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While many filmmakers enjoy the process of filming their own footage, there are constraints that often make this difficult, such as time and budget. Using stock footage can be much more convenient and budget-friendly, and it does not hurt the quality of the project—in fact, even Hollywood uses stock footage. It can even empower you to employ effects or location shots that would be too expensive otherwise, or help you replace unusable clips. However, there are several things to keep in mind when using stock footage. In this article, we will outline several of the best stock footage websites, how to credit the author of the footage and best practices for using stock footage.
Tips for using stock footage
Tips for using stock footage
One of the most crucial parts of successfully implementing stock footage is to make sure that it looks believable. Find clips that look as realistic as possible so that they do not detract from your project. Pay attention to the smaller details such as the tone and colors to ensure that they blend seamlessly with your work.
It is also crucial to choose stock footage that has a similar quality and resolution to the rest of your project.
Lastly, reading the fine print of the licensing rules is essential. Although license agreements might all seem the same, they usually have different rules, and many specify exact situations in which the footage may not be used. Thus, it is important to make sure that a footage clip is permissible for the context of your specific project. Stock footage companies might specify that certain subject matters are inappropriate for their clip or that it cannot be used internationally. You will want to avoid breaching the terms of use accidentally by doing your research initially, before you have invested hours integrating the clip into your project.
Commercial vs. personal use
Commercial vs. personal use
Sometimes you might find footage that is marked with the label “editorial use only.” This means that it is for personal use and cannot be used for commercial purposes—basically, anything that promotes a product, service or brand. It could be anything that generates revenue both indirectly or directly, or (more broadly) something that affects the reputation of a product, person or company and could cause the generating of income. These contexts include commercial blogs or websites, television advertisements, promotional videos or within a product. Examples would be using footage of known baseball players on a website offering baseball bats, or clips of a trademarked building like the Empire State Building in a travel advertisement.
Typically, clips that cannot be used for commercial purposes do not have a model or property release, which is a signed document from recognizable people in the clip or the owners of property seen in the clip permitting the footage to be used commercially. Footage that is used for commercial purposes has to have the knowledge and consent of the models or property owners. Editorial footage might also portray a celebrity or trademarked logos or property, which is only permissible for commercial use if it is incidental and not the central focus.
Editorial footage can be used in news videos, articles, documentaries and non-commercial presentations, for educational purposes or on a website or blog for descriptive purposes.
Do you need to give attribution to the author?
Do you need to give attribution to the author?
There are several situations in which you will need to give attribution to the original author of a clip: if it is used in editorial content, video productions, a context related to merchandise or with other credited content. Editorial content is anything that is created to be newsworthy or interesting to the public, such as books, news articles and documentaries.
Even if you purchase a royalty-free license, you might not be obligated to give attribution to the original creator, but it is usually polite and safer to still do so. Licenses can have special attribution rules that are easy to miss, and mentioning the stock footage company or contributor in a “special thanks” portion of the end credits can save you from problems later on.
Completely Free Stock footage websites
Completely Free Stock footage websites
There are several websites for finding high-quality stock footage that you can add to a project.
Pixabay is a website that has more than 1.8 million free stock videos and images. It has a straightforward and effective search function for finding the perfect stock footage in minutes. One of the best aspects of this particular platform is that it gives users access to a large amount of 4K (or ultra-high definition) footage. You also can hover over a section for a clip preview, which makes it easier to choose a portion of the footage that you like.
Pexels is a stock footage website that has been around since 2014, so it is already well-established. Pexels has a large library of high-definition clips and even GoPro clips, and it also offers the ability to preview clips as you are browsing through footage so that you can make sure you have found the right clip before you download it. One of the most useful features of Pexels is that the website includes a variety of videos that can be used for free with no attribution, even for commercial purposes.
The best aspect of Videvo is that it not only contains stock footage, but also motion graphics, music and sound effects to help you complete a project. With more than 120,000 high-quality files that include 4K and HD footage, Videvo is one of the best options when it comes to stock footage websites because of the additional materials it offers to make your project look more polished and stand out. It also has the most effective search function out of all the options in this article, with filters and categories that narrow your results and weed out any clips that do not match what you are looking for. The videos on the homepage are sorted into “popular videos,” “newest videos” and “collections,” and they are updated daily, ensuring that users always have fresh content available to them. For users’ peace of mind, Videvo carefully curates all of the content to ensure that everyone is receiving the highest quality stock footage. Videvo also offers two different subscriptions (Videvo Plus and Videvo Pro) that allows users access to even more video and audio content. There are two different licenses on Videvo: royalty-free and Videvo attribution license. For content associated with the former, users are allowed to use the footage as much as they would like without crediting the artist. For content under the Videvo attribution license, users must credit the artist.
Coverr originated as a source for clips that can be used as a Facebook cover photo or on a website homepage, but it includes far more than those measly options. The website now includes an extensive number of HD footage and clips, and new ones are uploaded each Monday. When looking through the footage, you can click to watch clip previews. One of the unique features of this stock footage site is that it offers looping clips.
Mixkit is from Envato Elements, which is a well-known company in the realm of stock images. One of the best features of Mixkit is its efficient and user-friendly interface. Users do not even have to venture beyond the homepage to download and preview free stock footage within a variety of categories. All of the footage is top-quality and free, and the content is refreshed every week. One convenient feature is that users can sign up to be alerted through a newsletter when 10 new video clips have been uploaded each week, and receive exclusive HD videos. In addition to video footage, Mixkit offers free stock music and Premiere Pro templates to help users complete their projects. Mixkit curates their clips, music and templates from the most talented creators, ensuring that users have only the most excellent content to download. Their videos are sorted into categories including nature, lifestyle, business, animals and food.
Videezy is one of the largest video communities in the world. The home page of Videezy sorts the video footage into helpful categories, such as “popular new video footage,” “top backgrounds” and “After Effects templates.” It offers free HD and 4K video footage as well as time-lapses, and most of the video clips are free to download and to use. One of the unique features of this website is that it also provides animations. However, it is important to note that the first two rows of search results include footage from Shutterstock that you can only use with a paid membership. If you use the footage from Videezy for commercial purposes, you will have to attribute Vedeezy.com. In addition to the free stock footage, there are also paid video clips and premium clips with a green “Pro” label that can be purchased with site credits.
Leeroy, a Montreal digital agency, and its network of contributors created Life of Vids to provide free videos, loops and clips with no copyright restrictions. Best of all, their footage can be used for both personal and commercial purposes. High resolution videos are available to download, and new vides are added each week. The collections page of the website is the easiest way to sift through content, with footage organized into categories such as city, clouds, drone, food, nature, office, people and water.
Although Splitshire has a smaller library of free video footage, it is still quite popular, with more than 2 million downloads since it launched. One artist created all of the content on the site, and his dream was to share his content throughout the world. The stock footage can be used for both personal and commercial use. The only downside of Splitshire is that the website does not include a search function.
All of the stock footage on Dareful includes a royalty-free license that permits you to use it in any project (even commercial ones) for as long as you would like without any fees. Users also are given an unlimited number of downloads. This website is ideal for projects that focus on international locations, as it provides beautiful landscape and aerial footage that would be expensive to film on your own.
Distill is a stock footage website with curated HD videos that are free for personal as well as commercial use. However, there is a limit on the footage you can use, with users allowed to have 10 free HD videos every 10 days. To make things easy, these 10 videos can even be delivered directly to your inbox. The video clips on the homepage are organized by the name of their creator, and there is a search function as well.
Paid stock footage websites vs. free
Paid stock footage websites vs. free
There are two primary kinds of stock footage: public domain and copyrighted. Public domain footage is free for everyone to use, which includes historical archives from the National Archives and Records Administration or other non-commercial sources such as Getty Images. Copyrighted stock footage is primarily created by professional videographers and requires a fee that the user pays for licensing rights. One of the main paid stock footage websites is Shutterstock, which provides millions of royalty-free clips that users can purchase for a one-time fee and then use as much as they would like.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Thanks to the internet, it has never been easier to complete a video project, as there are many top-quality stock footage websites with free content that videographers can use for personal as well as commercial purposes. When you find the perfect footage for your project, be sure to read the licensing rules carefully to check how it can be used and whether or not it needs an attribution. If you use free stock footage correctly, it can be an invaluable asset to any video project and help you create something masterful in half the time and for half the cost.
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