What’s Dustin Murphy’s secret to freelance work success?

Dustin Murphy is a freelance filmmaker that’s generated over $10k in one month creating freelance films through AudPop. One of the secrets to his success is a formula for great application videos that impress his potential clients with his experience, ideas, and sense of humor.

Dustin uses our platform to obtain clients, which in turn connects businesses with freelance filmmakers. For instance, Ice Cream Social submitted a brief to AudPop, engaging filmmakers to create a sales/product video using the Ice Cream Social product. Dustin produced this application video that eventually won Ice Cream Social’s business:

This application video is successful because Dustin uses a replicable formula. Firstly, he hooks his audience. Secondly, he keeps them engaged with his experience through the middle of the film. Thirdly, he ends with interesting ideas that address the Ice Cream Social brief. If you follow his formula, you can also get clients as a freelance filmmaker using AudPop.

Beginning: Start Your Video with a Compelling Hook

Every video needs a compelling hook that piques the audience’s interest. A good hook will quickly communicate who you are and why a potential client should work with you. Dustin has seen success with two types of hooks that you can emulate.

1. The Fun Hook

Dustin’s Ice Cream Social application video opens with a funny joke about ice cream that demonstrates an understanding of Ice Cream Social’s fun, irreverent brand voice. This joke shows Dustin gets Ice Cream Social’s brand and proves that he’s a humorous person to work with — all within 13-seconds.

2. The “BLUF” Hook

BLUF, or “bottom line up front,” is a communication method stating the most important details of your message first. While a little dry, Dustin used BLUF to win business with Duda, a website building platform.

He cuts right to his main point, which is he’s a filmmaker in London with relevant experience. He states everything Duda needs to know about him and his expertise in the first 20-seconds.

Both hooks will work well if you follow Dustin’s lead: have fun and communicate clearly.

Middle: Use Your Relevant Experience to Showcase Your Strengths

You’ll notice in Dustin’s application videos that he doesn’t just list his extensive professional experience. Instead, he mentions specific projects and pulls out relevant information for the client. No matter how much experience you have, this is the best way to demonstrate your strengths and capabilities.

In his Ice Cream Social application video, Dustin specifically states his most relevant experience first: creative marketing for Big Bear Mountain Resort in California. He then explains the tight turnaround time for these videos (within 24 hours), an experience Ice Cream Social can benefit from.

Focusing on relevant experience first, Dustin keeps the client engaged while showcasing his biggest strengths. You can do the same even with student and spec work, which Dustin isn’t afraid of mentioning in his videos even with two decades of experience.

End: Refer to the Brief Explicitly

As Dustin’s application video comes ends, he turns his focus to Ice Cream Social’s brief to explain what he’d like to do and how he’d like to do it. Closing with explicit references to and ideas about the brief gives your potential client something to react to and kickstarts the collaboration.

Ice Cream Social’s brief mentions they’d like their filmmaker to write a script. Dustin calls this out in the final 30-seconds of his application video, mentioning his relevant narrative skills. He then uses this experience to state his goal is to deliver a “high-end ad with a very polished look.”

As you wrap up your video, mention specific aspects of the brief relevant to your experience and close with your vision for what you want to accomplish.

Throughout: Express Who You Are

Dustin’s video gives you a clear idea of who he is as a video creator and person. Like any job interview, the goal of your application video is to demonstrate that you are good to work with.

In his application videos, Dustin sits at his desk surrounded by filmmaking posters and tools, which give the impression that you’re chatting with a friendly co-worker (who’d probably be fun to grab ice cream with).

Also, as he talks about his experience, he spends a lot of time explaining his passion: narrative filmmaking. His excitement and love for his craft are infectious — it’s hard not to smile while he talks about it. You can bet the Ice Cream Social team was smiling as they watched.

Another example of this infectious love for the craft comes from a different filmmaker who’s seen success with the AudPop platform, Morgann Gicquel. Morgann’s heartfelt application video for What the What revolves entirely around her love for animation.

The final result speaks for itself as not only a successful collaboration but also an expression of Morgann’s love for her craft. Place who you are and your love for filmmaking front and center in your application video and you will attract clients.

AudPop Connects Great Filmmakers with Great Clients

The AudPop platform’s unique video application process is key to Dustin’s success.

Using a method that’s within my skill set is so much better for me as a video creator vs being forced to fill out the traditional dull boring application forms. With an AudPop application, not only do I get to show off my personality and expertise, but these application videos also illustrate my skills to potential clients by giving me room for creativity. – Dustin Murphy

AudPop is simply put the best freelance video creator platform out there. Our platform is made for creatives to elevate their careers and get their work noticed. This unique system is great for businesses too, as they can access our 75K network of creatives from all over the world. Sign up for AudPop today and start making a career out of freelance video creation and use AudPop to do it.

ABOUT AUDPOP

At AudPop, we’re filmmakers, designers, marketers, strategists, and writers. But mostly, we’re dreamers! Dreamers who believe stories can change the world. Our mission at AudPop is to connect partners with creators. Filmmakers with partners. Audiences with authentic stories to facilitate collaboration and change.

How do we do that exactly? It’s simple.

If you’re a partner or agency looking to create original premium video content, we’ve got you. We can connect you with over 75,000 diverse and talented filmmakers. Are you a filmmaker ready to share your stories with the world? We can connect you with partners and audiences hungry for quality, authentic content. Do you want to watch quality video content with real stories? We have over 12,000 videos from filmmakers from 190 countries. All with unique stories to tell.

Dreams start here—and together, we can make them come true. Check out AudPop.