If you have ever wondered how to get access to already shot videos to help in your filming and commercial projects, stock footage is the place to search. Stock footage platforms contains videos that have already been shot by others, known as stock video clips. Stock footage is easy to use, convenient and time-saving. It covers a wide range of videos; ocean clips, animations, clips on art and museums, transportation clips, slo-mos among others.
Stock footage or B-rolls are available on many stock footage websites such as DI Stock as well as Experience Africa Today, where several stock videos clips from Africa can be found to best suit your project.
Source: DiStock/Ishmael Lamptey
Why use stock footage from Africa?
When creating movies or adverts, you might wants to throw in a reference to Africa. A platform like DI stock has several stock video clips to meet this demand. Due to the rich content of already made clips, there isn’t the need to gather your crew and move all the way to Africa to shoot such scenes. Aside the logistical difficulty that might be, it can be an expensive endeavor. Such secondary scenes or b-rolls can be purchased from the stock footage websites, relatively cheap and very fast.
Source: DiStock/Ishmael Lamptey
Ways to use Stock videos
The use of stock videos might only be limited by your imagination. So far as you think creatively, there are endless possibilities with the use of stock videos. Below are few ideas on ways you can use stock videos.
- Using stock videos as background videos. A picture is said to speak louder than words however a video speaks more than a picture can do. Modern websites today have adopted the use of background videos to help communicate information to visitors. Stock videos are able to do just that without you breaking your budget.
- Using stock videos as B-Roll
You’ve heard of the famous B-Roll in film making, well stock videos can be used as B-Rolls in commercials, documentaries, films among others to help tell a story. Examples of these can be time-lapse, shots of animals, people, buildings and so on.
Pricing of Stock Footage
Most people find the pricing of stock footage to be on the high, however, what they people fail to take into consideration is what goes into the production of such videos. Depending on the kind of video to be produced as a stock video, will determine the gear to be used. The gear can include cameras, microphones, gimbals, drones, sound recorders among others. These gear are extremely expensive.
Aside from that, travel expenses, payment for operators as well as models among others makes it extremely expensive. These are some of the factors that go into the pricing of stock videos. The good thing is, while some of these big-stock footage platforms charge a lot, sites like DI Stock, Experience Africa Today, Fonibia among others have their pricing very moderate. The quality from these smaller platforms can be compared to that of the well-known platforms.
What are the available sizes for stock footage for Di Stock?
On DiStock, while dimensions of stock footage vary, most platforms prices their footage based on the sizes available. The price of an HD video is different from that of a Full HD as well as 4k. Below are some video sizes you should know of.
SD – Standard 640×360 (suitable for the Web)
HD – High Definition – Web 1280×720 (suitable for the Web)
Full HD – Full High Definition – 1920×1080 (Suitable for HD devices)
4k – 3840 x 2160 (Suitable for 4k resolution)
What are the available sizes for stock footage for Experience Africa?
On Experience Africa, there’s only a single available size – the highest quality footage. The minimum quality is 4K (3840 x 2160) at minimum 30 frames per second, all beginning at a price point of $119
[Originally published on DiStock and adapted for Experience Africa]
