Interview | Filming Director Cole Walliser Whose TikTok Followers Grow to 5.8 Million Within A Year
With 5.8 million followers on TikTok, Cole Walliser has only started his first post last July. Yet in a short time frame, the number of fans on Walliser’s TikTok account has surpassed his Instagram followers which is already impressive with nearly a million followers.
Originally from Canada who moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in filmmaking, Walliser has got into filming when he was still a college student, long before the born of any social media platform that’s popular nowadays, pursuing a major in psychology at the University of British Columbia. For Walliser, platforms such as Instagram and TikTok with rising popularity these days serve more like a place to showcase his video production. His passion in this industry and the amount of effort he has put in won him opportunities to collaborate with well-known artists such as P!NK, Katy Perry, Channing Tatum, etc.
Over the past few years, Walliser has also been directing “Glambot”, the widely-known Bolt high-speed cinebot presented by Camera Control, which can be used to shoot stunning 1000fps slow-motion portraits of individuals. It has been hitting the red carpets at well-known shows such as Oscars, Grammys, and Emmys. At these major shows, Walliser has directed many Glambot shots of celebrities like Scarlett Johansson, Shawn Mendes, the Parasite cast, Arianna Grande, to name a few, and posted Glambot videos on his social media platforms, which have gone viral online. Currently, Walliser is working on a script as his ultimate goal is to direct a movie.
Find out more about Walliser’s journey as a filming director as well as a social media influencer in our interview with him!
“I was never gonna let me be the reason I failed. I saw people who got in their own way, who sort of couldn’t get past their own issues, and they — not that they created their own difficulty, but they struggled with their own attempt at success and I was like, I’ll fail for a million reasons, but I won’t fail for that, because that’s a thing I can control.” — Walliser said in his interview with NowThis News
Q: On your TikTok account, it shows that you posted your first video in July 2019, how did you come across to register on TikTok?
A: I just kept hearing that. It was just like the cool next thing. There was a lot of buzz about it. People were just on it and reposting content on other social media platforms. I registered to see what it was. I didn’t really get it at first if you look at my first couple of TikToks where I was just playing with the functionality of the app and trying to get a better understanding of what it was.
Q: Why did your following on TikTok grow so much faster than on other platforms, or how to become TikTok famous?
A: I think it was sort of like the right time. I started posting a bunch of my Glambot content on TikTok in the time that everybody was migrating over to TikTok and everybody was consuming content on TikTok. So I think I just caught the wave a little bit.
Q: How do you decide what content to post on different platforms?
A: I kind of post different contents. The Glambot stuff goes across platforms, but I try my best on TikTok to create sort of “TikTok-type” content. On Instagram, it is more like pretty images and Glambot; on YouTube, it’s more long-form content; but on TikTok, it’s like fun silly content.
Q: Are there any tips you’d like to share on how to become a popular influencer like yourself?
A: I think it’s more of a function of work than it is anything else. You have to figure out how to be comfortable and confident, so as an individual you can shine. If you worried about other stuff, you can’t really shine through, and it’s harder to get people to connect with you because you’re sort of censoring yourself in the bad way. You should only censor yourself in the good way. It’s the same thing you always hear, be authentic, and stay true to yourself. I am also really guided by what I like to create and post, so do that, start there!
Q: Any TikTok influencers you have followed or worked with?
A: I follow a bunch. I have worked with some. But I think I am out of the box a little bit. My work off the platform has given me eyes and attention on the platform. So it’s a little different. I sort of focus on my things. I use social media as a place to showcase, where I think that typically, but not always, you would find the work of influencers is predominantly made for a social media platform. It’s very common for influencers to collaborate and do work together as you are growing your career on the platform, but I grow my career off the platform and now I am sharing it on the platform. It’s slightly different.
Q: Has the increased popularity changed your life in any way?
A: Not really. I’ve actively tried to have it not to change my life. I don’t ever want to think that being an influencer means anything to me as a person. To my career goals and financial opportunities, it means something. But for me as a person, it doesn’t mean anything.
Q: As one of the famous TikTokers, or an internet celebrity, any brand names you’d like to work with in the future?
A: I have worked with a few, including Kaiser Permanente, Mercedes-Benz, Verve Coffee, Raycon, Brigeo Hair Care, Manscape, among a few others, and I am super open to it. I’ve collaborated with brands across all of my social media platforms. In the future, it would be nice to work with some clothing, fashion, and style brands. I think that it’s a great opportunity to use the platform in a financially prosperous way. I want to do more content and brand deals, and combine my skill as a director with my reach as an influencer. That is the dream.
Q: Have you thought about using Glambot camera in any other areas besides on red carpets?
A: I definitely want to use it in more areas other than the red carpets, simply because it’s a cool thing. But it’s really expensive. You need a lot of people and equipment to run it. I got inquiries all the time, but you need at least 100,000 dollars to get all the equipment and people there.
Q: What was your dream when you were still little, and how has it changed over the years?
A: I have always wanted to be a director. I moved to LA to direct films and videos and I am doing it now. So you can say I am living the dream. And it’s fantastic. My dream hasn’t really changed, it’s grown, but it hasn’t really changed.
Q: I know that you are working on a script for your feature film, is that the next big thing you will focus on, or any other goals you have in mind?
A: That’s the major focus, a feature film for me. Most of my time and energies are in pursuit of that dream. There are other goals I have, but that’s the big one. For example, I have a goal to clean up my coffee table. But I will sit down and work on my feature before I do that.
Q: Have you ever felt tired of filming or editing videos, what do you do to change the mood?
A: Less filming but definitely editing. When filming you’re on set, and there are other people and things going on. Editing is more like me sitting in my living room or my studio, and just trying to hack away all the work. To change the mood, I like to switch it up. I try both to sit there and ground it out and also give myself a little grace and take breaks if I needed to.
Q: Is there anything else that we didn’t ask but you’d like to share?
A: For me, I am super excited about this term influencer on my career. I want to try to make use of it and do cooler and better work with other people, be it either influencers or brands. I want to use opportunities given to me to further my career in fun, interesting, and meaningful ways. So I am definitely excited about those opportunities.
If you are an influencer and would like to connect with us to schedule an interview, or if you are brands looking for influencers to work with, please leave your contact information via this link: https://forms.gle/B6bW3WaMq77zBp2XA
