Making your video: the search for stock

I always prefer filming new content to using stock footage for projects at APV, but that said there are definitely times and very valid reasons where purchasing stock footage is in the best interest of a story, project and the budget.

Sometimes, a client is looking for a wide variety of scenery from all around the globe that features numerous talent, props and potentially complex scenarios that would be both impractical from a time standpoint and prohibitively expensive to send a crew to film for them.

Sometimes, it’s people performing specific tasks their employees need to perform but for one reason or another they are unable to provide employees to perform these tasks on camera (and would thus, have to hire professionals and potentially rent a studio set).

Or sometimes it just to augment and expand the storytelling in a film that has been shot with new footage but there are one or two shots that just need to be stock.

Whatever the requirement, there are just times when stock makes sense.

So how do you find the best stock for your project?

SEARCH

The answer really is: search, search, SEARCH.

Don't stop searching till you have found the right shot that fits both your unique storytelling and aesthetic requirements.

It might sound simple, but there really is an art to searching stock libraries effectively in order to locate the right stock footage for your project.

And while stock contributors often upload to multiple sources, you won’t find all clips in every library.

So, unfortunately, there are times when you’ll have to switch from your preferred service and check another.

I currently have two services I upload my own footage that I shoot and sell as stock footage to: Adobe Stock and Video Blocks.

But I most often use Shutterstock for APV projects when they call for stock footage, images, or vectors.

And there are many, many more libraries.

Pond 5 is a popular choice.

Getty Images also manage stock libraries, if you need something really specific.

Searching the stock library(ies) of your choice is its own art form.

You must be specific enough to weed out the 97% or more of available stuff that doesn’t apply.

At the same time, you can’t be too specific or you won’t get any results.

Some libraries even have filters you can utilise to help you narrow things down.

That being said, you don’t want to get so specific that you only have a few (or no) results.

You will still want some options to sift through, after all.

TIME

Looking for good stock footage takes time.

You can not search for stock in a hurry.

If you plan on using stock footage in your upcoming project make sure that you factor the search time into your timeline and if you can get ahead of the curve by starting the search early while developing the script and storyboard.

STILL NEED MORE HELP?

Reach out to me and the team at APV! 

We’d love to talk to you about how you can utilise stock video content for your brand, business, organisation or institution and to find out more about the story you are looking to create and share with your audience!

Thomas J Elliott is the Creative Director for APV an advertising agency specialising in video and animation with offices in Wan Chai Hong Kong. 

He is a winner of numerous international awards for video and animation and the author of five books on visual content.

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