Royalty Free Stock Footage

Stock footage can add a world of options to your projects, productions and marketing videos. It is video footage which has been taken from a previous production or shot for a previous production but not used. It can also be footage which is made specifically for use as stock video. There are multiple types of stock footage. Some examples are moving landmarks or cities, nature, animals interacting in their natural environment, people doing activities, time lapses, and slow motion shots.

Stock footage is mostly used in movies, television shows, documentaries, and news broadcasts. Remember that scene of people walking down the street during the report on crowded city streets? Remember that movie with the scene of boats cruising underneath the Golden Gate bridge? Remember that sitcom episode when the characters went to the beach and the scene before they arrived at the beach showed people in swimwear rollerblading down the boardwalk? Yep that's right...it was all stock footage. Filmmakers and videographers get a lot of benefit out of using stock footage because it saves time and money by not having to record the footage themselves.

Royalty free stock footage is the best type of footage to use. Once it is purchased it can be used as much as you want in as many productions as you'd like to use it in without the need to provide credit to the source who created it. Royalty free footage is usually purchased but there are some websites which provide free clips, volumes, and access to libraries. There are also websites which provide unlimited access to footage with a paid membership. Even the sites that provide royalty free stock footage for a fee usually provide you some clips or volumes that you can get for free by registering with the website or signing up for a newsletter. These sites allow you to purchase clips or volumes of clips via download, DVD, or both.

What to Look for in Stock Footage

Quality

If you want your videos to be professional you cannot use low quality clips. You want to be sure to preview any and all stock footage before purchasing it. It would be a shame to put a lot of work into making sure your created clips were perfect and then insert a low quality pixelated stock clip into your production.

Quantity

You want to make sure that the site you make your purchase from has a large quantity of footage available. If you are purchasing a volume of clips make sure it has a good quantity as well. The best volumes have several versions of clips which make them easier to manipulate such as mattes, alpha channels, and slow motion.

File Types

The most popular file type for video footage is MOV. It is the most popular because it can be used with the most popular non-linear editing programs made by Avid, Adobe, and Final Cut. Other popular file types for video footage are WMV and MP4. Most websites offer footage in NTSC and PAL. Make sure the website where you get your footage provides clips in a usable file format that your video editing program supports.

SD or HD

Most websites that offer stock footage offer standard definition (SD) and high definition(HD) options. Look for the available options on the website of your choice and be sure to purchase the option which you will use most in your productions.

The Video-Editing-Software-Guide.com Top Six

Here is a list of some of the best websites for royalty free stock footage. This list is based on price, quality, quantity, available options, effects specialization, and technical support.

#6 Artbeats.com

Artbeats.com sells royalty free stock footage for all occasions. They provide video footage as well as effects and backgrounds. You can find clips of fire, particle effects, electricity, 3D backgrounds. lightning, aerial shots, city rush, water, earth views, crowds and much more. They offer files in NTSC and PAL formats. Every clip is high quality. The down side...this footage is expensive. SD collections range from $299 to $699 while HD collections range from $699 to $1599. SD clips are $49 and up while HD clips are $79 and up. but hey, you get what you pay for.

#5 Pond5.com

Pond5.com has a wide range of royalty free media including audio and video. It is a marketplace where videographers can sell their 5 to 30 second video footage for a 50% commission to users who need stock footage. This is a great concept for sellers and buyers alike. Basically the competition helps to keep the price down based on what type of footage you need. You can get clips from $1 and up. Many clips are between $5 and $20. You can preview and download clips directly from the website. The quality of the clips depends on the submitter and pond5's agreement to place the clip on the site.

#4 FootageFirm.com

FootageFirm.com has a huge volume of royalty free stock footage. They provide footage of people, nature, cities, backgrounds, effects, and time lapses. They also provide stock sound effects and music. Their clips are of the highest quality. They offer footage for a fee ($249 and up for a volume of clips) but they also have free footage. Footage Firm offers several free volumes of royalty free footage. The down side is it has to be shipped and the shipping costs $8.95 per disc. This is still considered a great deal when you consider that you have to pay $45 or more for a single clip on some other websites.

#3 DetonationFilms.com

DetonationFilms.com is an effects guru's dream. They specialize in effects. Their website has several volumes of effects that suit many needs. Detonation Films has blood, bullets, explosions, fire, smoke, clouds, debris, exploding body parts, exploding vehicles, fireballs, muzzle flashes, and many more effects. Most of them come pre-keyed or with alpha channels which makes for seamless integration into your videos. Many of the volumes come with one or more free clips which can be downloaded directly from the website. Their prices are reasonable, ranging from $7 downloads to $18 for DVD volumes. If you are looking for royalty free effects to add to your projects this should be your first stop.

#2 TubeTape.net

TubeTape.net is a great site to pick up almost anything you need for making great videos. They have a wide range of products and several categories. Of course one of those categories is stock footage. Tubetape specializes in chroma keying which makes them one of the best places to acquire pre-keyed stock effects. They pay special attention to providing you with high quality images and effects which can be imported into almost any NLE program to create awesome special effects. The prices are fair and if you sign up for their newsletter they will send you an email every Thursday with special prices which are only offered to their subscribers.

#1 DigitalJuice.com

DigitalJuice.com has every type of stock footage you'll need to create professional videos. They offer two volumes of 500 or 700 HD video clips for $249. That's 50 cents or 36 cents a clip! All of the clips come in SD, HD, slow motion, and high speed. The clips are in MOV format but can be converted to AVI or WMV by downloading the free juicer program from their website. Digital Juice also offers large volumes of up to 325 special effects footage for $249. These effects come with alpha channels to help you get them into your projects with ease. All their clips are shot at 2048 x 1536 HD resolution. This means you have more than enough pixels to work with any SD or HD production environment.

Any one of the websites listed above will provide you with a large variety of clips. But, you do need to visit the sites to determine which ones have the best footage for your individual needs. Who knows...the clips on one site may actually be too fancy to suit your needs or one site may have the perfect footage for your production but it may only be available in SD. At the end of the day everything is based on your needs. So if this is the start of your research we urge you to visit the sites above and continue your research until you find the right footage for you.

There are some sites that provide free stock footage. One of those sites is BottledVideo.com They have a huge selection of stock videos which can be instantly downloaded from their site and used for free in any of your videos.

Using stock footage can quickly and easily add new elements to your videos. Whether you are using them for effects or to add a nice transition to a new scene, stock video footage is a valuable tool that anyone can use to make their videos more professional, exciting, and fun.

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