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INTRODUCTION
In this video is not about me in fact it's very much about you yes you the young filmmaker with Big Dreams of telling epic Stories the established filmmaker who feels like you're stuck in a rut and needs some motivation if you want to find more fulfillment in your career doing more of the work you're passionate about this one is for you
SOUND ADVICE
I'm going to share a few stories from my own career Beed with sound advice that could save you a lot of headache but also encourage you on your journey forward 2024 marks 15 years since I pursued a career in the world of film making in these 15 years I've transitioned through multiple genres from exclusively shooting weddings to full-time venturing into travel and tourism come Co getting thrown into the commercial world
SIGNIFICANT VALUE
now also YouTube during this time I made a lot of mistakes but I also did a lot of things right in all of these genres I attained a fair amount of success that led to working on dream projects with dream clients and I'm convinced that what I'm about to share with you can add significant value to your career one of the questions I get asked the most is how did you land your dream clients how did you end up doing the projects you actually want to do and getting getting paid well for it I feel like the answer to this is combined in all of the tips
FILMMAKERS
I'm going to share in this video but it starts with this what you put out there is what you will attract I see so many filmmakers doing this wrong and it's really not that difficult to get right ask yourself this one question what is the kind of work that you enjoy the most that you want to get more of back in 2013 my answer was high-end destination weddings I wanted to shoot the most expensive weddings and see the world while doing it the only way I accomplished this was by making sure
WEDDING VIDEO
I put a certain type of wedding video out there I basically wiped my entire portfolio from the internet and only started sharing the best looking and most expensive weddings at first I only had three Weddings But it quickly multiplied into 12 and before I knew it I was only attracting a specific type of client clients who paid well and was willing to fly me all over the world to film their wedding
VIDEO PROJECTS
what you put out there is what you will attract I used the same principle to transition from weddings into the travel and tourism space when I pulled the plug on weddings I wiped my entire portfolio deleted my website my Facebook page even deleted old Instagram posts and basically all digital Footprints of my wedding career I did this because I didn't want any of my new clients to think that I'm just another video videographer dabbling in a variety of video projects including weddings
FREE PROJECTS
I branded myself as a specialist in travel content it was my way of saying to the world this is who I am and this is what I do if this is what you want I'm going to be the person to do it for you was it easy not at all I had to do a bunch of free projects low paying ones and also had to invest in a few passion projects but it didn't take long until the word got out and once my first big client took the bait I started getting massive projects with budgets
CREATIVITY
I could only dream of what you put out there is what you will attract the way you curate your online presence plays a massive role in how people perceive your brand and you have to put out content that you absolutely love and want to do more of because eventually you will attract the right clients clients that already appreciate the work you do and doesn't want to limit your cre creativity the wrong clients often stem from a case of catering for what's popular and not what makes you happy which leads me to tip number two don't get distracted there are so many ways to be distracted in this industry but the most common one the one I fell for the hardest was chasing followers and Applause
OLD FILMMAKERS
I see so many new and old filmmakers desperately trying to go viral with constant posting of Tik toks shorts and reals although I don't have any issues with this medium of content I do have an issue when the nature of the content is dictated by Trends and a desire to Cree the algorithm not only does it kill your creativity but it damages the authenticity of your brand and becomes such a distraction taking precious time away from actually making films and growing as a Storyteller there was a period
GRAFTING AND FOCUSING
where I did this and I got completely consumed by the chase for Applause that I actually fell behind him my ability and during that time saw new younger filmmakers quickly surpass me because they were out there grafting and focusing on the craft a pivotal moment for me was in 2018 what's up my name is Jo I'm here with Sam and Chelsea I'm going to show them the darensburg uh follow around our stories to see what we get up to I went on a trip with Sam CER and Chelsea Kawai in the South African drens spurg so what do you guys think of the hike insane
SPECTACULAR
so spectacular that's I've ever seen in my life while Sam was out there shooting an entire story of the trip I was only focused on getting the next epic drone clip that will go viral on Instagram I only realized it after the trip and I felt so stupid for not utilizing the opportunity to create cool content with Sam this was the kick I needed because after that trip I decided to toss everything aside that distracts my film making and Instagram was the first to go I posted less but when I posted it was the kind of work that I wanted to get hired for on shoots I stopped thinking about what I could share on social media and only focused on creating
DREAM OPPORTUNITIES
the best type of content possible it wasn't long because soon everything started to pay off I landed a bunch of dream opportunities and quickly realized this powerful truth you don't need a 100,000 people to give you a thumbs up you just need a 100 people who actually wants to work with you likes don't pay the bills people do and if you attract the right client you'll never have to stress about getting enough likes I want to make it clear that I'm not against short form content but if it's taking you away from working on projects with more substance
STRATEGY STEPS
you might have to reassess your content strategy step number three is probably the most misunderstood Topic in the film making space even if you ignore everything I said until now I really hope that this one will land and hit you where it's supposed to having a strong network is the number one biggest reason for my success in all genres networking is a Timeless principle that will Outlast any social platform and applies in every industry the word itself has a pretty boring connotation to it
WINNING RELATIONSHIP
so I made up my own version to me networking is a winning relationship between friends that's all there is to it it's about establishing sound relationships with people in your industry and ultimately turning them into friendship network is friendship in the workplace it's called a winning relationship because both parties get something out of it a strong network will always Trump good work the most successful creators aren't always doing the best work and the most talented creators aren't necessarily the most successful how does it look on a practical level people often mistake a network as relationships with complimenting suppliers but the strongest form of network in the world of film making is actually making friends with people you view as competition throughout the past 15 years
COMPETITIVE FRIENDS
I've learned more from my competitive friends than I did from watching YouTube I got some of the best job referrals and also returned the favor many times networking is a case of making friends by being a friend your starting point has to be give give give Yes you heard right the mindset of networking should never be what can I get from this your goal with networking should always be to establish friendship and all the rest will come after it it doesn't matter how competitive your industry is Everything Changes the moment Things become personal it's the principle of like know and trust
COLLABORATIONS WORKING
I'm far more likely to recommend a friend over someone who appear to be the best because I have confidence in their work ethic and I know they're not going to damage my reputation with bad service it's not just about a transfer of knowledge and work but also about powerful collaborations working together on the same project I recently teamed up with my friend Ian ianas on a short film liminality I've known Ian for 13 years and we became friends in the early stages of our wedding careers the Friendship we established back then was strong enough to outlast our various changes in genres or what about Andre also met around the same time and 13 years later
MY BTS FOOTAGE
we still partner on a variety of projects and a lot of my BTS footage is thanks to his amazing skills the awesome thing about a well established network is that it's almost self- sustaining in a way constantly growing and organically reaching new people the real magic happens when you marry good work with a great Network this leads me to my next tip humility is power the secret to a strong network is to take in a position of humility humility is a superpower in this industry it starts with knowing your ability and then admitting to yourself that you're not that special that there are people out there far more skilled and accomplished
OVERCONFIDENT
when I'm on set I don't judge a person by how he deals with the director or DP but how he speaks to the production assistant the lighting assistant the person who hasn't achieved anything noteworthy if you really want to impress me treat everyone with the same level of respect and I'll happily be your friend humility doesn't come by downplaying your own abilities and achievements but about finding out how little you really know one of my favorite ways to explain this is with a Dunning Krueger effect on the left you have an indication of your perceived ability which relates to confidence and at the bottom you have your actual ability which relates to knowledge and experience the graph shows that most often people with the low overestimate their actual ability and are overconfident
ALGORITHM
you don't know what you don't know it's the proverbial that's easy I could totally do that mentality you set up camp on the peak of Mount stupid and for a while you think pretty highly of yourself this ego gets inflated by chasing Applause on social media by getting tons of views on content that appeals to the algorithm it's only when you get confronted with new knowledge and experience where you take a plunge and find out how much you don't know this is where I found myself in 2018 after the trip with Sam and Chelsea although we hiked in literal mountains I came down from the peak of Mount stupid into the valley of Despair but at least I finally saw the need for growth and the motivation came like a tidal wave I was committed to improve
MY BIGGEST STRUGGLE
my skills and slowly started getting my confidence back but this time with A New Perspective now after all these years I find that film making is only getting harder Yes you heard right the more I do this the more I see the need for improvement because my eyes are open to so many new things I didn't know about before that doesn't mean I don't have any confidence it simply means I know that there's a lot of room for improvement before I move on to the next STP let's talk about music real quick in the 15 years I've been making films music bed has been a part of 11 of them in the first four years my biggest struggle was Finding relevant music that conveyed the emotions and tone I envisioned for my stories
AI POWERED
I would spend hours searching often settling for something that was just good enough music can truly transform any narrative which is why having a wide variety of options is so important it has the ability to resonate emotionally with your viewers and if you feel anything while watching this video music B is a reason with over 60,000 songs music bed offers the largest curated collection of authentic music for your projects the Innovative search tools including an AI powered search by song feature simplify the process of finding the perfect song to match your vision I've said it before and I'll say it again music bed has completely transformed my storytelling if you're a Creator looking to connect deeply with your audience
CAREER ADVICE
I cannot recommend it enough make the switch today and start your 14-day free trial with the link in my description and then for my last piece of career advice I really really hope you never make this mistake and I can only comment on it because I've seen how it applies over a period of 15 years in this industry people will cross you some of your friends in your network will disappoint you some will try to take clients from you some will pay late and even if you have all the reason to be angry whatever you do never ever burn a bridge
MY WORK SHOPS
I can say this with utmost confidence because I've burned a few Bridges myself and I've seen the damage it can cause in the long term as I matured through the years I grasp the principal and there are many cases of people crossing me where I had more than enough reason to write them off but I didn't and guess what many years down the line those same people came back over the bridge and sent work my way did my work shops and even bought my courses literally years later I benefited greatly because I didn't give into my ego and chose to preserve the peace some of them knew what they did was wrong but my response created a sense of security for them to come back and it only paid off in my favor makes me wonder what I missed out
CONCLUSION
when I actually chose the opposite there's this quote by Paul J Meers that's become an Anthem of my life and I hope it will encourage you going forward it goes something like this whatever you verly imagine ardently desire sincerely believe and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass I truly believe that if you combine all of these tips and apply it to your own career you will most likely experience great success in the future now go chase after your passion like your life depends on it because it does
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