
Remember, if you ever get stuck on how to organize your portfolio section, you can always learn from others. Look for other film portfolio websites and study how they showcase their work. Take a note about what you think is good and apply it on your film director website.
If possible, add some information about your work. You can include a title, release date, a short summary, your position in the film, or an award that your particular work won. This way, a visitor can judge and sense your work much better.
- Contact Section
Image taken from Strikingly user's website
A visitor likes your work, and they can agree with your beliefs about filmmaking. What do they do next? Contacting you for a question or a possible job offering, of course. The contact section is crucial to help your film director website’s visitors to reach you at any time. You can provide a contact form, mobile phone number, or email. You can also gather your visitors’ contact details and send them a newsletter, informing them about updates on your work or services that you provide.
That is that. You now have a film director website that can be used to showcase your works and help to secure a funding or job. Before making a website, you need to plan it beforehand. Think about how your website will look; its color, its visuals, the content, and so on. You also need a brand to help make you unique from the rest. You can share your story or emphasize education and professional background. Once you have all the things you need, you can start building a website by choosing a film website template. Strikingly offers a collection of templates to choose from. Once you have your template, you can start to build your website. Make sure to make your website look stunning from the title page. Tell your audiences about your story and showcase your works on your website. Last but not least, make sure to be reachable by providing contact details on your film director website.
Are you ready to share your movies with the world? Start your film director website today with Strikingly!
