fbpx
Wikipedia

Stock footage

Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock footage is called a "stock shot" or a "library shot".[1] Stock footage may have appeared in previous productions but may also be outtakes or footage shot for previous productions and not used. Examples of stock footage that might be utilized are moving images of cities and landmarks, wildlife in their natural environments, and historical footage. Suppliers of stock footage may be either rights managed or royalty-free. Many websites offer direct downloads of clips in various formats.

History

Stock footage companies began to emerge in the mid-1980s, offering clips mastered on Betacam SP, VHS, and film formats. Many of the smaller libraries that specialized in niche topics such as extreme sports, technological or cultural collections were bought out by larger concerns such as Corbis or Getty Images over the next couple of decades.

Films and television

Stock footage can be used to integrate news footage or notable figures into a film. For instance, the Academy Award-winning film Forrest Gump used stock footage extensively, modified with computer-generated imagery to portray the lead character meeting such historic figures such as John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and John Lennon.

 
A videographer captures stock footage of a passing train outside Las Vegas

News programs use film footage from their libraries when more recent images are not available. Such usage is often labeled on-screen with an indication that the footage being shown is file footage.

Television and movies series also often recycle footage taken from previous installments. For instance, the Star Trek franchise kept a large collection of starships, planets, backgrounds, and explosions, which would appear on a regular basis throughout Star Trek's five series and ten films, being used with minimal alteration. That kept production costs down as models, mattes, and explosions were expensive to create. The advances in computer graphics in the late 1990s and early 2000s helped to significantly reduce the cost of Star Trek's production and allowed for a much wider variety of shots than previous model and painting-based visuals. Other films that re-used film footage from previous productions include Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Blade Runner, Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Hitman, Jaws: The Revenge, Halloween II, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 & 2 and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.[2]

Some series, particularly those made for children, such as Power Rangers or Teletubbies, reuse footage that is shown in many episodes.[citation needed] Meant for a young audience, the approach increases viewers' familiarity between shows. This introduces problems such as the requirement to, for example, wear the same clothing and inconsistency can sometimes become a problem. When cleverly filmed it is possible to avoid many of these problems.

Many broadcast shows use stock-footage clips as establishing shots of a particular city, which imply that the show is shot on location when in fact, it may be shot in a backlot studio. One or two establishing shots of an exotic location such as the Great Wall of China, Easter Island, or French Polynesia will save production companies the major costs of transporting crew and equipment to those actual locations.[3]

Stock footage is often used in commercials when there is not enough money or time for production. More often than not these commercials are political or issue-oriented in nature.[4] Sometimes it can be used to composite moving images that create the illusion of having on-camera performers appear to be on location. The term B-roll may refer to stock footage or newly shot scenes.[5]

Stock footage that appears on television screens or monitors shown in movies or television shows is referred to as "playback". In Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, which was written by and starring Will Ferrell as a San Diego news anchor, the studio purchased archival 1970s clips from San Diego stock footage firm New & Unique Videos. The playback footage of a hurricane featured in Disney's Smart House came from the vaults of the same San Diego firm.[6]

Stock footage also appears many a time in animated series which is mostly a transition to live-action stock footage.

One of the most common uses of stock footage is in documentaries. Use of stock footage allows the filmmaker to tell the story of historical events such as World War II Why We Fight series, to document modern underwater archaeology activities, or to supplement content in natural history documentaries. Budgets may not be sufficient to keep a production crew on site for long-term projects, and stock footage allows the producer to pick the moments in time that are most important to the story or to give context to historical events.[7]

Several films that would otherwise be completely lost have surviving footage due to the film being used as a stock footage. For example, The Cat Creeps has some scenes preserved in the movie Boo, and scenes from Queen of the Night Clubs are preserved as stock footage in Winner Take All. If not for the use of stock footage, these films would be lost entirely.[8]

Stock footage is also used in live reality TV shows such as I'm a Celebrity.[9]

In the early 2020s, stock footage of studio audience applause and reactions was used in television shows in place of a live studio audience due to the then-current COVID-19 pandemic.

Corporate usage

 
The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Band, USMC, performs in San Diego, 2011: still shot from stock footage clip.

Companies throughout the world use stock footage in their video productions for in-house meetings, annual conventions, seminars, and other events. It has become popular to videotape interviews of CEOs and other VIPs using a green screen backdrop. When the green is keyed out during post-production, stock footage or stock shots are inserted, to impart a particular message.

Public domain

One of the largest producers of public domain stock footage is the United States government. All videos produced by the United States military, NASA, and other agencies are available for use as stock footage. There are a number of companies that own the copyrights to large libraries of stock footage and charge filmmakers a fee for using it, but they rarely demand royalties. Stock footage comes from a myriad of sources including the public domain, other movies and television programs, news outlets, and purpose-shot stock footage.

Format

Evolution

 
Comparison of common broadcast resolutions

With each introduction of new standard, it requires reshooting, rerendering, or rescanning the popular footage as well as new images to show the capabilities of the next standard. Betacam SP, VHS, and early digital footage was shot in standard-definition (SD), in 4:3 aspect ratio. Next came a higher resolution format, High Definition (HD), with a 16:9 aspect ratio, which is closer to cinema widescreen formats. Many stock-footage companies and producers were concerned that their libraries would become irrelevant.[10] Many companies are also including virtual reality (VR) and 360-degree video footage.[11]

Container

Popular digital container formats include MOV (QuickTime File Format) AVI, FLV, MP4, and MXF, which are commonly used in non-linear editing system applications such as Avid, Final Cut Pro, and Adobe Premiere Pro.[12]

Libraries

Notable stock footage libraries and archives include:

See also

References

  1. ^ Ephraim Katz, The Film Encyclopedia, Crowell, 1979. ISBN 978-0690012040
  2. ^ Dyce, Andrew (November 2, 2015). "Movies That Stole Footage From Other Films". Screen Rant. from the original on 17 July 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  3. ^ "6 Reasons You Might Want to Start Using Stock Footage in Your Films". No Film School. April 23, 2015. from the original on 4 February 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  4. ^ Eliza Collins, Daniel Strauss (September 15, 2015). "Jeb Bush super PAC video about America uses stock footage from overseas". Politico. from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  5. ^ "STOCK FOOTAGE PRIMER – TV Writer Podcast". www.tvwriterpodcast.com. from the original on 2015-03-28. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  6. ^ "New & Unique Videos". Productionhub.com. from the original on 2017-11-13. Retrieved 2017-11-12.
  7. ^ RELTH Relth, Kj (August 14, 2013). "6 Essential Tips for Using Archival Footage". International Documentary Association. from the original on April 2, 2015.
  8. ^ Obius, Rudie (March 28, 2014). "10 Movies That Recycled Footage From Other Movies". Mental Floss. from the original on 24 February 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  9. ^ Bultitude, Nick. "I'm a Celebrity Cutscene Spider Web Catch". YouTube. from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
  10. ^ Careless, James (2010-01-06). . Digital Video magazine. Archived from the original on 2010-02-10. Retrieved 2014-11-07.
  11. ^ "Stock Footage Searches Reveal Shifting Media Trends - Studio Daily". Studio Daily. 2017-01-25. from the original on 2017-09-26. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
  12. ^ "Video File Format Overview". dpbestflow.org. American Society of Media Photographers. from the original on 11 July 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.

Further reading

  • Bernard, S.C. and Rabin, K. Archival Storytelling: A Filmmaker's Guide to Finding, Using, and Licensing Third-Party Visuals and Music. Focal Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-240-80973-1

stock, footage, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding,. This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Stock footage news newspapers books scholar JSTOR August 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject You may improve this article discuss the issue on the talk page or create a new article as appropriate August 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Stock footage and similarly archive footage library pictures and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material A single piece of stock footage is called a stock shot or a library shot 1 Stock footage may have appeared in previous productions but may also be outtakes or footage shot for previous productions and not used Examples of stock footage that might be utilized are moving images of cities and landmarks wildlife in their natural environments and historical footage Suppliers of stock footage may be either rights managed or royalty free Many websites offer direct downloads of clips in various formats Contents 1 History 2 Films and television 3 Corporate usage 4 Public domain 5 Format 5 1 Evolution 5 2 Container 6 Libraries 7 See also 8 References 9 Further readingHistory EditStock footage companies began to emerge in the mid 1980s offering clips mastered on Betacam SP VHS and film formats Many of the smaller libraries that specialized in niche topics such as extreme sports technological or cultural collections were bought out by larger concerns such as Corbis or Getty Images over the next couple of decades Films and television EditStock footage can be used to integrate news footage or notable figures into a film For instance the Academy Award winning film Forrest Gump used stock footage extensively modified with computer generated imagery to portray the lead character meeting such historic figures such as John F Kennedy Richard Nixon and John Lennon A videographer captures stock footage of a passing train outside Las VegasNews programs use film footage from their libraries when more recent images are not available Such usage is often labeled on screen with an indication that the footage being shown is file footage Television and movies series also often recycle footage taken from previous installments For instance the Star Trek franchise kept a large collection of starships planets backgrounds and explosions which would appear on a regular basis throughout Star Trek s five series and ten films being used with minimal alteration That kept production costs down as models mattes and explosions were expensive to create The advances in computer graphics in the late 1990s and early 2000s helped to significantly reduce the cost of Star Trek s production and allowed for a much wider variety of shots than previous model and painting based visuals Other films that re used film footage from previous productions include Transformers Dark of the Moon Blade Runner Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones Hitman Jaws The Revenge Halloween II Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 amp 2 and Bill amp Ted s Excellent Adventure 2 Some series particularly those made for children such as Power Rangers or Teletubbies reuse footage that is shown in many episodes citation needed Meant for a young audience the approach increases viewers familiarity between shows This introduces problems such as the requirement to for example wear the same clothing and inconsistency can sometimes become a problem When cleverly filmed it is possible to avoid many of these problems Many broadcast shows use stock footage clips as establishing shots of a particular city which imply that the show is shot on location when in fact it may be shot in a backlot studio One or two establishing shots of an exotic location such as the Great Wall of China Easter Island or French Polynesia will save production companies the major costs of transporting crew and equipment to those actual locations 3 Stock footage is often used in commercials when there is not enough money or time for production More often than not these commercials are political or issue oriented in nature 4 Sometimes it can be used to composite moving images that create the illusion of having on camera performers appear to be on location The term B roll may refer to stock footage or newly shot scenes 5 Stock footage that appears on television screens or monitors shown in movies or television shows is referred to as playback In Anchorman The Legend of Ron Burgundy which was written by and starring Will Ferrell as a San Diego news anchor the studio purchased archival 1970s clips from San Diego stock footage firm New amp Unique Videos The playback footage of a hurricane featured in Disney s Smart House came from the vaults of the same San Diego firm 6 Stock footage also appears many a time in animated series which is mostly a transition to live action stock footage One of the most common uses of stock footage is in documentaries Use of stock footage allows the filmmaker to tell the story of historical events such as World War II Why We Fight series to document modern underwater archaeology activities or to supplement content in natural history documentaries Budgets may not be sufficient to keep a production crew on site for long term projects and stock footage allows the producer to pick the moments in time that are most important to the story or to give context to historical events 7 Several films that would otherwise be completely lost have surviving footage due to the film being used as a stock footage For example The Cat Creeps has some scenes preserved in the movie Boo and scenes from Queen of the Night Clubs are preserved as stock footage in Winner Take All If not for the use of stock footage these films would be lost entirely 8 Stock footage is also used in live reality TV shows such as I m a Celebrity 9 In the early 2020s stock footage of studio audience applause and reactions was used in television shows in place of a live studio audience due to the then current COVID 19 pandemic Corporate usage Edit The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Band USMC performs in San Diego 2011 still shot from stock footage clip Companies throughout the world use stock footage in their video productions for in house meetings annual conventions seminars and other events It has become popular to videotape interviews of CEOs and other VIPs using a green screen backdrop When the green is keyed out during post production stock footage or stock shots are inserted to impart a particular message Public domain EditOne of the largest producers of public domain stock footage is the United States government All videos produced by the United States military NASA and other agencies are available for use as stock footage There are a number of companies that own the copyrights to large libraries of stock footage and charge filmmakers a fee for using it but they rarely demand royalties Stock footage comes from a myriad of sources including the public domain other movies and television programs news outlets and purpose shot stock footage Format EditEvolution Edit Comparison of common broadcast resolutions With each introduction of new standard it requires reshooting rerendering or rescanning the popular footage as well as new images to show the capabilities of the next standard Betacam SP VHS and early digital footage was shot in standard definition SD in 4 3 aspect ratio Next came a higher resolution format High Definition HD with a 16 9 aspect ratio which is closer to cinema widescreen formats Many stock footage companies and producers were concerned that their libraries would become irrelevant 10 Many companies are also including virtual reality VR and 360 degree video footage 11 Container Edit Popular digital container formats include MOV QuickTime File Format AVI FLV MP4 and MXF which are commonly used in non linear editing system applications such as Avid Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro 12 Libraries EditNotable stock footage libraries and archives include Adobe Stock Al Jazeera Creative Commons Alamy Associated Press BBC BBC Motion Gallery 1961 and backstage bbc co uk 2005 2010 Can Stock Photo CNN Collection fmr CNN ImageSource from the CNN cable news broadcaster Corbis Motion now through Getty Images and Visual China Group Depositphotos DVArchive Film Archives Inc Flickr Footagevault Fotosearch Framepool Getty Images Internet Archive iStock ITN Source NASA Images Nautilus Productions NBCUniversal Archives NHNZ Nimia Oddball Films Pond5 Producers Library Service Reuters Science Photo Library Shutterstock Stocksy United Vimeo Visual China GroupSee also EditArchival research Clip show Free content Production music Stock photography Stock sound effectReferences Edit Ephraim Katz The Film Encyclopedia Crowell 1979 ISBN 978 0690012040 Dyce Andrew November 2 2015 Movies That Stole Footage From Other Films Screen Rant Archived from the original on 17 July 2016 Retrieved 16 July 2016 6 Reasons You Might Want to Start Using Stock Footage in Your Films No Film School April 23 2015 Archived from the original on 4 February 2016 Retrieved 15 February 2016 Eliza Collins Daniel Strauss September 15 2015 Jeb Bush super PAC video about America uses stock footage from overseas Politico Archived from the original on 3 March 2016 Retrieved 15 February 2016 STOCK FOOTAGE PRIMER TV Writer Podcast www tvwriterpodcast com Archived from the original on 2015 03 28 Retrieved 2015 03 25 New amp Unique Videos Productionhub com Archived from the original on 2017 11 13 Retrieved 2017 11 12 RELTH Relth Kj August 14 2013 6 Essential Tips for Using Archival Footage International Documentary Association Archived from the original on April 2 2015 Obius Rudie March 28 2014 10 Movies That Recycled Footage From Other Movies Mental Floss Archived from the original on 24 February 2016 Retrieved 17 February 2016 Bultitude Nick I m a Celebrity Cutscene Spider Web Catch YouTube Archived from the original on 31 March 2019 Retrieved 17 November 2018 Careless James 2010 01 06 Does standard def stock footage still play in a high def game Digital Video magazine Archived from the original on 2010 02 10 Retrieved 2014 11 07 Stock Footage Searches Reveal Shifting Media Trends Studio Daily Studio Daily 2017 01 25 Archived from the original on 2017 09 26 Retrieved 2017 09 26 Video File Format Overview dpbestflow org American Society of Media Photographers Archived from the original on 11 July 2016 Retrieved 16 July 2016 Further reading EditBernard S C and Rabin K Archival Storytelling A Filmmaker s Guide to Finding Using and Licensing Third Party Visuals and Music Focal Press 2008 ISBN 978 0 240 80973 1 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Stock footage amp oldid 1129194263, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.