If you want to make internet videos but do not want to hassle with shooting the video yourself, the common advice is to use services like iStockPhoto.com.
iStock claims to have around 3 million images for sale. This includes videos, stills, vector images, and flash animations. The quality is generally excellent.
Costs can range from about one dollar for a still image to about forty bucks for an HD video clip.
Here is a gorgeous still image I got off iStock.
That can get expensive, but often the ease can make the cost worth it. It is certainly cheaper than taking all the images yourself.
However, one HUGE drawback to using stock images is that generally speaking, you are only buying limited licensing rights.
This means you CAN NOT take some iStock video, edit it together and then sell this video. You can not even give it away for others to use, not legally anyway.
Depending on which stock photo agency you are dealing with, the only allowed use is for the finished video to be a free promotional video or a free educational video. You can not sell or charge for the finished video in any way. You can not even GIVE it to someone else for their use. That would be considered a transfer of the license. I have spoken to so many people who don’t know this. Please be careful.
iStock is firm on that policy, and many other agencies are too. Occasionally, you will find one using a more lenient license, and personally, I stick with those. One excellent source for video clips that has a less strict license is Video Blocks, a membership site from Footage Firm.
So look for stock agencies with more liberal licensing. They exist.
With the limited licenses, so many uses would actually be a violation of their TOS, and they could sue your pants off. Buying the extended licensing does NOT give you the right to turn around and charge money for your finished video. Even if you spent days editing the clips into your own creation, you can not sell it.
So if you want to make a video product, BE CAREFUL about turning to stock, royalty free video image services.
The licensing agreement for iStock photo is extremely long. I bet most people do not read through it completely before they buy. Plus, it can be a bit confusing because it says that if you alter the image significantly and turn it into your own creation, then you CAN turn around and sell it. But what do they consider to be altered significantly?
Well, I spoke directly with an iStock representative the other day on the phone to see precisely what was allowed and what was not.
She said you have to alter it beyond all recognition. You can not just edit it into a video, doing the standard things like adding music or titles. That is NOT enough.
Honestly, if you have the capacity to alter a video clip beyond all recognition, then you probably have the capacity to come up with your own clip to begin with, so I did not find that too helpful.
For the person who wants to make a video product, beware of relying on stock video purchases. You often do not have the legal right to use stock video purchases in a video product which you sell, unless you deal with a company with a less restrictive licensing agreement, and there are many.
Thanks for reading Video Production Tips
Lorraine Grula
