- This is stock footage.
You've totally seen this before and you're probably thinking
to yourself, ew, that's really not that engaging at all.
And I would agree with you, but guess what?
This footage right here makes bank.
But not like bank bank, like you're showering in money.
And it's like Donald duck swimming through--
Is it Donald Duck?
Who's the duck, one of the ducks swims in money.
Not that duck, okay?
You're gonna be a different duck.
The one that can probably afford car insurance
on a reasonably priced car and maybe go on a trip to Mexico
but only when there's a really good sale
during black Friday, that type of bank.
So since I started selling stock video three years ago
I have made approximately $28,131 and 27 cents.
That's approximately $9,377 and 9 cents per year.
In this video, I'm gonna show you how to shoot stock video,
best practices and how to upload that
so it actually sells.
That way, one day you could be a hundredaire
or if you really put the work, in a thousandaire.
Okay, so all joking aside,
it's so important to have a strategy
when you are shooting stock and uploading stock footage.
There's already so much bad footage
on the internet right now.
That's when a lot of people, when they see stock footage
they always kind of just like roll their eyes at it.
We need good, high quality footage.
Don't be another person that litters
on the internet with bad stock footage.
Okay, so buyers generally want the following:
one, forget, trending topics happening in the world.
They want trending topics that are happening in the world.
Things like Halloween or celebrations that are going on
that a lot of people attend or just trending news stories.
People want footage around those things.
Number two, well-shot, in focus,
stable and high resolution footage.
Number three, footage with people in it
with a variety of different emotions.
So if you're shooting something, try to see
if you can get multiple takes that have different emotions.
Sad, angry, happy.
And if you want to go above and beyond
you will shoot footage in a sequence
because buyers like having a variety of shots
that they actually tell a story from the same scene.
Massive step, number one, you have to do this
or you cannot sell stock footage.
I dunno why I was so aggressive with that
but it's a really important step.
Now I got a beard hair in my teeth.
Ew.
This is so gross.
This is the worst moment ever caught on camera.
Ew, oh no.
Oh man, I'm really making you sit
on the edge of your seat for this one.
You're like, what is the step?
All that to say that you need to have a model release
and a property release
or you will not be able to sell your stock footage.
It is so easy to get.
There's literally apps
that you can download on the app store.
I will link a few of my favorites below,
the free ones as well as the more expensive ones.
I use the $10 one.
Okay. So let me show you my setup for shooting stock video.
This is the Lumix S5 with a 24 to 70 F 2.8 lens.
It also has the Atomos Ninja V here on the top.
Now, the reason why I like shooting
with this setup is number one,
when you have this combo here, I can shoot 5.9K raw video.
And the reason why that's a good thing when it comes
to stock video is because the higher the resolution,
it fetches a higher price point.
So that's a really key thing.
And also raw video could also capture a higher price point.
On top of that, it has really great IBIS
which means that it has great image stabilization.
So our final shot, we're shooting 24 frames per second
is going to look really really good when it's handheld.
And then on top of that
I have this extra little mount right here to
make it extra stable so
that my footage will sell.
Shaky footage doesn't sell.
Stabilize your footage or at least use a tripod.
Another thing that you can do to increase your chances
of someone buying your footage is shooting
in the highest frame rates possible.
We're talking 60 frames per second or higher.
That means that editors
or buyers have the chance to slow down their footage.
And that increases its chances to sell.
All right, so let's say you're just doing a normal shoot
whether it's for yourself or for a client.
Rather than just shooting for the purposes of your video.
Let's say it's like three second clips,
five second clips, shoot for 10 to 20 second clips
so that you can sell that footage later for stock video.
Now the recommended sweet spot is around 15 seconds,
so that editors have flexibility
in the post-production process.
So whenever you're shooting video for stock
try to get as much outta the scene as possible.
Shoot a variety of motions, shoot a variety
of actions and also get a variety of different shots
and angles so that there's options for people to buy.
All right, so let me show you how to prepare your footage
for upload to stock sites.
This is the post-production process.
Now this process will be different for everybody
but if you shot raw or you shot a flat profile, like we did
all you need to do is import your footage
and then throw a Rec. 709 on it
and then do minor tweaks to make sure
that your image is corrected.
If you shot just a normal picture profile
bring that footage in and just correct it ever so slightly
so that at least it looks good.
Now let's say you shot slowmo.
We personally like to export in slowmo.
So let's say your slow motion clip is 15 seconds long
but if you sped it up to real time
make sure that it's a minimum five seconds
so that it can be used in real time and in slowmo.
In terms of our export settings
we use ProRes 422, 10 bit, and we never export with audio.
That is such an important step.
You can literally just check it off
right here in Premiere Pro.
I also have a little gift for you.
So if anyone's having any trouble trying to
do these export settings
I have some presets that you can just install
right into Premiere Pro.
You can get those for free if you sign up for my newsletter.
On top of that, I have another gift for you.
There is a free course that you'll instantly get
when you sign up for the newsletter
called 10 Days to Raise Your Rates
where each day I send out an email
with all these tips and strategies to raise your rates
as a creative so that you can make some more money.
Links are in the description below for that.
Okay, so moving on to metadata and keywording
for uploading to stock websites.
Now this step is so important.
Maybe even more important than shooting good footage
because this is how people will find your footage to buy.
Now, this is gonna be a quick overview and best practices.
So if you wanna deep dive into this stuff
you can sign up for the BlackBox Facebook group.
I will leave a link below.
There are so many useful resources there.
Number one, title your clips as specific as possible.
Here's an example, "Great horned owl sits
"on a perch on a white screened background."
You know what I did when I first did stuff like this?
I would put, "Owl on white background."
Don't do that.
No one will get it.
Be very, very specific.
Get that horned owl in there.
Number two, get ready for it.
It is recommended to put 35 to 49 keywords.
I can't even think of that many words
but you have to put the effort in
and they have to be specific again.
For example, let's say you have
a beautiful drone shot of a forest.
You can't just put "green" because the forest is green
because then it's gonna get categorized
with shots of like green pants.
And then the algorithms will look and be like,
hey, no one's clicking on this footage.
And then you'll just not make any money.
So be specific.
When you are keywording let the keywords
give context to your shot.
So let it answer the who, what, where, when, how,
type of shot, angle of shot,
and really hone in on the emotion or mood because pro tip:
most buyers are new and search with emotion.
They're not searching like,
"Ah, I'm emotional while I'm searching."
They search for the emotion
of the clip that they're looking for.
Now, this is gonna sound super bougie
but I don't do any of my metadata because I'm so bad at it.
I actually work with a curator who takes all of my footage,
does the exporting and keywording metadata,
and we share in the profits of that footage.
Now I upload all of my stock footage
to a website called blackbox.global.
Now I made a whole video about it right here,
if you guys wanna go check it out.
But essentially how it works is
that I upload once to BlackBox,
they upload to all of the stock sites
that exist in the world.
Then they collect the money that's made
from those websites and they take 15%.
I like this because you upload once,
distribute all, collect money
and they take a very small percentage
and I can share in the revenue with a curator.
That's a great system.
Now, if you guys want to sign up for BlackBox
I will leave a link below.
I'm gonna leave a little asterisk right there.
It is so important to have a good portfolio
and good stock footage
because they are not accepting that many people.
So make sure you are putting your best foot forward
in this situation because the bar is set very, very high.
Here are two ideas that I'm gonna leave you with
to help you get started.
Number one, you probably have tons of footage
already sitting on a hard drive.
Go and grab those hard drives and look through that
and see if you have any stock footage that you can sell.
And number two, anytime you're shooting something
for a client, remember that the client owns the final video,
generally not the raw footage.
So that's a chance
for you to shoot a little bit more
when you're on that set
and then make more money selling stock.
And if you wanna be extra bougie
you can do the whole BlackBox revenue sharing thing
and make some extra money for your client.
Some people on talent, on camera, it's a great system.
So those are just some ideas to leave you with.
If you guys like this video
please press like, it actually makes a difference
and allows my video to get seen by more people.
So it doesn't take long
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And while you're down there, press subscribe
and hit the bell to be notified for future videos.
And we'll most definitely see you guys in the next one.
If you have any tips
about shooting stock footage that I missed,
leave a comment below and we'll make a giant just form
for everybody to be the best stock footage
shooters of the world.
And this is the website you website.
That's what my mom calls my YouTube videos.
"You should, you should go see his website.
"It's so excellent.
"I love, I love his website videos that he makes.
"He makes internet videos, Susan.
"It's pretty cool what he does.
"He works with Mercedes."
I love you so much, mom, please don't hate me.
We'll see you guys in the next video.
Bye.