You Can Make Something from Nothing: Using Stock Video
uStudio | Video Production
Often, when I talk about the recent revolution in video tech, I specifically talk about how the cost of production has dropped steeply because of a wave of great video tools that are more and more affordable every day.
Chan-wook Park, an amazing director from Korea, took two iPhone 4’s and made a 30 minute short film, Night Fishing. Since, then cameras have gotten cheaper and better. Believe me, I wish I had this type of technology when I was kid trying to make videos using a camera and VCR.
However, there is an even more stunning trend underlying the explosion of video witnessed over the last decade – Stock footage.
A near-secret resource for media companies is now widely available and becoming more affordable every day. Sometimes, you just can’t get a shot you need. When that happens, you can start searching for stock clips that you can incorporate into your project.
In fact, you can use ONLY stock materials to create a video that has incredible impact.
This first example is from Getty Images. They do a superb job of showing how stock footage can be used to create compelling stories.
One of our clients, Lights Camera Help, is a nonprofit that helps other nonprofits tell their stories. They have a great example of how an organization, with just a little bit of knowledge and experience, can create a fantastic and engaging video with only stock photos, videos and music:
Think outside the box the next time you need to create a video and think about how you can use stock material like this, cut your production budget, while maintaining quality.
