Stock Footage Crash Course For Beginners

1. Stock Footage For Beginners Crash Course PROMO: welcome to this crash course on stock footage getting involved in the stock footage industry has many benefits and in this course will walk you through everything you need to know to get started in stock footage. My name's will and I own an established video production company based in a Toronto. I've been a cinematographer for 10 years in a constant career for 15. I also run a YouTube channel called Alien Will, So my entire life revolves around video creation. I have several 1000 stock footage files published online through several different platforms. I'll share with you everything I've learned from my experience. Shooting and preparing stock footage toe what you can expect when uploading it to an online marketplace. Will also discuss the equipment needed resolutions to shoot in what stock footage is popular, what stock footage to avoid shooting and much more. Best part is that stock footage is limitless. The more stock footage you capture and publish the memorial benefit in the long run, this course was created toe open your eyes to the stock footage world. There are so many options, and I'm excited to share them with you. Thanks for checking the score so and I hope to see you 2. 02 What Is Stock Footage: welcome to this course on stock footage and thanks for enrolling. So what is stock footage? Stock footage, also known as archived footage, is video content that could be used again in various video projects. People who buy stock footage or, typically production companies or editors looking to complete a video they're working on. It can be incredibly efficient to use stock footage because you will save the time it takes to film the content as well as you'll be able to choose from hundreds of thousands of clips and by specifically what you're looking for. Beyond this, it can be extremely expensive to hire a videographer or production company to capture footage for your video project. But if you only need one or two extra clips, stock footage can be implemented and save you thousands of dollars. From the perspective of a videographer, stock footage could be a great way to grow your business and career when it comes to people needing stock footage. Typically, an editor will have a project almost complete, meaning. They've spent a lot of time putting together a video using all of the footage they already had filmed by their companies crew. They have music in the edit and the flow of the project tells a story or promotes a product or service when an editor realizes that the project they're working on could benefit from some more footage. This is where the need for stock footage comes in. They will pitch the idea of adding stock footage to the production lead or whoever is in charge. And if they get to go ahead, they'll have a budget to search online for stock footage, clips to purchase. Of course, this means that they could be searching for almost anything because with all of the film makers and companies around the world, there are thousands upon thousands of projects on the go every day. This creates a great opportunity for a video professional who has the equipment and knowledge to capture great stock footage. Or, as you'll discover by the end of this course, the possibility to even submit footage as an amateur videographer. Stock footage comes in a bunch of resolutions from standard definition 26 K and eventually eight K in higher. As technology advances, the world is exponentially changing, always going faster and faster with technology. VR video, for example, virtual reality video can already be purchased on stock websites. Virtual reality video is where a camera or several cameras can capture footage in 360 degrees. This type of footage can have a number of useful applications, such as real estate tours or live sporting events. Stock footage has been around for a while, but there's still a lot of content that could be captured that people want. If you think about your stock footage is a product, then you'll start to realize its potential. Imagine having a portfolio of 50 clips online. What about 100 clips? 500 clips? What about 10,000 clips? That would be a lot of products you have. While it is possible to build a portfolio of 10,000 clips, it would take a very long time a few years, in fact, working full time. But it is possible, and people are doing it today. This course is about stock footage, but there are many other forms of stock content, like stock photos, stock music, graphic elements, animated templates or even website templates. As you progress through this course, you'll start to see the benefits of utilizing stock footage within your career as a videographer. 3. 03 The Stock Footage Mentality: So how should I be thinking to be successful in stock footage in order to understand stock footage? Let's further break down the process. In my experience, it is far better to brainstorm ideas and come up with a plan instead of just going out with a camera. Stock footage is really one of those areas where it's best to have an idea and strategically figure out what you'll need to accomplish it. Ask yourself questions such as Do I need a model for this shot? What type of location would work best? Do I need to source any props for the shot? Do I need to source specific wardrobe for the actors to wear? What style of camera movement should the shot I'm thinking of have does this type of shot already exists on stock footage, websites and if so, how many clips air there? How can I capture this type of footage in a different way? Is there potential for the clip I want to capture to be more popular than what's already online? Can I come up with an idea that's different than other footage I'm seeing online? Is there a market for it? Think outside the box. Try to create a scene into your shots that aren't everyday regular things, such as a model wearing high heels and a unique red dress walking through an open space with cinematic lighting. This will be far more popular than a shot of just a tree in the fall. Another great question, I always ask myself when it comes to stock footage is How easy is it to recreate what I'm trying to do? The harder it is, the more unique it will be and less likely to have competition in the marketplace. There is a fine balance, though, because you don't want to create something so unique that people searching for stock footage will have no use for it. What would a company or director want for their video? Chances are they aren't all that interested in stock footage of a stick on the ground. If you think about the entire process. But most importantly about what the consumer would need, it starts to become clearer. What you should be focusing on 4. 04 Stock Footage Equipment: let's dive into the type of equipment you'll want to consider using to be successful in stock footage. You don't necessarily need a high end camera to be able to film stock footage, but you will need a camera that can at least recording full HD, meaning full high definition, which is 1920 by 10 80 or 10 80 p, although four K would be a better option, as it still will allow the consumer to scale down the footage into a smaller resolution if they wanted. Also, four K will become increasingly popular as time goes on. The reason being is the world is changing fast, and consumers now expect a certain quality standard. And as a creator, if you're not providing content that meets these expectations, you are not likely to succeed Long term. A basic DSLR should be more than enough to capture stock footage as long as there is enough light in your scene so that you don't end up with grainy footage. I believe every diesel are available in the market. Now comes with the ability to record 10 80 p video, so you don't need to spend several $1000 to get started in stock footage. But again, as mentioned, four K resolution footage is quickly becoming the new norm. So, if possible, get a camera that can record in four K four K footage, sells at a higher price and isn't any more difficult to capture, since it is just a setting on the camera, however, four K footage takes much more computer processing power to edit and export. So keep that in mind at the very least, film content with a tripod to capture stable footage. Chances are shaky. Handheld footage will not be accepted, and it could be very discouraging to film content. Edit, upload and publish for to then be rejected. So I strongly suggest you consider all of these points. Ah, GoPro camera can be a great investment because of how versatile it ease. You can stick it to anything and get some pretty great footage. Besides that one placed inside the waterproof case, you can get underwater footage that will have a much better chance of being popular compared to footage of let's, say, a forest. Since it's easier to get footage of a forest and therefore the marketplace will be saturated with easy to get footage a GoPro camera is very small, so you can take it anywhere you go buy extra batteries, and you'll always be ready to capture whatever happens. A GoPro does have some downsides, though, as the battery doesn't last very long and it has somewhat of a wide angle lens, which makes it tough to get different types of shots. You have a smartphone that shoots in four K. If you do film a few clips, submit them and see if they get approved. If it gets approved, you'll have another unique tool that you'll be able to use whenever you're out filming. Keep in mind that smartphones tend to be small and produced shaky looking footage again. This will most likely be unacceptable and probably will result in your clips being rejected in most cases. As time goes on, though, and technology improves, smartphones will become better and better. Some smartphones already have an amazing stabilization feature to counter the handheld shakiness built in. If you do end up filming with a smartphone, remember that the camera will most likely not performs well in low light as a DSLR camera. So, if possible, bring lighting equipment to brighten up the subject you're filming or film during the day where natural light can be utilized. You don't have to buy film leading equipment to light up a subject. Most of the time, any light source will do with some experimentation, just like you should get creative with your lighting. You should also get created with the other aspects of filming stock footage. This could include creating a do it yourself slider or camera dolly to produce smooth tracking footage that we're so used to seeing in Hollywood movies. You would be surprised how many videos exist online that teach you exactly how to source materials and build camera support systems that get the job done. Your bike, car, skateboard or any other wheeled system can be used to create very unique, smooth looking footage as well. In most cases, you won't need any audio equipment as the likeliness that a company will need. Stock footage and audio for that clip is very low. However, there are situations where audio can help add value to the clip, such as a waterfall clip with the sound of fast rushing water or a busy street with sounds of cars driving by 5. 05 What Stock footage is NOT popular: so what? Stock footage is not popular. Generally, clips that are easy to film will not be popular because they've bean done so many times over and exist online in the thousands. There's a really easy way to find out quickly. If something will be popular or not, ask yourself. Can someone reproduces shot easily? If the answer is yes, it probably won't be worth filming because there's so much of that content available online already that your content can't be found easily. The footage isn't something people need or because the footage will get rejected. People search for shots that are unique because they will be including it in an edit that will promote a product service or brand. If the idea of a shot you have is not unique, I'd recommend rethinking your approach altogether. The last thing you want to do is spend time planning and shooting and then get to the editing room, trim export name, upload, tag, submit and wait for them to review to then find out they rejected it because they have thousands of that style of clip. Already online, things like trees, forests or nature clips in general will not be popular because it's easy for someone else to go out and get the same shot. There are already way too many nature shots available online because it's the go to for starting out in building and selling your stock footage. Library resolution is important to chances are that footage with a resolution less than HD will not perform well or that it won't even be accepted, since most smartphones feature the ability to shoot in four K. Nowadays, it's easier than ever to capture high resolution footage, So consider the resolution you're going to be capturing before committing to filming stock footage. 6. 06 What Stock footage IS popular: So what stock footage content is popular. The quick answer is footage of people such as lifestyle shots like a young entrepreneur smiling and sweeping across a tablet or businessman presenting information in a board room toe. Others any content that features happy looking people, successful looking people or active people will typically perform well. The idea is to try and capture commercial quality content. Start paying attention to commercials you see on TV or ads you see before YouTube video. Because chances are many of the shots or stock footage, production companies and agencies understand it costs much less for them to purchase a few stock footage clips than hiring actors in a team to go out in film content. The commercials air ads you're seeing will most likely include shots of businessmen, babies, young Children learning something, adults enjoying life such as out for dinner, chatting and laughing together, working out or playing sports and other various lifestyle shots. Other examples. You may see our exotic animals in the wild and fashion style clips, such as models walking through high end looking locations. These are all unique and relevant to what companies will most likely be searching for on stock sites. Pay attention to blawg post from websites like shutter stock because they will often post articles about what footage is in demand or what footage is needed. Used Twitter as well, and follow all of the stock footage websites to stay up to date with what's in demand that month. Since drones have come out in the market, they've been very popular in the stock footage industry because they offer a different dynamic compared to ground filmed footage. But eventually the market will become saturated with that type of footage, as well as a side note. Keep in mind that there are very strict rules for flying drones, and you may need liability insurance or some form of certification. In Canada, for example, we have two certifications, basic operations and advanced operations, and each one has certain regulations that you need to understand and comply with in order to fly safely and legally. When it comes to filming stock footage, there are exceptions. For example, you could film a tropical beach using a tripod and have no pens or movement at all. Yet it could be very popular because there's a market for it, such as people using this style of a clip as a background where they have text on screen in the foreground. This is where research comes into play. Every few months. Visit all of the top stock websites and find out what's popular. And, of course, you can always just go on any stock website at any time and do some research. Then sort through some of the best selling clips on pawn five dot com, for example, and that will give you an idea of what tame for. 7. 07 Stock footage editing tips: If you'd like to learn specifically how to video at it, please check out my premiere Pro video editing for beginners course available on my profile . But for now, all share with you in this lesson, my process. Behind the editing side of stock footage, there are a lot of video editing programs such as Adobe, Premiere, Pro Apple, Final Cut I Movie, Sony Vegas and DaVinci. Resolve to name a few. The higher and one such as premier prone final cut will provide many more professional features, allowing for more control over your footage. But keep in mind that in most cases all you need to do is split up the clips and trim them so that each clip only includes the necessary footage for that specific stock clip. So with that being said, you definitely don't need ah, high end professional editing program. The workflow I've created for myself since starting stock footage is to import the footage , drop it into an appropriate sequence or timeline, such as a four K sequence. If I'm working with four K or a 10 80 p sequence, if I'm working with HD footage, I then sort through all of the footage and trim the unusable parts from each clip at the beginning and at the end. From there, I color correct the footage by making sure the exposure levels are the best they can be. I increase the saturation a bit and maybe even change a few other parameters to my liking. Like the contrast and highlights. Then I export all of the individual edited clips as a batch export in Premiere Pro using media encoder Again, this is covered in depth in my premier pro video editing for beginners course, So check that out if you'd like to learn more. The idea, though, is so that you can walk away from your computer after color, correcting, trimming and naming and have your computer automatically export all of the individual clips all at once. All you have to do is set up the export Q. Then, while it's all exporting, you can do something else, such as Fillmore stock footage. Trimming your clips into the exact length and removing all of the unnecessary frames will not only increase your chances of the footage being approved, it will also make your clips more interesting and desirable to potential customers. In that scenario, If you didn't trim the unnecessary parts of that clip, the person looking for stock footage might not even get to the good part of the clip. And, of course, that would be a wasted opportunity for you. In my experience, when it comes to enhancing your footage during the editing process, it's best to color. Correct your footage, but not color grade. You want your footage to look as good as possible. However, if you give your footage a look from color grading, such as you've dark in the clip quite a bit and made it very dramatic or cinematic looking . People who buy it will be limited in what they can do to that clip because it's already been heavily altered. Color correcting is important, though, because if done properly, you'll make your footage look even better. And that means your footage will stand out from all the people who did not color correct their footage for exporting your stock footage. Make sure you export in the same resolution you film the footage at, For example, if you filmed in high definition export each clip after the color correction process at the same resolution. If you film that four k exported four K. A great export format is dot MP four, as most stock websites will accept it and for the Kodak to use h 40.264 is a good choice because it's very compatible and has a small file size. Although it is heavily compressed and in some cases, production companies downloading stock footage will prefer a better Kodak, such as Pro rez for two to H Q and this Kodak will produce a much larger file size. That being said, keep in mind that some websites will have a higher standard of quality, meaning that your footage will need to have a certain bit rate or a specific format and Kodak for them to accept it. Check the submission requirements for each site you want to upload to, because they will be different and the requirements do change every so often 8. 08 Submitting Stock Footage Tips: during the naming stage of each stock footage clip. The goal is to brainstorm all of the key words that would be associate ID. With that clip, the title of the stock footage clip should be very descriptive, and it's okay to have a long title. For example, if you have a stock footage clip that features a dog catching a Frisbee, a great title would be young golden retriever dog playing outside in the summer, running and catching a Frisbee. It's a very long title, yes, but that will help that clip show up in search results because it uses a lot of words that people would search for. Besides the title, keyword tags are also very important. It's best to include a lot of keyword tags for every single clip you upload. You want to come up with AZM any relevant words as possible so that when people are searching for a specific file, they confined your clip when the key word or words they type in are used, Depending on the site you're selling with, you can have dozens of keyword tags. I have clips online with 50 keywords. You'll get better as time goes on when thinking of keywords. Try to think about what's involved in each clip, such as the colors, the movements, the objects, the location and keywords that describe what's happening. Basically, if you can come up with a descriptive word that relates at it, I'm going to show you a clip now. And I want you to think about the keywords you'd submit with this clip. You probably came up with dog golden retriever outside grass, green, yellow, animal running and ball. But try to get even more descriptive because there are a lot of words that could help describe that clip. For example, here are some others. If you are able to think of other descriptive words, you're doing great. If not, you'll do better in time. It just takes submitting a few clips before you get the hang of it. When it comes to pricing your clips on stock footage websites, some companies will post your clips with their own prices, while others allow you to choose a price to list your clips at my suggestion is if you feel your footage doesn't look as good as other clips online, and you have the option to listed at your own Price said it lower than other people on the site to create a competitive marketplace. Many people don't realize that they can publish the exact same footage on different websites. The main reason why this works is because each company has spent a lot of time and money collecting their own customers through their own marketing, and those customers will be different from their competitions customers. Each marketplace is very different from site to site, and that means your footage can see new eyes if it's posted on multiple platforms. 9. 09 Editing and Submitting Stock Footage Part 1: welcome back to the next lesson in this one. We're gonna be talking about the editing workflow. When it comes to stock footage. I have a folder set up here with a whole bunch of different clips. Thes are 10 80 p slow motion clips, their shots of the waterfront in winter. There's a clip of a bird flying around and a couple of them and as you can see right at the beginning, all that interest stuff we do not need. So we'll be cutting that out. We'll also cut a clip such as the zoom out there that gets a little blurry. So in other words, we're gonna go through all of the clips here and pick out the best parts. So I have Premiere Pro Open. We're going to navigate to our footage. We're gonna bring this all in Premiere Pro. I will drop those into a folder called Footage and then from there will open a new sequence . I have one set up already for 10 80 p. If you don't have any custom presets created, that's OK. You can use the digital SLR and then choose the frame rate or, if you're working with four K footage. You can try the 10 80 then go into settings and then change it to the right four K resolution. But for me, we will stick with 10. 80 p and that is 1920 by 10 80 at square pixels at 23.976 Frame rate, well hit, Okay, and then we'll drag all of our footage down into our sequence. In this scenario, we won't need any of the audio, so we will remove it the hold option on the Mac or bolt on the PC drag and then delete. I'll zoom in a bit, and then we can start going through the footage and picking out the best clips. So we'll turn the beginning of this clip right to there. That little spray advice at the end that looks good. This clip will be good. Just like that, with the beginning trimmed a bit. So I don't think there's anything useful there will bring the other clips closer, and it's not really a smooth motion, so I'm also not going to use that one, okay? So we can save that. And then at the end, it shakes a little bit, so we'll trim that off, - and by now you're starting to get an idea of how we're editing these clips. So we're just trying to make them individual clips. We're in a trim out all the parts that are not needed. Well, fast forward through the rest of these, and then we'll pick it up after that. Okay, so I've gone through and selected all of the clips that I want to export as stock footage clips. I should note that these were shot for a YouTube video, so they're not exactly the best clips. Four stock footage. I wouldn't be surprised if a few of them got rejected, if not all. There's nothing all that unique about these clips, other than maybe this clip here, where the ice chunks air flying up in the air. Keep in mind that this footage is pretty easy to get as long as it's winter and you're at the waterfront, most likely you'll have waves like this crushing ice around and some birds flying around. It's probably not gonna be all that popular, but for the sake of this video lesson, this is what will be working with. The next step is to color, correct or stabilize, rotate the footage of it and then export. We'll start at the first clip here, and we'll go into Lumet Tree color. And the idea here is to bring up the colors a bit. Make sure the exposure is correct and just make the clip look as good as we possibly can without introducing any grain. We can start with the temperature, and we'll try to make the whites look as close toe white as we can. So at around minus 4.2, I think that looks as close as we're going to get for the color. We can increase the exposure slightly, will bring down the highlights just a bit and will increase the whites. From there, we'll go to the saturation will bring up to It's a 105 or so. Next, we'll go to the creative tab, and then we'll go down to the vibrance and we'll bring this to about 10. So if we go back to the effect controls and psycho, the effects of the loom ITRI color, you'll see the before and after. So that's the idea. We just want to bring this footage toe life, make it look a little more riel and make sure all the color is the exposure. And everything looked good for the horizon of the water. That is pretty level, so I won't mess with that. And then we will copy that clip will go to the 2nd 1 Most of the time. You can just get away with pasting it, and it should be OK, so that one's fine. That's also fine. Now the horizons off a little bit with this one. So what we can do is zoom in on the clip by, let's say, 5% and then we can change the rotation slightly. If you go too much, you'll introduce some black into the footage around the frames. You don't want to do that, so one should be just enough, and we'll go through all of the footage with this idea. If you do need to tweak something, you can do that. Just go back into the limit tree color and then make your changes. This clip is a little crooked as well, so this will try 104 and one again. That looks a little too much. So we'll go try 0.5 okay, and then we'll pasty luminary color again. Now, for this clip, I'm gonna bring down the exposure just a little bit. Go to the next one will adjust the exposure as well for this one. And the horizon is off a little bit too. So it's changed that. Okay, let's move to the next one. Because this is a longer clip and I shouted Handheld throughout the clip, the horizon will change a bit. So for this one, I think just 103 Then maybe 0.3. Okay, we'll go to the next one now for a clip like this because it's just a white Scott. We might want to change the contrast a little bit and a little bit more of the highlights on this clip, the horizon is very off. So we will go to 105 Change that to one 1.2 1.5. Okay, so that's pretty good. That looks like it could go up in exposure just a little bit. So for this will go up with the shadows of it as well as the contrast. All right, so now we're in the last clip here we will pace the luminary color, adjust the exposure a bit go up with the contrast with shadows. And for some reason, I think this clip, because it's wider, is looking a little more dull. So I might do maybe 1 10 with that one, and I brought the temperature two plus 2.2 for this one. All right, so now we've adjusted the horizon for the clips we've added. Some saturation. Adjust the temperature in the exposure as well as a few other parameters. The next stage is to export. 10. 10 Editing and Submitting Stock Footage Part 2: So, one by one, we're going to select and in and a note for each clip, and then we're going to export it now. The format. You can use his age 264 but I prefer to use ah, higher end Kodak, which is found under quick time. And then for the pre set. You can use the apple progress for two to next. You'll make sure that the audio is turned off so that you're only exporting the video and down here, you just want a double check for setting. So this is a 1920 by 10 80 clip. If this is not correct, you can press the button here and change it. Progressive field order square pixels. That's all good. I would render it the maximum depth and then down here used the maximum render quality as well, and everything else is fine. So for this, you could save a preset if you'd like, but I already have one, so we'll do the four K progress 42 no audio and then we'll name the file. So for the output name will click here. We'll go back into our footage section, and I've made a fuller called exports. And then in here. This is where we'll export all the footage to under the file name. This is where we want to get very creative. So we hit. Cancel this for a second. And down here, where the blue is selected, this is what we're working with for this export. So it's revealing a winter shoreline. So let's go back to the output name back into our exports folder, and then we'll give this a unique name. Okay? So revealing. A snow covered shoreline with waves crashing in winter. And then we've put 01 to distinguish which clip. This will be in the bunch of clips. So I like to copy the text there in case we want to use it on another file. So we'll go to save and then we'll hit. Q. This will load the adobe media encoder and then inside media encoder. We see that we have the quick time selected, are preset, and it's sending it to the right spot with the right file name. So we'll go back into premiere and we'll continue this process for each one. Okay, now that that is done, I have all of the clips cute up inside Adobe Media Encoder and they're now ready to export . So all that's left to do is now to hit the green button. At this stage, I can walk away from the computer, grab a drink, go shoot more stock footage, etcetera. And now, at this stage, we can close media encoder we can save from your pro close it. And then from there we can submit it to stock websites. So we'll open up files illah and will connect to shutter stock. You can see that it says successful. So we are in shutter stock and then from the folder where we exported all the videos will drag them all and then put him into the bottom section of file Zilla. From there we will select all of them, right click and go to process cute. And once his process completes will show up inside shutter stock. You can do the same thing for any other stock websites. They're all exported now. So it said the X on file Zillah, and then go into our shutter stock account and you'll see here that in the submit content area, we now have all of the files that we uploaded through files illa in our shutter stock account, we can go to multi select, select them all. So they all have the check mark and then we'll come down here and de selected this one with the bird because this one doesn't have any shoreline or the water, and we're gonna be entering some keywords. So we want to make sure that all the clips were entering keywords with are similar. So with this one de selected, let's start entering some keywords Winter snow, cold shoreline, water, ice Canada, nature waves, climate north and the idea center as many keywords as you can. That would be descriptive for all of these. Once you've gone through that, you can de select them all and then continue by going through individually and selecting the clips that are similar, such as these two that are revealing clips. So what? Type in reveal, and then we'll get the ones with the birds in it. And for these examples, I'm not sure based on the thumbnails, which exactly are the ones with the birds. So you can simply hover your mouse over the title and then it will show you so birds flying we can even do searching because they're searching for food wings. And then we'll select both of these because they have ice flying in the air. We knew waves, crashing place trunks, and another one we could do for all of them is slow motion. And then from there will pick a category for these clips, and these ones all have to do with nature. So we'll go to nature and as a secondary clip, if you wanted, you could select the ones with the birds. So we'll do this one and animals wildlife. The last thing to do is to fill the description for all of the clips. It will take a lot of time, and the more descriptive you are, the better chance that clips will have it being found. However, I found in my experience is that because it takes so long, it's not really worth it. So what I tend to do is just select all the clips, and then I form a sentence with some of the key words, such as winter shoreline scene with snow covered ground and waves and then weaken de select and we'll we'll pick the one that doesn't show any of that, and we can just alter this. So Siegel, flying and searching for food and the two unique clips are this one. And I'd say this one where the ice is flying in the air so we can add some extra details for these. So winter shoreline team was snow covered ground in waves with ice crashing and flying in the air. Okay, so now we're done. We have all the tags. We have descriptions, the categories for all of the clips. We're not going to select all of them and then simply hit Summit. Now, as you can see, shutter stock has caught this clip and it says action required. So it says, please, at least seven keywords. So for this one, we have to add a little more. We have 12345 So we need two more. So for this one, weaken, say, sky clouds, overcast wings see goal. And that should be enough. So let's try to resubmit that again. And there we go. All of the content has been submitted. We now have 13 pending files and then after about 24 hours or so, they will review and get back to you on if the stuff has been approved. Once you have the files online, you can then go in and change the thumbnails if you want, so you go to portfolio catalogue manager. Click on your videos. Select one of the clips you want to change the thumbnail of. And then there's a select video thumbnail, and you can choose a different one hit, select and safe. So that's essentially the process for editing and submitting stock footage for every website. It will be a little different. You'll definitely have to enter keywords for all of them. You may have to enter a category description and a title, depending on the website you're using, but more or less it's the same process. 11. 11 Stock Footage Tips & Final Thoughts: a general tip for capturing good stock footage is to try to get your footage to look as smooth as possible while also having your subject in focus and properly exposed. So if you're not overly confident with keeping, you're seeing fully and focus and properly exposed, I encourage you to take the necessary time toe. Learn these skills as they will help you succeed much faster. Most things in life require an investment up front to get a return down the road. So in this case, take the time when starting out to practice, filming as much as you can, and by doing as much research as you can, this will be a much more successful strategy. Long term. A great approach, as mentioned before, is to study commercials that air before YouTube videos or that are in between your favorite shows. Chances are these commercials will feature actual stock footage that the company purchased to complete their video. As you're starting out, it's normal to not have any stock clips become popular. It's all about seeing what works and what doesn't think of it like going to school. To get a job, you need to learn how to do it. What works? What doesn't work before you can go out and get hired? It's unlikely that you'll get hired with limited skills, so it's the same with stock footage. You need to develop the eye for what people need. Once you understand the marketplace and you understand how to provide value to it, you can then start to take advantage of the skills you've developed by growing this business venture. If you're filming outside, two of the best times to capture stock footage are one hour before sunset or the first hour after the sun rises, because this will give you a really warm, soft, natural light. This is known as Magic Hour. By utilizing the sun in different ways, you can achieve footage that looks very high end. For example, at Magic Hour, try to position the model or actor in front of the sun so they block the light hitting your lens as they moved. The sun will peak around them, causing lens flares, lens flares, look beautiful and conjour a Matic lee. Change the style or feel of your footage. Once again, check out TV commercials and pay attention to how often flares are incorporated you'll notice that there used a lot. Also, because Magic Hour gives off a soft, warm light. This makes a perfect lighting set up naturally. Stabilising clips that are a bit shaky is a great way to make the footage seem higher. End Premiere Pro has a great stabilizing program built in called warp stabilizer, and it's a very easy effect to use. All you do is apply the warp stabilizer effect to a clip, then change the percentage for how much the clip gets affected. Many people starting out on video don't know that if you capture footage in slow motion, it will actually reduce the shakiness of the camera. So if you find yourself in a position where you can't limit the shakiness of a shot by using a slider, tripod or gimbal, start shooting in slow motion. It will help. When it comes to filming stock footage. Your clips should be interesting when you're filming. Try to think of interesting angles to film it. Go higher up really low to the ground, point the camera upwards at tall buildings or down into valleys. You never know what will end up being popular, but by experimenting and thinking about what could be interesting to potential customers. You'll be better position to succeed in stock footage. In some cases, shaky footage does have its applications. But always keep in mind that shaky footage has a much higher chance of being rejected. Also, it's important to note that the majority of her competition will be shooting using sliders , drones and motorized Gimbels or steady camps. Having these types of film equipment will absolutely help your content stand out. But if you don't already own this equipment, it really doesn't make sense to spend tens of thousands of dollars just for stock footage. Unless you're at the point where you have thousands and thousands of clips published. In other words, I'd suggest to hold off and upgrade equipment as you go. Depending on what light source you are working with, you may have to get a little more creative so that the shot you're creating doesn't seem fake looking. What I mean by this is that if you place a light close to your subject in an attempt to brighten the scene, you may have a properly exposed clip. But it may also look like you purposely put a light beside the person to the point where it doesn't look natural. This type of content may be rejected because it's a sign of amateur work. In most cases, natural light from the sun coming through a window will out a nice looking soft light your subject. In most cases, natural light from the sun coming through a window will out a nice looking soft light to your subject and on the other side, sitting directly underneath a bright ceiling light will cause unpleasant looking shadows on your subject's face. When filming inside, experiment with your camera angles, and also by moving your subject into different areas to maximize your chances of getting your clips approved and published when it comes to filming with models. The approach I would suggest when starting out is to reach out to your network and see if anyone would be interested in helping you film some stock footage. You would be amazed at how many people are interested in helping out and would enjoy being an actor for a couple hours. Tell them you're trying to build a stock footage portfolio, and it would be great if they could help you out for an hour or So in my experience, some people really enjoy being in front of the camera because it provides them with a glimpse of what being a movie star is like. Set up a day where you schedule a few friends back to back at a couple different locations , resulting in a very productive day of filming stock footage. Since it is a volunteer position and they're just helping you out, it's always good to be very nice to them. Be easy to work with and provide them with drinks and food and maybe even transportation to and from the location. Here is a big note to remember, though, when it comes to showing people in your stock footage, clips, release forms, release forms, release forms. If you can see people's faces, you need release forms that are signed by them. In order for you to be allowed to publish it online, you'll be able to find a few blank release forms online that you can print to use for your shoots. Google Search shutter stock release form and they'll provide you with the template. Upload a signed copy along with your model footage so that your footage can be considered if people are identifiable in your footage and you don't have a release form. The footage will not be accepted, resulting in a lot of wasted time for you and the model. There are always new stock websites popping up, so I'd suggest every few months do a Google search for stock footage and see what comes up on the first or second page. Take your best performing clips, maybe your top 20 as well as a few others, and published them to these other websites and see how they do. If it ends up being worth it. Add more as your portfolio grows in the stock footage industry. I would highly suggest having a hard drive dedicated to your stock footage clips so that at any point, if a new website comes out, you will have access to it all within one hard drive in one folder. This will make it very convenient for you from an organization standpoint. I definitely want to warn you and let you know that it's possible that many of your clips will get rejected due to many factors, such as grainy footage, lack of uniqueness, out of focus, too short, too long and so on. If you're footage does get rejected looking toe why it might be possible to resubmit with a slight change, But most of the time you'll get what's called Hard rejected, where you won't be able to resubmit when you're just starting out. Most likely a lawyer clips will get rejected, and this is part of the learning curve. Remember that your competition already has clips online and has set a standard of quality that you will need to match or surpass. Just like anything you'll get better in time, so keep at it. And within a few short months you'll be on your way to building a great stock footage portfolio. Also a runny YouTube channel called Ali and Will that's focused on cinematography and editing that you may find helpful and entertaining. We've logged make travel films how to tutorials and review videos weekly. All right, so that does it for this course. Thanks for enrolling, and I hope I provided a lot of value within the stock footage industry of what to expect and some tips that can get you started. So with that being said, we'll see you in the next one