Stock Footage

Generally, stock footage is a short clip or shot that showcases inanimate objects. This can be large areas such as city skylines, landscapes, or the sky. Or, it can display more intricate objects such as trees and nature, certain areas in cities, and so forth. It all really depends on what your film needs.

These clips are not specifically shot for your film but act as a building block in it. They are usually outtakes from other films or archive shots. However, some people film this content for the sole purpose of selling it. You can do this by shooting from a very generic perspective. They are beautiful shots that show a lot but say very little.

Film stock footage is a quick and easy way to up your film production value while saving resources.

Types

There are two different types of film stock footage available to the public. The first is public domain. This is free and available stock footage for anyone to use. Whether you are just starting to put films together or you have been in the industry for a while, you can usually find these in historical archives or from free offerings.

The second is copyrighted stock footage. With these, you need to pay a once-off fee to be able to use the footage legally. These are clips that are created by professionals and sold. Often, these are of far higher quality and value.

When to use stock footage in your film

All this may sound all well and good, but how do you know when to actually use stock footage in your film. There are a few pointers that may help position you.

1. When it enhances your film. This can be displaying different flowers as the film explores the value of flowers. Or, aged TV screens to enhance a vintage concept in your film. You can place stock footage over long monologues to speed up the audience engagement without taking away from the film.
2. Establishing shots. Establishing shots are hard to take as you need a drone or a really high vantage point. This isn’t always a reality for every filmmaker. So, when it comes to long establishing shots that place the audience in the right location, we recommend turning to drone stock footage. It is clean and professional and doesn’t take away from the film but rather helps your audience to situate themselves.
3. On a more practical side, you can use stock footage when you only need one or two shots and you don’t have the time or money. Hiring a crew and finding a location takes a lot of time and a lot of money. So if these are just not a reality to you at that moment, we suggest turning to film stock footage. It does the job with half of the struggle.
4. When you get to post-production and you are done with the process and realize you are missing a clip. Or if the clip is entirely unusable. This may require you to get a bit more creative and stock footage proves extremely handy.

TV Screen FX

With the TV screen footage, we provide over 100 different television screens for your film. These TV screen overlays add a unique retro to a grungy look to your film. It all depends on what you need. The team at CinePacks has spent hours perfecting different lighting and pacing with TV screens to provide only the best for you.

The easy, drag and drop files also include pre-keyed Alpha files that are live motion and transparent PNG overlays.

Bay Area Film Pack

This unique and fun b-roll package caters specifically to films situated in the Bay Area. Anything from Oakland to San Francisco. The package included 10 minutes of Super 8mm stock footage and 15 minutes of VHS footage.

The VHS and Super 8mm footage give some creative liberty to play around with classic vintage looks. If you do want a grungy look, the package also provides 5 minutes of glitchy footage.

Bay Area Night Hyper-lapses

Although this package only includes 5 hyper-lapse night clips of the Bay Area, it is of the highest quality. These hyper lapses are specifically of San Francisco and are guaranteed to improve your video edits.

When delving into the world of stock footage, you need to know what you’re looking for. Although it may be exciting to explore these new videos and files, make sure you allow space for yourself in your films. Overusing stock footage could make your film look less authentic.

Also, ensure that your placement of Stock footage communicates the message of the story rather than just looking nice. We do like things that look nice, but if there is just footage in for the sake of being in, it may take away from what you are actually trying to say.

At CinePacks, we provide three high-quality stock footage packages. These are all designed with special care and attention to help bring your film to life. Each package provides high quality, 4K resolution footage, with easy drag to drop qualities.

Additionally, if you are unsure about how it works, CinePacks provides free tutorials. These are quick and easy to follow, making sure you don’t get left behind after you download stock footage.