Any video is only as good as the sum of the individual elements you use to put it together.
If your video clips are crummy, the fact that your script is fantastic probably won’t make up for it.
So, where do you get quality elements that don’t cost a fortune? When it comes to stock video footage, I often get them from Footage Firm.
I made this video for a client who is an Oklahoma clinical psychologist. (Notice that keyword-rich back link I just gave him.) Every single shot except two came from Footage Firm and their new collection of People Footage. The music also came from Footage Firm.
Right now, you can get this entire collection of people shots FREE, just pay shipping and handling. That’s only $8.41 per disc.
The entire collection includes ten discs with fifteen shots per disc. Each shot is supplied in both standard def and high def. I used the standard def for this video since it is for online distribution and the file sizes should be as small as possible. The resolution looks great but the whole video is only about 35 MB.
As you can tell by watching the video, each shot is superb. I really loved the one category called “montages” that featured multiple shots on the screen at once. The thumbnail for this video is the spectacular montage of people in magnificent landscapes. Do you know how much time that saves in the editing room? TONS. To do them manually, each montage would take at least an hour or two. Footage Firm had already done all the hard work, I just laid them down.
Footage Firm is a fantastic resource for high quality low cost royalty free stock footage. They have backgrounds, music, time lapse and activities of all types. They have footage of all the world’s major cities and lots of incredible landscapes. Go check ‘em out. Really can’t beat the price!
Here are two links to other posts on this blog about Footage Firm.
Royalty Free Music from Footage Firm
Royalty Free Motion Backgrounds from Footage Firm
Related posts:
12 Comment(s)
By Tampa Video Production on | Reply
Thank you for the resources. More times than not clients are camera shy so tools such as these are handy to have around.
By Internet Video Gal on | Reply
Hi Tampa video production.
Lots of folks are indeed camera shy. I know the feeling myself!
Royalty free resources save you so much time, effort and money. I love shooting video myself, but if I had to stage this stuff and shoot it all myself, I would not have time to do much else. If I paid someone to do it exclusively for me, it would cost a fortune.
Good, inexpensive royalty free resources are a God send if you ask little ole me! Footage Firm uses high quality video cameras and have they set up wonderful lighting. Excellent footage is what I need and i appreciate not having to do it myself.
Go forth and make video!
Thanks.
Lorraine
By Theresa Croft on | Reply
Lorraine…Love it! You first introduced me to them about a year ago. I was REALLY needing some professional people shots for my clients with my local biz video marketing company. So thank you thank you for again stepping to the plate with such value. I really appreciate that!
Fun to see what you are doing with your Main Street Biz too. Rock on!
theresa
By Internet Video Gal on | Reply
Hi Theresa.
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I am always so glad to hear this blog helps people out! I agree 110%, Footage Firm is AWESOME. Their stuff has made my life so much easier. I find the footage so valuable and my clients are always impressed! I always loved shooting my own stuff but to tell you the truth, I sure like for someone else to do all that work and just let me edit and write. And sell, oh yeah… I am supposed to be selling.
Keep making video Theresa and have fun!
Lorraine
By Johnny on | Reply
Hi Lorraine,
thank you for your great advices.
You mention that “the whole video is only about 35 MB”…
That is much to much for internet I think.
These are over 17 MB per minute.
I’m always looking for the resolution most marketers take for internet video.
Most of them have 400 to 1000 Kbit/s
dataspeed/datarate and this provides good results with about 3 to 10 MB maximum per minute.
But thank you for the inside looks always. I love to come around to your blog.
To your success,
johnny
By Internet Video Gal on | Reply
Hi Johnny.
35 MB is kind of high for the internet, I agree. These are some might high quality images and they can get a bit big. That is always a struggle to find the right balance. I try to compress well too because that can make a big difference. In experimenting around with compression I discovered that what format, how much compression, size, etc. can have a big influence on overall size and resolution quality. The trick is to not loose too much quality. To get smaller files I should probably make less complex videos. I hope you do not have trouble playing them. Thanks for reading my blog and leaving a comment.
Lorraine
By Johnny on | Reply
Well I have around 2000 Kilobits/s Internet connection speed and the video stops three times. So I stopped it and waited till the timeline was fully loaded and then I continue viewing.
But you know, not every viewer has patience. And it’s important for your customer too. Sometimes I get better results when I first edit my video in Premiere, than I export the file as uncompressed AVI, than I load this file into Camtasia, and finally I export it from Camtasia as .mp4 file with around 800 Kbits in the flash-settings.
I use this workaround now, no matter what video editing software I use in the post-production. Camtasia is my last step to finalize my webvideo.
The results were better than exporting directly from premiere to .mp4 or .flv.
Don’t know why but it’s true. And I tried about 50 different settings and also other extern converters etc.
Maybe you want to try it…
By Internet Video Gal on | Reply
Hey Johnny.
Thanks for all that info, that’s a lot of experimenting. Personally, I have not been real thrilled with how Camtasia compresses. I am surprised to hear you say that worked so well.
Lorraine.
By Johnny on | Reply
Well it’s not perfect.
I feel it like a subtile staccato,
even if the frames per second are at 25 or 30.
But I can publish a video that looks ok with something like 600 to 1000 kbit/s video-datarate (and 128 audio datarate).
If I take 700 kBits with camtasia it looks as good as if I take 1200 kbit/s in premiere or convert with extern converters like FormatFactory or SUPER(c).
So equal quality but less datarate and less Megabyte! = easier playback in internet!
By Internet Video Gal on | Reply
25 frames per second looks fine in my opinion and you loose little perceptible quality from 30. Easy playback is what it is all about, so thanks for the information.
Lorraine
By Gas Sensor on | Reply
of the many video clips that i download, i always watch those that are very funny “,~
By invest liberty reserve on | Reply
Your Article about Royalty Free Video Clips: Awesome Resource | Video Production Tips Real good visual appeal on this web site , I’d rate it 10 10.