So far I have tried to post some stuff about the surface level basics of shooting stock footage. I want to write a quick blurb about the thought process behind what sells, and some of the different angles you can approach shooting stock footage from that may improve your chances of success as a Stock Footage producer.
Stock footage has evolved, there are too many “standard” stock footage shots. Everyone already has access to them. How many times have you seen a time lapse sunset shot, a close up of a water drop in slow motion making waves? An abstract of waves rippling on a lake? A colorful blurred abstract background? A close-up of beautiful flower blowing gently in a summer breeze?
Historically, stock footage has been all about shooting VERY generic, standard shots in standard categories to create an all incompassing "Stock Footage Library." A production company would purchase the library to cover all of their stock footage needs. The licensing fees for using clips from these stock footage libraries was quite expensive and usually kept small independent producers away from purchasing the footage. Things have changed, and there is a MUCH larger pool of producers that need stock footage for music videos, websites, webisodes, commercials, indy films, student films, live events etc. but they aren't willing to purchase large libraries, and they are using stock footage to save money on their productions. And they usually have much more specialized or specific needs.
With the onset of micro-sites your stock footage is available to the entire world, shoot something unique, special, impressive, difficult to shoot, or creative and you will do very well. There still is a market for the standard, tried and true subject matter, but you better have a studio, high end camera equipment and lights, hire professional actors/models and have some experience shooting professional film or video. A popular topics that comes to mind is:
Business People - Meetings, making deals, on the phone, on a computer, working together, etc. Businesses put together video presentations all the time for marketing purposes, conventions, sales meetings, etc. They use them on websites, in power point presentations etc. That is a good target market because they don’t like to go and hire camera crews to shoot a 3 minute sales meeting video.
I’m not discouraging shooting this kind of footage, but starting out, it is much more rewarding to sell your unique eye to the world.
Here is an example of a unique shot that has done well for me.
I was able to get my HVX200 into the LA County Fair and shoot this POV shot as I slid down a colorful slide. I didn't have to hire any actors, rent a studio, lights, or production assistants. As of this posting, "Carnival Slide POV" has made me $542 from istockphoto.com sales. It consistently sells (on average) about once every month. That's not a bad trip to the County Fair! I'd say I covered my entrance fee and the $2 to go on the slide.
Find something unique to shoot... it doesn't always have to be a big production. Just watch out for recognizable faces, logos, or other things that will get your clip rejected.
Happy Shooting
HDCineman
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Keywording Stock Footage
Keywording is the single most important factor in getting potential buyers to find your clip. Having great footage is good, but if no one can find it you will never get any sales. Take the time to write out very thoughtful keywords for your clips.
If you are foggy on how a keyword works, a keyword is a word or phrase that describes your clip. This word or phrase is something that a customer would type into a search box to try and find a clip that they want to buy. As a footage producer, you have no idea who will need your clip or what they will use it for, but you have to make your best guess at what a customer might type in that search box to get them to find your clip, and hopefully purchase it.
Look at your clip and type all the different keywords that describe your clip. Put yourself in the position of different customers that may want to purchase your clip, what would you type in to find your clip? Say you are putting together a short video promoting Los Angeles tourism, maybe you would type in the words, "Los Angeles Beach Scenics". Maybe you are doing an art piece and are looking for a bunch of different clips that are orange. Maybe you are a cinematography teacher and you want to illustrate the term "silhouette" or "color gradient" The more scenarios you can come up with, the more relavent keywords you will come up with, and the more sales you will make.
When you are first learning to keyword the best thing you can do is copy someone else's keywords. If you have a shot of a surfer at sunset, do a search for "sunset surfer" find the clip that is similar to yours and has the MOST downloads. There will probably be a lot of keywords on there that you didn't think of. There is a fantastic site I've recently started using http://www.findphotokeywords.com/. This site allows you to search for clips that match yours on Shutterstock, iStockphoto, Dreamstime, and Getty Images. Then you can extract keywords from those sites. Great tool!
Another good tool for some clips is wikipedia, when you type the subject of your clip into wikipedia you will get a wealth of information that could be useful for your keywords. Especially for shots of animals, objects or landmarks.
Here are the keywords I would use for the sunset surfer clip:
surfer, surf, surfboard, sunset, beach, wave, warm, California, establishing shot, silhouette, short board, Los Angeles, LA, Manhattan Beach, beach, ocean, water, recreation, sport, extreme, sports, relaxation, skill, balance, exercise, man, carve, ride, summertime, summer, outdoors, orange
Do your keywords right the first time, sometimes it is tempting to just get all your footage up as fast as possible with the intention of coming back and improving your keywords... That can grow into a daunting task as your library grows and you will be missing out on sales opportunities.
Happy Shooting!
HDCineman
If you are foggy on how a keyword works, a keyword is a word or phrase that describes your clip. This word or phrase is something that a customer would type into a search box to try and find a clip that they want to buy. As a footage producer, you have no idea who will need your clip or what they will use it for, but you have to make your best guess at what a customer might type in that search box to get them to find your clip, and hopefully purchase it.
Look at your clip and type all the different keywords that describe your clip. Put yourself in the position of different customers that may want to purchase your clip, what would you type in to find your clip? Say you are putting together a short video promoting Los Angeles tourism, maybe you would type in the words, "Los Angeles Beach Scenics". Maybe you are doing an art piece and are looking for a bunch of different clips that are orange. Maybe you are a cinematography teacher and you want to illustrate the term "silhouette" or "color gradient" The more scenarios you can come up with, the more relavent keywords you will come up with, and the more sales you will make.
When you are first learning to keyword the best thing you can do is copy someone else's keywords. If you have a shot of a surfer at sunset, do a search for "sunset surfer" find the clip that is similar to yours and has the MOST downloads. There will probably be a lot of keywords on there that you didn't think of. There is a fantastic site I've recently started using http://www.findphotokeywords.com/. This site allows you to search for clips that match yours on Shutterstock, iStockphoto, Dreamstime, and Getty Images. Then you can extract keywords from those sites. Great tool!
Another good tool for some clips is wikipedia, when you type the subject of your clip into wikipedia you will get a wealth of information that could be useful for your keywords. Especially for shots of animals, objects or landmarks.
Here are the keywords I would use for the sunset surfer clip:
surfer, surf, surfboard, sunset, beach, wave, warm, California, establishing shot, silhouette, short board, Los Angeles, LA, Manhattan Beach, beach, ocean, water, recreation, sport, extreme, sports, relaxation, skill, balance, exercise, man, carve, ride, summertime, summer, outdoors, orange
Do your keywords right the first time, sometimes it is tempting to just get all your footage up as fast as possible with the intention of coming back and improving your keywords... That can grow into a daunting task as your library grows and you will be missing out on sales opportunities.
Happy Shooting!
HDCineman
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Getting Started
Getting started with stock footage is relatively simple. If you've never shot stock footage before you will need the following:
- A good quality HD camera - Buy a Panasonic HVX200, a Canon 7D or borrow one from a friend (note, you can sell standard def footage, but if you want to build a passive income that will pay you for years to come, you want to capture your footage at the highest quality possible, and standard def is already on its way out, people just won't buy it as often)
- A tripod - It is super important to have a steady shot, a good fluid head tripod is probably the best investment you can make, but if you want to get started with NO money, set your camera on a rock or on a chair if you have to.
- A computer with some editing software - I use Final Cut Pro, you really just need a way to cut your footage clips down to be the right length (usually 5 - 30 seconds) and so you can cut out any camera bobbles. You also need a way to save the file to the correct file format, the standard right now for HD stock footage is a photo jpg compression or a motion jpg A or B compression. I will to a full post on technical requirements, but you can read about them on the various stock footage websites. Pond5 Video Requirements
- Internet access - a fast internet connection is important because you will need to upload your footage to a stock footage website, you will need to write keywords and descriptions for each clip, and you will need to track and collect your earnings.
Really that's it!
Once you have those things, these are the steps to getting your first clip posted and ready to sell.
1) Take the day and go shoot a bunch of really cool stuff! anything you want, but something unique, and something that would make good stock footage. I will be writing specific posts on what makes good stock footage.
2) Sign up for a stock footage account with a reputable website. I recommend Pond5 when you're getting started, they are a little less picky on the footage they accept, and they pay the largest percentage in the biz. Pond5 Stock Footage.
3) Edit your clips - Capture your fantastic, unique, amazing footage onto your computer and cut it into clips that are the right length (based on the requirements of the stock footage site you sign up with) Select the 3 very best clips you shot and export to your stock footage site's specs. If you are using final cut: Mark an in and out point on your clip ---> File ---> Export Quicktime Movie -----> Settings:Custom Settings --->
4) Apply for a contributor's account with your stock footage site. Most of them have an evaluation/review process you have to go through. You may have to take a test, you will probably have to upload 3 samples of your work. Once you finish the application, you will have to wait for a few days up to a few weeks.
5) Upload Upload Upload! - Once you are accepted as a stock footage contributor you are ready to start putting your product out there for the world to see, and start collecting some CASH! You will need to upload your clips, add keywords and possibly descriptions or other information. The more information you provide for each clip the better your sales will be down the road. Take your time on the keywording process, this is THE way that people will find your clip. I will have a specific post on the ins and outs of keywording, but every stock footage site has some good information on how to keyword your clips.
6) Start collecting your money! - Once you have enough money in your account you can have the stock footage site send you a check, or you can simply have them transfer it to your PayPal account (if you don't have PayPal, I highly recommend opening an account, it really is the easiest way to transfer money over the internet, and it makes the money part of your stock footage business very simple) Your income will be slow at first, but it will grow exponentially as you post more clips. Your shooting skills and stock footage "Horse Sense" will improve and if you stick with it you will soon have a healthy supplemental income.
- A good quality HD camera - Buy a Panasonic HVX200, a Canon 7D or borrow one from a friend (note, you can sell standard def footage, but if you want to build a passive income that will pay you for years to come, you want to capture your footage at the highest quality possible, and standard def is already on its way out, people just won't buy it as often)
- A tripod - It is super important to have a steady shot, a good fluid head tripod is probably the best investment you can make, but if you want to get started with NO money, set your camera on a rock or on a chair if you have to.
- A computer with some editing software - I use Final Cut Pro, you really just need a way to cut your footage clips down to be the right length (usually 5 - 30 seconds) and so you can cut out any camera bobbles. You also need a way to save the file to the correct file format, the standard right now for HD stock footage is a photo jpg compression or a motion jpg A or B compression. I will to a full post on technical requirements, but you can read about them on the various stock footage websites. Pond5 Video Requirements
- Internet access - a fast internet connection is important because you will need to upload your footage to a stock footage website, you will need to write keywords and descriptions for each clip, and you will need to track and collect your earnings.
Really that's it!
Once you have those things, these are the steps to getting your first clip posted and ready to sell.
1) Take the day and go shoot a bunch of really cool stuff! anything you want, but something unique, and something that would make good stock footage. I will be writing specific posts on what makes good stock footage.
2) Sign up for a stock footage account with a reputable website. I recommend Pond5 when you're getting started, they are a little less picky on the footage they accept, and they pay the largest percentage in the biz. Pond5 Stock Footage.
3) Edit your clips - Capture your fantastic, unique, amazing footage onto your computer and cut it into clips that are the right length (based on the requirements of the stock footage site you sign up with) Select the 3 very best clips you shot and export to your stock footage site's specs. If you are using final cut: Mark an in and out point on your clip ---> File ---> Export Quicktime Movie -----> Settings:Custom Settings --->
4) Apply for a contributor's account with your stock footage site. Most of them have an evaluation/review process you have to go through. You may have to take a test, you will probably have to upload 3 samples of your work. Once you finish the application, you will have to wait for a few days up to a few weeks.
5) Upload Upload Upload! - Once you are accepted as a stock footage contributor you are ready to start putting your product out there for the world to see, and start collecting some CASH! You will need to upload your clips, add keywords and possibly descriptions or other information. The more information you provide for each clip the better your sales will be down the road. Take your time on the keywording process, this is THE way that people will find your clip. I will have a specific post on the ins and outs of keywording, but every stock footage site has some good information on how to keyword your clips.
6) Start collecting your money! - Once you have enough money in your account you can have the stock footage site send you a check, or you can simply have them transfer it to your PayPal account (if you don't have PayPal, I highly recommend opening an account, it really is the easiest way to transfer money over the internet, and it makes the money part of your stock footage business very simple) Your income will be slow at first, but it will grow exponentially as you post more clips. Your shooting skills and stock footage "Horse Sense" will improve and if you stick with it you will soon have a healthy supplemental income.
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