Commercial Applications Of Stock Video Footage
HD video stock footage
The Internet has revolutionized almost every field of creative endeavor. Filmmaking has definitely changed thanks to online resources, and one of the biggest new opportunities the Internet has to offer is finding and using commercial video stock footage with incredible ease. As multimedia content becomes more and more important to a wider range of businesses, this is very good news for commercial video creators! Here’s why.
First Things First: Clearance And Copyright
As you should probably already know, pulling images or videos off of the Internet at random and re-using them in your own projects is extremely risky. The issue becomes far more important when you’re making a video for commercial use; you could get into serious legal trouble by stealing footage that belongs to someone else. Fortunately, there are many dedicated sites that archive stock footage that comes pre-cleared and ready to use. (Some of the best sites even give you access to completely free footage!) Remember to confirm explicitly that the footage you want is cleared for commercial use as well as private use.
Building Better Advertisements
Marketing experts are constantly advocating the value of using more multimedia content in online advertising and marketing. This is one of the reasons why commercial video production is attracting the interest of relative newcomers to the world of filmmaking. Small business owners can dramatically increase the scope and polish of very inexpensive videos by making good use of stock footage. The right stock footage adds polish and prestige to a marketing video without inflating its price.
Adding Punch To Presentations
Selling a product or service isn’t the only commercial use for stock footage, of course! Anyone who’s worked in a large corporate setting has come to dread the arrival of the inevitable PowerPoint presentation in meetings both large and small. If you find yourself saddled with the responsibility of crafting an internal presentation, (or one for customers or partners) why not wake up your audience by using plenty of video content? Stock footage allows you to build presentations that entertain and excite corporate viewers instead of putting them to sleep.
Telling Clearer Stories
All filmmakers are deeply concerned with ensuring that their message comes across loud and clear, and it’s particularly important for commercial video makers to avoid confusing their audience. Stock footage can have a powerful linking effect when chosen with care. You can soften abrupt transitions, illustrate crucial points, and emphasize your most important takeaways by backing them up with stock video.
Bringing Words To Life
In a lot of commercial video projects, the choice of medium comes well in advance of the idea of what to actually show on the screen. The boss says it has to be a video, so you’re making a video. Stock footage is a great way to add motion and color to script that otherwise has you at a loss. Does your script compare the competitive business environment to being alone? Grab some commercial video stock footage of a Pacific island! Are you trying to sell an organic food product? Lay in some footage of farming beneath your voiceover about production methods! When you’re short on time and the ideas aren’t coming, browsing the stock footage possibilities can spur you into action and make you more creative.
If you are making your own commercial video, stock footage dramatically extends the range of possibilities available to you. A shoestring budget need not constrain your video or force it to be boring! Start hunting up good sources of commercial video stock footage to broaden your video-making repertoire.