Using Stock Video Footage
There are many legal limitations that designers must be knowledgeable about in the industry. Stock video footage is one of those things that designers need to purchase and follow a license regarding how it can legally be used.
What is stock video footage? Stock footage, also known as b-roll, is already recorded footage that can be purchased and reused in another type of film. This type of footage is usually pretty short because of how often and how much different stock footage is available. This is extremely beneficial for filmmakers and video editors because it saves some hard work that a person shooting may not be able to shoot. For example, a music video may need to take place in Egypt or may need a certain-looking cast. Stock footage solves problems like this by already being recorded to those needs when a person recording may be missing a clip of it. Some examples of other ways stock footage can be used include historic footage, wildlife and nature, music video scenes, and more.
Continuing this blog, I am going to be finding and rating 4 stock video footage websites, and talk more about how designers use them.
The first, and in my opinion, the best stock footage website is Adobe Stock. Adobe never fails to disappoint as the industry standard for literally anything digital design. Adobe Stock offers over 6 million (YES MILLION!) stock videos, categorized specifically for whatever a designer needs. They offer reasonable prices and provide lots of specifications for each stock video. They also give special offers and deals, especially for creative cloud users. I completely recommend this the most for the best quality and widest range of stock footage. Secondly, another decent stock footage site is VideoBlocks. Their service, StoryBlocks, allows members to pay for an annual membership that entirely unlocks and opens the doors to a royalty-free license. Members can expect to gain unlimited access to After Effects templates, stock footage, motion graphics, and more. They are constantly adding new footage and tools for members and their prices are one of the best out there compared to most. You can get 84% off the annual plan with video blocks and only pay $149. Their deals for what they have to offer for designers have honestly surprised me and they have very specific content. A pretty good website that offers completely free stock videos is Pexels’ videos. Pexels is known for its royalty-free graphics and elements, and even though its stock footage website doesn’t offer nearly as much as the others, it is great for something like a school project. I always say that free things are the best things and while that might be true, it is recommended to give credit to the source if you are going to use a freebie - it’s just the right thing to do as a designer. The last, but not best, stock footage website I came across was stockfootage.com. Straight to the point, right? This website offers the bare minimum of what a designer would need in actually purchasing stock videos. The videos are stock videos, but they're not the most suitable quality and can be a little cheesy. It’s enough to get the job done if you’re willing to spend money on it. I also might add that their videos are directly connected to YouTube, which isn’t the most convenient and thought-out way to provide this kind of content. Ultimately, all the websites I have mentioned are good for using stock footage with all their links in my sources at the bottom of the page.
A “Creative Commons License” is a type of license that balances copyright permissions. This means that with this license, designers can copyright their work, but add permissions and exceptions for copying, distributing editing, and more to the actual work. The Creative Commons License ties to stock video footage because that is essentially what stock is - allowing a certain extent of use and copy from other people once it's purchased. Usage rights include work credit, retaining copyright with permissions, non-commercial use of the content (in this case, stock videos) and remains as long as the copyright remains. The way that videographers will usually get paid when a designer purchases their content is that the website will add that credit to their account where they can later transfer to compatible payment sources like PayPal or a bank account. I could write an entire blog post about the Creative Commons license, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. I recommend looking more into the license and how it elaborately works if you are interested.
In terms of myself producing stock footage, I know I am very capable of producing that stock footage and after writing this article I am much so considering it… It is not too difficult to produce stock footage because they're usually small clips and have easy-going settings. Maybe after reading this, you’ll consider it too!
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