- Hey guys, what's goin' on?
This video is a beginner's guide to selling stock footage.
(upbeat techno music)
Okay, before we get into the tips and tricks
about stock footage, I do wanna bring up one thing,
and that is the service called BlackBox.
So BlackBox is basically a site
where you upload your footage once,
and then they distribute it among multiple stock agencies.
So for anyone getting into stock,
or interested in stock footage,
this is like the perfect tool to get into it,
without having to do a ton of work,
figuring out all these different sites,
and trying to upload to this site, this site, this site.
BlackBox basically allows you to upload once,
and it distributes all your footage for you,
it's super helpful for anyone, if you're a beginner,
or if you even been selling stock footage for a long time.
Personally, I've been doing it for years,
and I've switched my entire stock library,
over to BlackBox, because I recognize
how useful the service is, and how easy it makes the upload
and selling process of stock footage.
Okay, so the link to BlackBox is down in the description,
make sure you check that out, but let's get into
what is stock footage?
So some of the most common questions that I've been getting
are about what stock footage is.
Stock footage clips are basically individual shots
that are five to 59 seconds long.
There are no cuts, and there are not multiple angles
in that one shot, it's just an individual shot.
Ideally, you wanna keep your shots
around 30 seconds or less,
so if you do have a clip that's 59 seconds,
cut it into two, and make it two shots available to sell.
So this is your typical stock footage shot.
If you notice, these shorts are fluid from beginning to end,
you gotta cut off any heads or tails
where the camera is moving.
If you do have multiple angles to one scene,
then just upload each angle as a separate clip,
but don't overdo uploading the exact same angle,
over and over, so if you have a viewpoint,
and you have five shots of the same view,
then don't upload it, unless there's something
distinctly different between the shots.
There is no audio in stock footage.
It's just footage.
For resolution, you wanna upload 1080p or higher.
I suggest shooting everything in 4k, and uploading in 4k,
because, the higher resolution
is going to earn you more money per shot.
So how much do each of your shots sell, as stock?
Each shot will sell anywhere from $20 to $200 per shot.
It all depends on your specs,
and the subject matter that you're shooting.
So this is why I suggest shooting in 4k,
because 4k shots sell for a lot more than 1080p.
So if you have the ability to have 4k in your camera,
just always shoot 4k, unless there's some sort of situation
where you need to shoot 1080p.
For me, whenever I'm shooting 120 or 180 frames per second
in the GH5, I have to bump it down to 1080p,
but I do that because I wanna get
that buttery, slow motion footage.
However, anything else I'm gonna shoot in 4k,
I'm gonna shoot 24 frames a second,
I'm gonna shoot 30 frames a second,
or I'm gonna shoot 60, and do some slow motion in 4k,
'cause I'm setting myself up to get
the most amount of money out of each sell.
So anything will sell, slow motion,
timelapses, or real time.
Make sure you're shooting a variety
of different types of footage.
A big key, is make sure that your footage is not noisy.
If you have noise in your footage
when you're shooting in low light,
consider applying a de-noising filter
as part of your editing process.
Otherwise, your clip's gonna be rejected.
A bit thing is that you need to color grade
all your clips, so they pop.
No log footage, but you also don't wanna overdo it.
Try to grade so that anyone can use this footage
in their project, and not just create one specific look.
You can also upload variations with different looks,
but try not to do too much of the same thing.
Okay, so let's talk about what to shoot,
and how to shoot it.
So let's say you go outside,
and you wanna go shoot some stock footage.
Well, what's the first thing that comes to mind to shoot?
Well, you're gonna look up, you're gonna see some trees,
you're gonna see some grass,
there's gonna just be things around that you're like,
oh, I could shoot this and upload it.
Well, keep in mind that, everyone else
has the same kind of idea,
and stock footage isn't a new thing,
it's been around for a long time, so,
there is lots of footage of the same types of topics,
things that are easy to shoot,
say, a waterfall, or a squirrel.
Like, these things are easy to shoot,
so there's gonna be a lotta footage of it.
I'm not saying don't upload this footage,
but what I am saying, is make sure that this footage,
if you do decide to shoot a squirrel or a waterfall,
make sure it's the best-looking squirrel or waterfall
that you've ever shot, so that your footage stands out.
To get ideas of what to sell for stock footage,
I suggest browsing around different stock footage agencies,
start typing in some different things
that you might have access to, and see what type of footage
exists out there on the platforms.
Or, the best way to know where there's footage missing,
is to find the holes by searching for it
on these stock websites.
So, for me, for example, I like to climb mountains,
I'm a mountaineer, when I'm gettin' ready to go climb,
I keep stock in the back of my head
because I know I'm gonna be in this situation
that not a lot of people have access to.
But, I also don't wanna shoot the same shots
that other people are shooting.
So, I'll go on, I'll do some searches about what it is that
I'm doing, what climb I'm doing, and maybe find some gaps,
some holes of things that might fit in,
that I will be able to shoot when I'm out climbing.
Other places to look are advertising,
if you look on commercials, or any ads online,
you'll see what topics are trending.
Well, there's a good chance, if a topic is trending,
then, people are buying footage for that topic
on stock agencies.
So recently I've seen a ton of commercials
revolving around travel.
So there's a good chance that people are looking for
travel-inspired footage, because they're creating
advertisements and campaigns around travel.
Another thing to think about is time of year.
If summer's coming up, then you might wanna have
more emphasis on footage that feels like summer,
because people are gonna be buyin' footage
for a specific time of year.
Maybe it's a holiday, maybe it's a big event coming up.
You just gotta think about what's coming up in the future,
you gotta think about what you're seeing in advertising,
what you're seeing on the news, there's a lotta places
to get inspiration of what to sell stock.
If you're seeing a lot of one topic,
there's a good chance that that topic is being looked for
on these stock agencies.
And one more key thing, with what to sell,
is shooting footage with people in it.
And yes, if you shoot a clip with people in your shot,
you're gonna need to get a release,
because you can't sell anything as stock footage
unless you have the rights cleared for it.
So that's people, that's logos, that's specific places,
if there is a person, place, or thing,
that is recognizable in your shot,
you're gonna need to get a release for it.
But, people in shots do sell a lot.
So if your shot does have people in it,
but you don't have a release,
you can sell this as editorial.
And editorial footage is newsworthy,
or of the general public interest,
that is not cleared for commercial use.
And yes, this footage still sells.
One of the other most common questions that I get is,
do you still own the rights to your footage,
once you upload it as stock?
And the answer is yes, if you upload your footage as stock,
you still own 100% of the rights to that clip,
and you can do whatever you want with it.
So that circles back, right to the beginning,
what do you shoot for stock?
Well the answer is, anything and everything.
And I suggest shooting a bunch of different topics.
Because, the more different ideas and things you have
in your portfolio, the more you'll see what sells,
and then you can put more emphasis
on shooting those kinda topics.
Also keep in mind, time of year,
and things that are going on in the media,
are gonna reflect in what sells in stock.
I suggest, if you are new to stock footage,
the first thing you do is go into your hard drives,
and look for any shot that could be sold as stock.
Go through every bit of footage that you already have shot,
and is sitting on hard drives.
Over the last three years, me and Rachel have been
traveling a ton, and I was able to pull up 2,000 shots,
just from these hard drives that have been sitting around,
and they weren't doin' anything.
This is just random footage that I got
while I was traveling, it's a mix of different styles
of footage, some royalty-free, some editorial,
but there's just so much footage on these hard drives,
that I was able to pull out a ton of shots,
ready to sell, and I didn't have to go out there
and shoot anything new.
So step one, is dig through your hard drives,
find anything and everything that can sell as stock,
and start cutting that, and uploading that.
Step two is take what you've learned
from going through your footage, going through this video,
and go out there, and shoot some new stock,
to get ready to upload.
Alright guys, now you have everything that you need to know,
to go out there and start shooting
and selling stock footage.
Guys, if you have any more questions,
please make sure you put 'em in the comments down below.
If you haven't already, make sure you head over to BlackBox,
sign up, get goin', because the best thing to do is,
a, sign up first, b, get that footage ready,
c, upload, and then d, go shoot some more.
Guys, this is awesome, it's a great way
to bring in some extra income,
it's amazing how much money you can start bringing in,
as you get more footage online.
Also, make sure you check out some of the other videos
on my channel, I have a ton of filmmaking tutorials,
and all of this knowledge will help you
shoot better stock footage.
I'll put some links down in the description below,
to some different playlists, that will really help you guys
shoot some awesome stock footage.
Guys, that is it, if you're new to this channel,
make sure you hit that subscribe button.
Come find me on Instagram or Twitter, @JevenDovey,
and guys, I can't wait to see how successful you are
with stock footage, and I'll see you on the next one.
(upbeat techno music)