Transcripts
1. Introduction: Getting involved in the stock footage industry has many benefits. And in this course, I'll walk you through everything you need to know to get started and be successful. I have been working as a flight attendant and documentary photographer for many years. Working on landscape narrative for Nature magazines and commercial projects for airlines and tourist agencies. My images are used all over the world for advertising and editorial campaigns. But a few years ago, I decided to explore new different ways of making money with my beloved camera. Here it is with my time machine. I call it time machine because it is actually a time machine. Okay, so I decided to be not only photographer, but also a video creator. And so I started exploring the magical world up stock footage. I'll share with you in this course everything I've learned about shooting and video editing. So how to prepare stock footage, how to upload eclipse, and several hints and tips. We will also discuss the equipment needed, which resolutions is better, which category of stock footage is more popular than others and much, much more. But the best part is that stock footage is limitless. What do I mean by this? I mean that more stock footage you capture and publish, the more you will benefit in the long run. So this course was created to open your eyes over this incredible world of stock footage. And I am very excited to share my knowledge and experience with you. So let's move to the first lesson. Have fun and see you in a minute.
2. What is Stock Footage: Welcome back. What exactly is stock footage? Stock footage, also known as archived footage, is a video content, but also business model that can be used in various video projects. People who buys stock for the jar, typically production companies or editors are looking to complete a video they're working on, maybe because they need a cut or a B roll. And this choice can be incredibly clever and useful to them. Imagine for a second that you are a film director and that team need an aerial shot over a multibillion island. Now, it can be extremely expensive to hire a videographer, filmmaker, or production company to capture this type of food that for you. So what is the solution if I cannot afford such expenses? Well, simply typing, I aerial shot over more deviant island on stock footage platforms like palm five or Shutterstock in some more agencies, we will go into talk about during another lesson of this course. Well, doing so, you as a film director, are going to save the time it takes to film the content you actually need. As well as you will be able to choose from hundreds of aerial clips over the MOOC deviant islands and the end, you will save lots and lots of money. Now, if we look at stock footage as a business, not from the film directors perspective, but the perspective of a video refer. Stock footage can be a great way to grow your business and add easy passive income. In a few words, the stock footage market is a large database of millions and millions of videos used by influencers. Television companies, film directors, production companies do save time and money. And for you, for you as a contributor stuck through that. She's a fantastic creative way to earn money through the use of your camera or even your smartphone while having fun. You're VDS can be solved for a very good price, even hundreds of dollars. And all you need to do is make sure that a clip high-quality, which means a clear picture without grain or choppiness and that they have value for who is going to buy. What do I mean by value? It means that, for example, people socializing, a child, playing, time lapses, motion lapses, hyper lapses. Animals, aerial clips, or even popular buildings of famous places, but shut from a new different perspective. Like an extremely low angle or, or, or a very low point of view. Well, there's no limit, OK, to your creativity. But here is the first secret. Advice. Always, always, always think about what you are about to fill. As if you were the buyer. Think before filming what value you can add to the movie. A different and particular angle, like we were talking about before. An unusual subject, a super slow motion. Well, as we said, there's no limit to creativity. So it's up to you. The purpose of stuck food that you so as to save time and money. Instead of filming a specific shot of, let's say, Rocker Galatia fortress in Italy. A travel a travel agency for, uh, for example, or a production company, a film director from anywhere in the world that can be interested in rocket Galatia, well, can simply buy it from someone who has just made that shop, saving them time and money. Okay, what is rocker Galatia fortress, a rocket. Galatia was the Italian famous location for a lady hawk film and also the location of many sequences for the name of the rows. So where to start? In the next lesson, we'll talk about how to become a stock footage contributor and how to apply to stock footage agencies that you really need to consider. We'll see you in a minute.
3. Create an Account on Pond5: 15 was launched in 2006 as a stuck media company focusing only on the radio and later expanded its business including other medias like music, photos, illustrations, effects, and also 3D models. Now it is absolutely the best stock footage agency in my opinion, also because it has the largest stock video collection online. Okay. We're talking about millions of videos. Now if you want to become a contributor, you go through the simple registering process on their website, which is 15.com. Once you register, you can start uploading your videos and you will choose whether to upload your footage directly through their website interface or via FTP file transfer protocol using external FTP software like FileZilla or Cyberduck. They're both free and very, very powerful. Now, the easiest way to sign up as this one, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on sell your media. And in the next window, you click on, start selling. In the next step, you will want to fill in your email, your username, your password, and then retype that password. And in case your username won't be available, you're simply choose and how to warn or simply put the number at the end of it and click on Next. Now, you will have to fill in your basic information by writing down your name, certainly CD postal code, and at the end, the VAT ID. Now remember that if you don't give bonfire of that information, you won't be able to go on, you won't be able to complete the registering process. So is absolutely necessary. Feeling that all these information now, I don't know if it is a bug or not. But the fact is that if you don't have a VA DID and you simply type a sequence of zeros. Well, everything seems to be fine. Okay, here's the trick. Now, let's provide some new additional information in order to better left palm five, been know about who you are and specify if you are an individual creator, production company, representative and aggregator, and what type of media you are going to upload, of course. So in our cases is going to be video. And then click Next. The final step, you will have to upload your ID. A valid ID can be also your passport driving license. The important thing for 15 is that it is clearly visible your name, surname, date of birth, and expiration date. And the last step, check the box where it says, I acknowledge that I have read and agreed upon five contributor agreement, and click on Submit. Now, remember, even if the official line is waiting about seven days, I'll tell you you will have to wait a couple of days to three days. Okay. Sometimes even one is enough before being notified that everything was fine, everything was okay and that you finally become a stock footage contributor. Now, once you are in, you just login with your username and password. Move to the upper right corner of the page under the logo picture. Picture that you will have to choose. Of course. And select dashboard. The dashboard is the most important part of your 15 account, okay, is the engine of your account is the core part of your account because it is here that you will find your sales. Information about your sales, the amount of money you earned. And you will find the payout preferences in us here that you might want to write a few lines about yourself. Here you also find the FTP information you will need in case you prefer to upload your files with files, DLLs, or Cyberduck. And, and also here in the dashboard is where you will have to save additional preferences. Okay, talking about email preferences and notification preferences. Now, you are probably wondering, well, okay, so fantastic. I love stock footage industry, but how much do I exactly burn? Well, it all depends on the type and number of videos you upload, the quality of the videos, and the niche in which you will shoot. Of course, also which type of license the clip, with which type of license the clips are going to be sold. Earnings can be at the beginning, let's say around 2030, maybe $50 per month. Okay, but not even immediately. Because as I said in another lesson, this is not a spring, this is a marathon. You have to be patient. You have to keep uploading files because it takes time to index your your clips and let them visible again and find will to potential customers. So what I'm trying to say is that, uh, you don't have to give up. You keep uploading files. For me. It took about five months before selling my first clip. I remember it was a clip about a camel walking on a beach of Mombasa. But I was so excited and was my first selling. I was so really excited. But it took me five months. Okay. I didn't give up. And you don't have to give up just because you don't you don't sell immediately. Okay. It takes time. It takes a lot of time. Okay. Months, we're talking about months. Remember also that one of the best thing up stock footage is that you will earn money even if you're not working okay, while you're sleeping, you will earn money because this is a passive income. Passive income that will last for years. Now in the next lesson, we'll see how to upload the files on B15. And we'll see in a minute.
4. Upload on Pond5: Let's see together now how to upload files to pound 5. First of all, as I already told you in another lesson, the previous lesson, you can choose either to upload your files using the palm fiber web interface or using an FTP software like FileZilla or Cyberduck. Now, I would recommend this option only if your connection is really low or unstable. Otherwise they'll website interface is much faster. Click on your profile icon and select uploads. And then click the blue button, upload new file. In the next window, click on Choose Files and search for the file you want to upload. In my case, I am going to upload the Motorola and I view one material is a beautiful mountain overlooking one of the biggest lakes here in Italy. Now let me give you an important advice. You better off upload your files immediately after you've created them. Don't wait too long because in your mind, you still have all those important informations about what and where you filmed that you will need to describe the clip and the keywords to, of course, so don't wait one month before uploading. As you will not remember many things that really might be useful to you. Now let's move forward. I will choose Motorola clip, which she's in for K, and click on Edit. And now we will have lots of fun filling in all the information we need. So first of all, we will choose the best frame that is actually going to be the thumbnail that who is going to search and by our clip will see on page 105. Then the title, description, the date, the location CD, the location country. Also the camera model includes how do you know? And this is because in stock footage we will never, ever include audio. Why? Because who is going to buy clips on stock footage? Agencies need only the video because they will include their O2 files. The audio files they need in a second time according to the project they're working on. In pricing, you have now the option to choose whether to leave the OTA price set or to manually change it. How it my case, the pump 5 system doesn't allow me to choose a price less than $50. You see, for 4k resolution, which price should you choose? Now, this, this rule worked for me, okay? It might be told, Oh, you're wrong for you. I want to share this information with you. We are talking about a famous place with more than a 100000 results in searching. For example, New York now has over 3, No is as about 300 thousand results. Well, if it is an important famous place with more than 100000 results as this app well stocked with $50 if it is a four K resolution, 39 dollars for HD resolution and $29 for resolution. But if you sell that clip, and then you will want to rise $10 each time you sell that clip. Okay? And you can do this up to $79 for, for the, for k resolution, $59 for HD, and $49 for S D. In fact, you can change prices to the clips even if they were already suddenly did and they are online. What about if you shoot a place with which is not really famous? Well, here the rule changes. If you shoot a place which is not really famous. Start with $60. If it is a 4k resolution, $49 for HD resolution in 39 for ASD resolution. If you sell that clip, then you will want to change the price rising in $10 each time you sell it up to $89 for, for k, 69 for HD, and 59 for MSD. Okay? You will test this, this rule and see if it works for you. Otherwise you can always change the prices in a second time. Okay? Now we go to the keyword section. You will see some keywords pawn file already included for you. Choose the one you think are the best according to what is in your clips, of course, and add your own personal keywords as well. Now, some other information we need to fill in this. Are there people in the scene? Is it a real time? Which type of shot is this? And then scroll down until you see the curation note filled. Now, pay attention. If the clip is editorial, which means you don't have a mold release, you don't have a property release mode are released for recognizable people in the clip. And property release for logos or, or, or private properties, okay? Buildings that you must mark that clip as editorial. And you have to do this by going to curators note a right editorial, use only, and then click on save and submit for review. Nobody tell you this. I don't know why, but nobody will tell you this. But now you know. Okay. Normally release no property release there. You still can sell your clips, but only for editorial use and not commercial. Now what happens if I have a batch of clips in which the subject is the same? My case, I have three clips of jellyfish you see, but for you maybe 10 or 20. Now should I feel in one by one the same boring information? No. To save your time, 15 gives you the option to create templates. In my case, the clips are HD resolution and so I click on Templates. Here. I already created one for my batch of clips. If the clips wearing for K resolution than I should have chosen footage for k templates. Okay? In the template we simply include all the informations that will apply to all of the clips of the batch in one-click, saving us a lot of time. When we're finished to create a template, we save it. Then we'll select the clips of the batch and under action, click on Apply food that template. Choose the correct template. Check the box where it says at keywords and click on Submit. Now is all done. What we will need to do now is click on each clip of the batch and include the information missing in the description according to that specific scene. Okay, you might want to include other keywords because only in that clip, there's a new element, for example. So with templates, you apply to all of the eclipse of the batch should be more or less 80 percent of information. And so you don't have to retype them each time, okay? But then one by one, of course, you have to complete. You have to complete them. When you finish, you simply click on Save and Submit. Remember the pons 5 wants non edited clips without sound. The length must be between 30 and 60 seconds in at least 100 ATP resolution. So the HD resolution, if you upload for K your resolution than 15, we'll go ahead and create a dao resolution, HDMI, SD copy on your behalf. You better render also your files in am MP4 format with H.264 codec. But we will see what this all means in another lesson.
5. The Perfect Mindset: How can it be successful in the stock footage industry, which is the best mental approach, the specific word that actually should be mind-set. First of all, it is always better to have an idea of what to film before going to fill it, okay, Well, I'm saying it might sound silly, but it is not enough to go out with your camera around your Mac without having even a rough idea of what to fill. Because you see at this stage, we are already talking about strategy. Great idea can be translated into great video if you plan ahead. For example, what kind of camera movements? Which perspective you will use? Maybe you just wanna go out and film a seagull on a rock, let's say it, yeah, a seagull on Iraq, but even there knowing in advance, for example, what kind of camera movement you want to use. Maybe it's a mean panning, tilt up. But nestle down, plan ahead makes a difference. And because it's a strategy, and this strategy will get you one step ahead of the competition. You also have to ask yourself some important questions. I would say essential. For instance, do I need a release for this modal, perhaps some minor release? Do I need a property release? And because it's a private building, it's cloudy today. So what kind of location should we choose? Should I wear or maybe lead my mobile, where if I have a mobile, something specific, particular for the type of shots I have in mind. What kinds of movements, what type of shots which perspective should I use? Which angle view should I choose? A low angle? High angle, because changing perspective often means creating something unique that others haven't done before. And so again, this will get you one step ahead of the competition. Another thing to ask yourself is this type of footage doesn't already exist on the stock for the agency websites, are they already available? And if yes, how many? And if there are too many, because maybe it is a popular subject, let's say a failed Tower in Paris. How can a shoot that famous subject in a complete different ways hasn't been done before. You see, technique is obviously important and we never stop learning new techniques as technology advances and we often find ourselves with new tools in handled learning how to use them. So we, we evolved from a technical point of view along with technology itself. But again, technique is important. But if you don't blend what the shoot and how to shoot before going out with your latest camera. I really doubt that you will be successful in the stock footage industry. Blanding is everything. The purpose here is to create and it sends eclipse that have high sales potential. And this is only possible if your clips become more popular than others and always appear on the first page of searches. Now, I'm not just talking about stock footage agencies, but even just by searching on Google. Because many customer will land on stock agencies, websites from Google, depending on what the type on the Google search engine. So the more unique a video is, the less competition there will be. But of course, you must also understand that unique. How can I say not a magic word does not mean that a video being one of a kind will necessarily sell. That it will be a video that everyone is going to buy. No, you have to find a good balance between what is unique and what people is looking for. Otherwise, your creativity and efforts would be a little bit useless. During this course, we will analyze what is the market research in the sector and we will find what production companies or directors need for their media projects. There are many useful tools online that can really help you and point you to. So the right topic, subjects. Because some of them are more popular than others and we will review them during the course. Don't take your camera to go out without knowing, want to fill out where to fill, start blending everything. And I think like the customer who will buy your clips, don't look at things only from your point of view. Put yourself in the customer's shoes. Because we're looking at things only from your point of view, at least to a lack of self-criticism that you absolutely need to be successful on a stock footage business. I will see you in a minute in the next lesson. Verbal verbal ability.
6. The Royalty Free License: So let's see together what exactly is a royalty-free license, which he seems to be something free, but that actually it is not. What you will earn. Also depends on the type of license that is purchased by the customer. And hear the door, the hub, the doors of a new unexplored world open. Why? Because when it comes to licensing, you start speaking in another language. But it is a language that anyone who decides to earn through the stock footage business must learn. So let's try to understand. I'm in a few words of which licenses shoot, interest you. And they're royalty free license is the one that actually interests you more than others. And so let's begin with what the royalties are. Let's say that traditionally a royalty is a feat paid to the author or creator of a work each time a copy of that work is used or sold. For example, if you are a writer, you will earn a percentage AWPA cost of each book salt. You are a photographer and people want to use one of your copyrighted photographs for a website, for example. Well then they will have to pay a fee for it to you because you are the creator of the image. And generally this P comes in the form of a royalty. The royalty free license allows the customer to use purchased videos without having to pay. You. Create a rather click every time it is used. Because with a royalty-free license, the customer has the possibility to use the video. He's going to buy it without limits of time and space, means he can't use it in America as well as in Africa or in Europe, has many times as he wants, without incurring additional costs. Of course, always following the guidelines of the license itself. Now the term royalty free, the free, this free can be confusing a, because, because it gives the impression that everything is free. But as we have seen, this is not the case. And in order to make things clear enough, Pome five for instance, if you go on their website on Fiverr.com and you scroll down to the bottom of the page under buyers resources. By clicking on our licenses, it shows you the options available, whether the customer is on a single individual or a production company. Whether he needs your click for a documentary or for news or educational purposes. And here we come to the difference that exists between the different type of use of the royalty free license we are interested in that the difference between the commercial use of our clips and the editorial use. So the license is one, the royalty free, okay. Which depending on the type of use of your video, we'll put a few, many, lots and lots of money in your pocket. It depends. Now the commercial use means that whoever buys your clip with, we'll, we'll use them for personal or business purposes or for advertising promotional projects, or to sell their merchandise. Editorial use, on the other hand, is typically not linked to advertising or promotional activities, but to the production of, let's say, non-commercial films, non-commercial documentaries, news editors. If your video, for example, would be used for illustrative or educational purposes, it is likely that the customer purchased your video with the right to use it for editorial purposes. So we have therefore sin, what the royalty free license is and which are the usage options, editorial, commercial. Let's now try to understand another concept is the concept that concerns the dilute use, which could be translated into usage rights. I know it seems very confusing and difficult to understand, but pseudo Lee, you get used to these terminologies do thus download use specifies the number of individuals within an organization who will use an edit that purchased clip. So if a customer is the only person, do you directly or even change something of the downloaded file, then he can purchase the license for only one individual. If instead, the file will be used by more than one person, then it is likely that for the customer, best option is to purchase an extended license. That bomb five, for example, Coles business option. And it is valid for up to five individuals of an organization or premium, which is more expensive but valid for anyone who is part of a specific organization, even 100 people. When a customer chooses the right of use, he will almost always also have the possibility of adding a greater legal protection called indemnification. Indemnification, it means that one party pays the other part is expenses in case there are legal costs on the horizon. Always returning to pump 5, which I repeat for me, it is always the best stock footage agency out there. And not only for the percentages it pays to escalate collaborators. Like you were about to become one. But a fantastic thing is that this indemnification is already included for the client who buys any type of media on bonfire, be that video music photograph. Okay. The customer enjoys free indemnification up to $15 thousand already included in the purchase. I hope this lesson was useful to you. I hope you really enjoyed it and I will see you in a minute in the next lesson.
7. W-8BEN: W eight B E and document, what is it? Here it is. This is a document you need to fill it in when you register yourself on American stock footage agencies if you want to pay less taxes. Let's see together what is all about. Some stock footage agencies are American and America asked all agencies with their headquarters in the United States to withhold before painting the author of a clip, which happens almost always on a monthly basis, The American taxes on the sale of the footage. Now the rate of this tax is 30%. So if you are resident in the USA, it's easy because you just have to pay your tax in the USA. But if you live in another country, it is different because in addition that you have to pay you have to pay taxes also for your country. So it's a double taxation. Fortunately, there is a way to pay less taxes. You must check, first of all, if there is a tax agreement between the United States and your country, In my case, for example, Eataly and you were say, signed tax treaty to avoid this double taxation. And the only thing I have to do is fill in an online document called WH vn, which is this one. And so let's understand together what it is. As I said, if you sell your clips through an American stock footage agency, everything you sell is taxed at 30 percent. However, since there is a bilateral tax treaty between, in my case, Italy and the United States filling in that WAS VN document tax will be reduced for me to 8 8% percent. Filling out. This document is very quick, is very easy. You can do it online during your registration procedure on American base stock footage agencies with headquarters in the United States. What does it mean? If you go on 15? For example, 15 is the white flight because it is American. But it is also true that is based in Ireland, which means that if Palm five cells one of your clips, no tax will be deducted for the US government, which is fantastic. You can check if there is a tax treaty between the United States and your country at this link, please do it. Remember, this is very important. If you want to pay less taxes. See you in the next lesson. Ability.
8. DSLR and Mirrorless: Let's start with DSLR's cameras. Mirrorless cameras. They technically are two different type of technologies, but in terms of use, they are quite similar. Dslrs or mirrorless cameras both show the scene through the camera's lens itself as you can post the picture. But the way they display it is completely different. A long time ago, the only way to see through the camera was to use a mirror in the body of the camera to reflect and allowed to view the scene and the viewfinder, the mirror raised that went taking a photo so that the image could then move to the back of the camera work a film was exposed. And the only distinction between older SLRs, which means single lance or efflux, and today's DSLRs, digital single lens reflex is that modern DSLR's have a digital sensor instead of film. Mirrorless cameras take on the other side, totally different approach because they use the Live View captured by the camera sensor itself to create an electronic viewfinder image. And by doing this, there is no need for a mirror and an optical viewfinder. I will suggest you to check this popular website. Here you can read how cameras from all major manufacturers perform and rank so that you can have an idea of which ones are really the best, but presumably also the most expensive ones. In the moment you want to start working with stock footage, of course. This website can be also useful if we want to have a panoramic view over the multitude of cameras available on the market now. And there can be different, completely different, of course, in six months from now. Why do professionals prefer DSLR and mirrorless cameras? Because first of all of the quality of the sensors, the size of the sensors, and the quality of the lenses that can be used. Because also out there, excellent image quality and and the flexibility. And what do I mean by flexibility? For example, the ability you have to change lenses that makes possible to create different type of footage, different perspectives. Simple way. Obviously as long as you have more lenses from which to choose. But however, even in this category, there are cons and not just pros. So one of the biggest limit of DSLRs and mirrorless is that these amazing machines are not born to make videos. And also be recording limit per single video must not exceed 30 minutes. And did you notice I said must not exceed. Well, the reason is this one, the SLRs and mirrorless cameras being classified as cameras and not cam quarters, pay less duties when they enter in the European community, for example. But the Customs Code requires that to be classified as primarily photo taken devices. They cannot record for more than 29 minutes and 59 seconds. So this is the reason why you cannot record beyond that limit. And another problem that you might experience using a DSLR or mirrorless is that they easily go in overheating, especially when the record at higher resolutions like for k. And here we come to resolutions. You don't necessarily need a high hand camera to be able to film stock footage. But you will need a camera that can record in high definition at least 120 per 1080 or a 1000 ATP. Although for k would be, of course, a better option. Because it will still allow the consumer to scale down the food into smaller resolution if, if he wants. Also, for K resolution is becoming more popular day after day. And as the world is changing fast, consumers now expect high quality of image. And as a content creator, if you don't meet these expectations, you might find difficult to succeed in a stock footage business. Anyway. At the beginning, at the beginning, even basic DSLRs should be more than enough to capture good quality clips, as long as there is enough light around in the scene so that you don't end up with grainy footage. All the DSLRs camps now with the ability to record a 1000 ATP video. So you don't need to spend lots of money to get started in this business. But again, as mentioned before, for k resolution footage, how can I say is quickly becoming the new standard? So if possible, get a camera that can record in for k Also because you will, you will sell your clips at a higher price. But be aware that 4k resolution. Always ask for powerful computer in order to edit and export your files. Keep this in mind and spirit important because before start spending your money on Amazon or other e-commerce platforms, you absolutely have to understand that the purchase of a particular product might affects the whole workflow. And as a consequence, also, the other tools you use it to work. For example, there is no need to buy for K resolution camera. If we then don't have a powerful computer that can process those huge files. When you start your adventure in the stock footage. You will also need another thing, very, very, very important, which is a tripod. A tripod to capture stable footage because you see shaky handheld footage probably will not be accepted and it can be very discouraging for you to have your clips rejected. So I strongly suggest you to consider a good, strong tripod. It will be one of your best friend in almost all locations. Another tool that can really make the difference is the GoPro camera, because we'll Pro can be a great investment because it is so, so much versatile. You can stick it anywhere and capture great footage. And it also is very small. You can put it, for example, in our waterproof case. And so you can get fantastic and the water footage they will have, of course, a much better chance of being popular compared to easy to take food that you like. Let's see, people walking on the beach. But keep in mind that one of the limit of the GoPro is that it comes with a sort of fixed wide angle lens, which makes it, of course, it very difficult to get different types of shots in terms of creativity. In the next lesson, we will try to understand also if smartphones should be considered when starting your journey in the world. I'll stock footage. We'll see you in a minute.
9. Smartphones: Let's talk also about smartphone. As we all know also smartphones are now ready to shoot in for K. But please consider also that smartphones tend to produce shaky looking footage. And because of this, you might end up with many rejected clips. But it is also true that as technology improves, so smartphones improve. And some of them actually already have amazing stabilization feature built-in. But they simply cannot perform as well as DSLRs or a mirrorless. For example, in low light conditions. Why? Because the sensor up as Marfan is simply too small. So if you decide to record with your smartphone, you must know that it is essential that a scene is very, very well illuminated. So if you are outside on a nice summer afternoon, there's nothing to worry about. But if you record indoor video using only natural light, Let's see coming from the windows and it's four o'clock PM on a winter day. Well, you might have a few problems. Another aspect of smartphones you need to consider before buying one for the creation of stock footage is that compared to other tools such as reflux and mirrorless, is the lack of control when it comes to depth of field. Very, very, very important thing because it will be impossible to select which portion of the scene you want to keep in focus and which one you want to blur. A solution to. This problem is on smartphones may be available probably in the future, but I believe only with artifacts, only with artificial alternative solutions. Probably of course, without quality. Like I said, when talking about DSLRs and mirrorless cameras, I would suggest you to take a look at this fantastic camera rating website called dx o mark in their laboratories. People from the exome mark also test a huge number of smartphones, cameras, and provide their results online to everyone. If you want to have an overall idea which smartphones you really should consider to buy for stock footage. In the moment you see this course, the x o Mark is the right place to check. We have been talking about DSLRs, mirrorless cameras. In the last lesson, we're talking about smartphones now. Let's see another, another great tool that you really have to consider when producing stock footage, I'm talking about gimbal will see them in the next lesson.
10. Gimbals: Let's talk now about Gimbels. In the last few years ago, symbols have become an essential tool for the video maker. And now the market is really full of different types of gambles with different prices and the features. So why you really need to buy one? Because you need a smooth footage if you want to be successful in this business and if you want to make your video, videos or look more professional, a camera gimbal is what you need. Camera gimbal, but also smartphone Geebo. With a gimbal, you can really enjoy the freedom of handheld shooting, eliminating all those cameras shape that's typical of them, of handheld shoots. Keep in mind that production companies, directors are all hungry for this type of clips. So adding this professional-looking gambles works to your portfolio on the stock footage, agencies really can be a great way to attract potential clients. The gimbal has an electronically stabilized three axis system that allows smartphones or cameras to stabilize the video while recording. So I am talking about an instrument with really advanced features, almost futuristic features, to which the smart phone or a camera is connected. When choosing a gimbal, there are a few things that you really have to keep in mind. First of all, first of all, some Gimbels are designed only for stabilizing your camera, while others offer many more capabilities. For example, some of them can be moved, uh, with the remote control. Or this is amazing. It can be controlled by the movement of your hand. I mean, holding a smartphone, moving your hand. You can move at the same time, the gimbal. It's really incredible, but it's real. Many of them have different, different features built in. For example, some others have emotional lapse videos modes where you can set the camera to slowly pan while capturing time-lapse video. For those who don't know. What is a timelapse. Time-lapse is a sequence of photographic shots separated from each other by a certain time interval. For example, let's say two seconds, which we can then speed up in the post-production. And the result is amazing because we will see the scene flowing at a greater speed. Highlighting the slow movements are, for example, a flower that blooms. Well, and we'll show labs is simply a time-lapse bird. The shots are taken while the camera is in motion. Some of them even have oh to tracking feature. They can automatically keep a moving subject in frame. So you'll have to think really about what features you want, what you'd be shooting, and what senior budget, of course. But definitely what you have to do when choosing the basketball is to consider also some other things. The size, the weight, battery life, built quality. Because you see, for example, let's take this gimbal here. This is a gimbal produce designed for smartphones. And this is built in plastic, high-quality plastic, but it is plastic, so it is also light. While this one here, It's built in metal and plastic. And of course the weight is completely different. Actually is quite heavy. It's a professional tool, but the quality, build quality is completely different here. So you really have to consider the size, the weight, battery life, and the built quality when you will choose one. And also which stabilization technology it uses. For example, it is a smartphone gamble that you're looking for, okay? It is a smartphone gimbal because also smartphone gambles are very cheap compared to the camera gambles. Please remember that some of them work only on two axis. So these move out only tilt and roll, which means movement's going up and down or from side to side. What do I mean? Here? There's an example. This is no, let's take this one. Let's take this one. So here is the tilt. It will stabilize the tilt and it will stabilize the role. What you need, what you need is three axis gimbal so that she can smooth out not only tilt and roll, but also the panning, which is this one. Here. You see again tilt here, up and down, roll scientists side and panning. Please consider also the compatibility. Compatibility because the gimbal needs to hold and support your device. And the last but not least at the softer, which features it has. Any future updates. If even just a YouTuber need a stabilizer, you have to consider this. You can't imagine how important it is for you to have a gamble in your back. You are a filmmaker or just about to become one, a content creator. And you will sell your videos to production companies like maybe even Netflix. So here we are talking about serious business and for this reason, you need serious instruments to work with. We'll see you in the next lesson. Of course, the behavior.
11. Best Stock Footage Agencies: In the past lessons we learned how to register and upload your videos on Palm five, the best online agency for a stock footage and my opinion. But the panorama is much wider. There are many agencies their promise to sell your videos, some with more success than others, and some that are clearly a waste of time. We will focus in this lesson on the ones that really deserve to be mentioned. In a ranking defined by my personal experiences in terms of earnings, the second most profitable agency after 15 is Shutterstock. Shutterstock has been the reference for, for a long time, the most important agency for those who worked with micro stock, which means selling photographs. In recent times, however, this agency has been the subject of a controversial due to not a very popular business decisions. Shutterstock decided in fact, suddenly to get all the commissions to be assigned to photographers while maintaining the same price of the photographs. Many of them will have to Shutterstock and started working with other agencies, of course, what some other accepted all it was decided. But here we are talking about stock footage. We are talking about selling our videos, generating tens, if not hundreds, dollars for each sale. We're not talking about selling photographs also because micro stock in the past could generate really big profits, but selling a photograph, now, nice, earning a neighbor a Java one or maybe $2 for each sale. And, and for this reason, this is definitely another business model we want to follow. However, even for video makers, the royalty percentages provided are similar to those of photographers. And they vary according to the number of videos. Salt, which can't reach up to 40 percent. Shutterstock, a company based in New York. So during the registration procedure you will be asked to fill in the famous form W eight BBN. Go to submit dot Shutterstock.com. Please pay attention, include submit at the beginning of the address because if you just write Shutterstock.com, you will land on the customer page. And from here start the registration procedure. In this course, I will not show you how to register on each agency and how to upload files. And I will not do this for different reasons. And above all, one, in particular, the registration procedures are all similar. They're not difficult since they are guided procedures. I have shown to you how to do it on to15 because it is the agency that for me is the first of the class. And also because it can be used as a reference model. Furthermore, YouTube is full of tutorials on how to register on these agencies. What instead really interests me is to tell you which agencies you really have to consider in order to be successful in this business without wasting your time registering websites that will get you nowhere. This is one of the most important things and here is the particular reason I mentioned earlier to reveal to you what secret weapon is at your disposal to save you a lot of time and mental energies. You see when you subscribe to maybe four or five agencies and upload files to each one. When you describe those files following different methods required for each one. And why you need to find the keywords, solve any problems with the agencies that may reject some of your clips and much, much more. You'll find yourself trapped in a sort of nightmare. If you intend to upload your masterpieces to a single agency or at most two? Well, there's a lot of work anyway, but it is still possible to remain in good mental health. The question, however, is, why should you limit yourself to one or two agencies? Why should you limit yourself to selling only on to agencies when many customers perhaps prefer to buy on other stock footage platforms and they're just waiting for your clips. So you understand that it is not the right strategy to propose yourself to only one or two agencies. But it is also true that I said before, managing four or five becomes a nightmare. So what is the solution? Let's go back to the topic of the lesson and let's finally see the list of the best agencies. Those stock footage platforms that really need to be considered. Palm five, American agency, but based in Ireland, Shutterstock and American agency based in New York. Vimeo stock. Vimeo is a media conglomerate owned by Interactive Corp, an American company based in New York, among the other things, in a beautiful building in Manhattan. Adobe stock owned by Adobe, which needs no introduction, is the American father's shop company based in San Jose, California. And these are the magic for the Fantastic Four. But of course, US and other agencies that could possibly increase you your earnings even more. Although they are not as popular as the ones I just mentioned in that 0. And that 0, for example, an Australian company created as a portal in which to sell and buy content necessary for the creation of websites. A portal that it is divided into different categories and therefore different marketplaces depending on the content the client is looking for. For the stock footage category and butter call the related marketplace Video Hive. On Envato. It is contributor who decide at what price to sell the clips. But in general, the tendency is to sell at much lower prices than the most famous agencies. However, even on Video Hive, many customers may their purchases every day. There are many other agencies out there, but the vast majority of customers, especially large production companies, always prefer to buy on the stock footage platforms I just mentioned. And this is also because as we have seen when talking about Part 5, there are legal coverages and the magnifications integrated into licenses for those who buy. Well, now that you've seen which are the best, most reliable, most profitable stock footage agencies, you may be wondering, what is the secret weapon, the one that she saved me a lot of time and mental energies will find it out together in the next lesson.
12. The Secret Weapon: Welcome back. In the previous lessons, I've been talking about something that I love to call the secret weapon. Let's see what is all about. Earning passive revenue from your footage can be easy if you know the right tools and if you know how to use them. I'm talking about the tools that can make the whole workflow simple and manageable. Blackbox is one of those important tools that can really make the difference and your content creator life much easier. Working with multiple agencies. Upload footage to each agency individually, followed by writing keywords for each clip. It takes a lot of time. Also because each agency is different with its own guidelines and requirements such as keyword placement. With blackbox, you upload your clip, you write a title, you rather keywords, and then your clip will be sent to the major stock footage agency in the world. Saving the time you have to spend to upload videos and write keywords for each single agency. Blackbox is a service, a global platform where video creators can upload their videos through an FTP program such as FileZilla or Cyberduck. The uploaded and edited videos are then distributed to the largest stock footage agencies in the world. Every time your clips cell. But box takes a very reasonable cut for their service. And you get an automatic monthly payout via paypal. But that is not all because that black box is not just distribution. There is a true sense of community and collaboration. You can connect with other members and collaborate with them. All of this is possible because black bosses built for creators, by creators and has been designed to allow people like me and you as a just sad to also collaborate in, for instance, making great video contents and share in the revenue streams. It is really a revolutionary way of working with stock footage. Another benefit of being a member of blackbox is that, um, they're very active Facebook group. People is always ready to help for whatever reason may arise. And also, because the community is so large and has millions of clips uploaded. And as old videos appear under the same black-box profile, this will place your clips higher in search, which will mean more sales because agencies automatically ranked black-box speed is higher. One more fantastic benefit with blackbox is that if you cannot afford a modal, you don't have enough money but really need one. Well, as long as your mobile has a Paypal account, you can simply pay the modal with a cat of your potential profits on their website. This is what we are IID. Step one, you should high-quality footage of the world around you or mine, your hard drives for footage. Step 2, you upload your footage did black box, and after the review and accept the content, we'll get it to the major stock agencies for you. And this frees up more of your time for creating. Step three. Every time your clips cell, you get paid. For years, the better your portfolio in terms of quality, diversity and quantity is. And the more you make and it is all on autopilot. And what about if you're a shooter? And I don't want to edit or add metadata to your footage. Let's check again their website. And here is the solution. You can partner with an editor or a curator from the black-box community and assign them at percentage of the revenue. Now you can focus more of your energy on what you love and you both make money. So what substantially is a radian is that if you love to shoot that don't know much or just don't like to color correct. Or color grade 3, denoise, an old, unnecessary post-production part of the business. You simply ask an editor to do that job for you and give him a percentage of the earnings each time the clips he edited is solved. Very easy, very simple. This is the way I personally work when I have plenty of clips to upload, but don't have time to edit them in the post-production. The same thing happens when you love to shoot. And you also love post-production, but don't know how or just don't like to write metadata. So we're talking about descriptions and keywords. Keyword arriving takes time, take a lot of time and efforts. And you can say even half an hour on one single clip if you're seriously looking for beauty, powerful words, asking the collaboration of a metadata specialists called curator will save you a lot of time and you can spend that time for recording more footage and so increase the number of active clips in your portfolio. Remember that key wording is unnecessary and fundamental part of the whole workflow, just like the post-production. Because the most beautiful and well edited clip in the world will never be found if the keywords and descriptions are wrong or misleading. That's all for this lesson. See you in the next one where we will analyze some of the things you really need to know if you want to become a member of this fantastic community called black-box.
13. The Secret Sauce (1st Part): Blackbox is essentially a service that connects you with the major stock footage agencies. And as I explained in the past lessons, stuck through that agencies is where, for instance, production companies or directors to look and search for a specific clip or a sequence of clips to complete your project. They're working on, maybe because they need a cut or a B-roll. And this choice can be incredibly clever to them. Without black box, the only way is to upload all your clips individually to all of the agencies facing many problems and wasting a lot of time. With black box, you just upload the ones and after they review and accept your footage, that's it. The distribute your files to all of the big stock footage agencies. But there is one thing you have to keep in mind when starting. Black box is made by professionals. For professionals, you really need to ensure that you observe important and fundamental standards when uploading clips do blackbox platform, you will find all in the user guide, the member flux, and the website facts once you sign in. But let's let's check together now which ingredients? Pat MC Gawain, the co-founder and CEO of black-box, recommends for the secret sauce that if well-earned, will let you sell your clips, bosons and even hundreds of times. No clip spamming, don't load more than two or three variations are what is basically the same shut, obvious clip spamming is not allowed and access clips will be rejected. That this clear what is saying is that you can work on one clip and produce, for example, a Zoom mean and then zoom out variation of that clip. And that's enough that this is also asked by stock footage agencies, no clips spamming. When I started at the edit, this mistake, I was uploading some of my footage with five or six variations and they were constantly rejected. I learned, I printed the user guide and ready to myself every night in bed before going to sleep. I'm not kidding. Because I want it to be successful in this business and I am now a better filmmaker also because of this guidelines. So no clips banning duration minimum five seconds, maximum 59 seconds. They strongly recommend durations of 10, 15 seconds. Drain the clips, remove unwanted camera moves or black frames at the beginning and the end. Steady. Your clips must be steady with no shaking movements of any kind. That is why we have been talking about gambles in one of our previous lessons. Handheld camera shake. Handheld is one of the hardest techniques do properly. If you're not a seasoned pro, your handheld 5-FU, that you will most likely be unsteady and will be rejected. We strongly advise you to use a tripod or a slider, or a gamble and do be very discerning when it comes to uploading handheld footage. No jump cuts or sequences. Each clip must be a single continuous, shocked. Remember, noise, pixelation, banding. The major agencies are super strict on these things. Make sure your clips are clean. Many DSLRs, drones, mirrorless action games, and I would also add smartphones, are not well suited to shooting in low light. Look at dock areas of your food, those for noise and grain. You can of course, apply denoising filters as part of your grading process, but this can be tricky and often makes things worse. And this is absolutely true. Shutter artifacts. A rolling shutter, shutter and other shutter issues will render a clip useless. Is this common with action camps, phones, and drones, an OTA mode. So go manual and understand this issue. Color correction. Well, in this section we have to talk a bit about what is, what also is a color space. So let's, let's read from the beginning. Clips should pop and stand out visually against the other clips on the agency's glimpse with a Rec 709 look, see best sales. Rec 709 is a color space. And what is a color space? In short, we could define it as the range of colors dead at device can represent. Rec 709 is the color space used for television and broadcasting. Some members shoot a Rec 709 in camera to avoid grading. Ungraded or raw footage is not encouraged at this time. So there are essentially two kinds of footage to kind of profiles, log and Rec 709 without guy into crazy details. Let's say this rec seven O nine is the profile we choose when we want our food that you live normal with good contrast and saturation and a few word, realistic. When, on the other hand, we choose luck per file footage have a really low contrast and is this saturated? Cameras shoot this way to get as much brightness and color information into recording as possible. So my suggestion here is to set your profile, your picture profile to log when shooting and editing. You don't apply any weird color presents, but you just convert the log file to a Rec 709 and then just a corrected the color, the balance, and the exposure beat, the saturation may be, but don't be tempted to style it. And it father. Also because a potential client may want more flexibility to work with it's own color grading. And you definitely want to ensure this freedom to who is going to buy your clips. We will see you in the second part of this video.
14. The Secret Sauce (2nd Part): Welcome back. Let's move forward. Sharp focus, food that should be in a sharp focus or in they be rejected. I wouldn't add anything else in this white balance if you don't know what this is and why it's important that you should get to YouTube or take a course. Is this basic stuff? Yes, definitely. To understand the concept of white balance and how it works is very important because if you set the white balance incorrectly, you will add to your footage unwanted color casts, and you will be probably end up causing skin tones to look very unnatural. Drones, aerials cell well, but must be professionally produced. This means no shutter issues, prompts or shadows in shop, poor horizon noise or poorly shot clips. Make sure you understand what technical issues could be leading to your clips being rejected. Well, aerials is definitely a great niche to choose, but you really need to master and be a pro in this category. Action camps. Basically, the same recommendations we have for drones, mobile phone, video refi this food that you can sell well but must be professionally produced. Do not shoot in OTA mode. Get manual control camera apps like filmic pro for your phone and learn how to use them for a professional. A result, this means note shutter issues, exposure issues, poor Farkas, noise, and so on. We have been talking about smartphones in this course. You can check it out. What part is saying is absolutely true. And I would add the sensor of a smartphone is small, is very small. So you will need a lot of light to previews a good footage. Different path, and shot style, certain part of a stands for point of views. Editors often need to edit sequences from a series of shots. This does not mean the same shot over and over in means a sequence of different shots that cover various point of views, angles, shot types, et cetera, Do not overdo it by uploading more than a few variations of a subject matter and don't upload the same basic shot again and again, flip spamming. Of course, buyers will skip over your countdown if you do this, which will hurt your sales. Many agencies are now rejecting similar clips. And I think this is clear enough. No audio deselect Odeo in your export settings because simply muting may result in your clip being rejected. Yes, you need to delete the old year track from your footage. Pillar boxing or letter boxing. Clips with black bars on sides or top and bottom will be rejected. Logos or trademarks. Clips including logos, trademarks, artwork, dues, et cetera, must have a property release attached or be designated as editorial with proper metadata. Without one of these two options, the clips would likely be rejected. Recognizable people, clips, including recognizable people, must have a mobile release attached or be designated as editorial with proper metadata. Without one of these two options, the clips will likely be rejected. Even if you film yourself or film family members, you still need a model release. In one of the next lessons, we will go through the difference between commercial and editorial use and what is a modal and the property release. Saturated subjects. Think about subjects that already have a ton of clips available. Things like waterfalls, grass, ducks, and squirrels are subjects that many people decide to fill. If you tried to shoot this for stocked with it, make sure you shut will stand out against the competition. For example, including people in the shot, will make a huge difference for a higher possibility of sales. Tried to film things that are difficult in terms of scale and location for others to reproduce. So what is saying is be unique, Bureau original, bit different. Before you shoot, you can spend some time exploring the various stock agencies, research what is currently available and selling. And you do this by checking the popular filters. Think about what might be missing and consider filling that gap in the market. Generally speaking, most of the major topics are highly saturated, but don't give up just because of this. Because finding unsaturated Nietzsche's is absolutely possible. And if you are then the only person providing those unique and different clips, you've definitely make lots of money. Will see you in the next lesson.
15. Collaboration: So now you have all this footage on your camera or your drone, on your action camera, on your smartphone. And you know that black box will review and if accepted, we'll distribute your clips to the major agencies. But you don't really want to spend your time editing videos or writing keywords. Well, black box gives you the possibility to find a collaborator that can do the dirty job for you, can be an editor or a curator or both. Let's say you need an editor. Basically you send in your batch of files via Google Drive or Dropbox or other file transfer services. And once he has your footage, he's going to work on them, color correct them, and export them. And then you simply have to upload on black-box and wait for the review. If you also need a curator sending your batch of clips directly on the black-box platform. And the curator will start working on metadata, descriptions, keywords. And once your footage is ready, you just check if you'd like the job said, Meet and wait for the black-box, review for a full curation, talking about editing and metadata, you normally assign around the 40 percent share on assault clip. And if you only need a curator for key wording or an editor, the 20 percent share on assault clip is what typically you will assign. It may seem like a high percentage, but it is not because it's crucial that your keywords are written correctly or edited correctly with the buyer in mind. So how do you find an editor or a metadata curator? Of the possibility you have is this one. Once you join black box, you are going to also giant, they're fantastic community, they are fantastic Facebook group. And what you will then need to do is to post a demo, reel out some of your clips, just to give an idea of what you like to fill. Asking for a collaboration in editing or key wording or full editing your clips. And you will soon start to receiving comments from people that are probably already into the nature of whatever you are filming. So they will probably write to you a comment or they will nasa to you saying, okay, let's work together and it's substantially you just have to reply to them and start collaborating. And this collaboration can last even a long time if both are happy with, with each other's work. This is the secret weapon I wanted to tell you about. Sign-up for black box right now. Don't waste any more time. In the next lesson, we will see when to submit a clip for commercial or editorial use. See you in a minute.
16. Commercial Vs. Editorial: Once you're ready to write a description and the keywords of your beautiful clip. You also need to determine whether that clip will be intended for a commercial or an editorial use. So what's the difference? We already went through this difference as seen from a buyer point of view when we talked about are royalty free license. Remember, we learned that whoever buys your clips from for commercial reasons, that we'll typically use them for business purposes or for advertising promotional projects, or just because the buyer wants to sell some merchandise. On the other hand, whoever buys your clips for an editorial uses typically for the production of documentaries, illustrative or educational purposes, and so on. But how do you know if a film needs to be classified and then sent to the agencies for a commercial or an editorial use. How do you know that? Commercial food that you means that you need to have older releases, the rise, the permissions to sell that footage. Of course, this is true. Even if you're filming your wife, your husband, or your toddler on the airplane going on holiday Inn, lead them to sign a mobile release. And when it comes to children, you need to sign and MyNode release. This is because anyone recognizable in your food edge must consent and sign a release, otherwise your food that will not be approved. Talking about people, if you have this adult or minor mother releases ready, then you can submit your files without breaking any privacy laws. Can even do it on a smartphone app, like Easy Release, or simply use the templates that each agency will provide. Even black box has its own modal or property release templates are ready to be filled. You will then simply submit that template together with your footage. Yes. You heard me saying property release. And this is because a model release for adults or minors is related to people. But you also have to know that if your clip contains recognizable private homes, private buildings, or other properties such as cars, are works, logos, trademarks. You need the owner of the property or a corporate representative if the property is owned by a company to sign a property release. So if you're working with modals, make sure they don't, we're branded clothes or at least trying to hide them, Not the modal, of course. Let's see in detail. So when you do and don't need a property release, not all property food which in our case or require releases. If your content feature generic houses and interiors that don't have any identifiable features, you are in the clear. The same applies to generic street scenes or cityscapes. Broke cityscapes, such as the one below, that don't have a single point of focus, don't require property releases. That if a single building is the main subject of the footage, you may need a release. Let's move forward. Talking about landmarks and monuments. You may need property releases, four clips. So famous buildings and landmarks in general, historical monuments that are more than a 120 years old don't require it. Releases get to know. But here is the exception. If the structure has been modified in any way, you must obtain a property release from the new architect. For example, the AFL Tower was built in 1889, but the live installation was added in 1985. Now, if you should have the tower in daylight, you won't need a release. However, and nighttime footage featuring live installation needs a release because French copyright law recognizes its artistic merit. Public transit and unique places. All trademarks and copyright protected items on trains, macrolides, airplanes, and so on, must be removed from your footage before submitting generic store fronts and sign that had been scrubbed, that is recognizable names have me removed, are fine to submit without a release. Intellectual property, if your footage includes a logo, trademark, you must remove it. Art and artifacts. If the art is not recognizable, no property release is required. Graffiti and street art. You don't need a property release, but in this case, molar releases are required. As you can see, tattoos, tattoos are considered works of art, so you will need a property release unless that the two isn't the main focus of the footage. Currency. Every country has its own stipulations when the big thing currency, some agencies, not only adobe, may reject clips in which more than the 75 percent of banknotes are visible. Animals, Let's say that in general, animals and pets don't need property releases. In this course, I also want to include for your knowledge a short list containing and number of internationally recognized buildings and monuments which the man, a property release. Here it is. This can all sound quite intimidating, but please don't get discouraged. You will see that everything will be much, much easier to do dentist. And you know what? If you have old permissions to film everything you want, people, objects, locations, private buildings. Well, that's great because you can sell your clips for commercial use and you will make more money that way. But if you don't have a modal or property release, you simply jump into the second category of footage, those intended for editorial use. You now know that editorial uses for buyers who wants your clips for news wrappers or educational purposes, for instance. So this means that your footage cannot be solved to be used commercially. But please remember that editorial isn't a dumping ground for food that you haven't bothered to get. Releases four. Okay. Classifying a clip for editorial use is okay when you don't know if that building is copyrighted or that person is recognizable. In that case, dustpan Howard's do arrays and logos or to Blair faces just selected editorial license and go. That's all for this lesson. I hope everything is clear. I'll see you in a minute in the next one.
17. Import with Davinci Resolve: In this lesson, we will see how to edit and export your clips with the the best video editing software in my opinion, which is Devin she a result produced by black magic. Black magic is the company behind this amazing tool and compare it to other famous software like Premiere Pro in the Vinci, you have a fantastic next generation color correction system. There are actually two versions of this software. If I scroll down here, you will see that you have two versions. There's the full studio version. There's one that you can buy with a lifetime license, so no subscription fees and it costs firearm around the $295 OR and this is a really great for us. There is a free version, totally free, which is fully functional. This one here, okay? Is, is fully functional except for the omission of certain features like 3D tools and multiuser collaboration and some other features that we will probably never meet. Blackmagic also produced the famous for k and now six buckets cinema camera. If you buy one of these pieces of gear, you will also get a free copy of the studio version of this software. So I'll show you now this is the four K Blackmagic Design pocket cinema camera. And this is the latest one, Blackmagic Design pocket cinema camera, six K paying, there's a big discount, actually, 77 percent off. Now, as I said that if you buy one of these two cameras, you will get him bundle also the free fully functional version of Da Vinci Resolve. One more important thing to say is that black magic released sometime ago and eight hours of video training on to show you how to use the software directly. And you can find it here on YouTube. You can take a look at this. It can be really, really helpful, okay, if you want to learn in deep how the software works. So now let's dive into the Vinci Resolve and the, let's see how to import your files. When you first open the Vinci, the first thing to do is to create a new project here. And you give it the name, of course. Okay, so let's call it my project. My project. Okay, I click on Create. And boom, we are into the project, into da Vinci resolve. Now once, once you are in the project that you move to the taps down, right here, down here, okay? We have to choose media. The first one on the left, we click on Media. And basically what we do is to select the folder in which we'll find the food that we want to edit. So in my case, the footage is Lisa supposed to be here. Yeah. And I drag and drop here the clip. And you will see that DaVinci Resolve sets the frame rate accordingly to your footage. So we click on Change. And here it is. Okay. What we need to do next is to go here to the editing part of the software. So from Media tab, we move to edit, click on Edit. And again, we select the clip and we drag it into the timeline. This is called timeline. Okay, let's split again to begin in. Okay. You can also edit multiple clips together, of course, but in this tutorial, I prefer to keep things simple for you and teach you the very basic steps. Because you first learn how to walk and then you will be ready to run if you want. But now let's check if everything is set correctly. We go here where it says File project Settings. And here we see that the time resolution is full HD. And timeline frame rate and playback frame rate is 25, which is perfect because this clip was recorded that in full HD with 25 frames per seconds. So that's fine. Click on cancel. And what do we do now? We have to delete the old your track. So let's move back here into the editing part of the Vinci and how do we delete the audio track? First of all, why do we have to delete it? Remember what we learned. People who is going to buy your clips want to have the flexibility to use their own color, great, Okay? And they have their own color gray profiles, but also their own soundtracks. Okay, they want to, they want to work on their project, adding their own sounds, their own old your tracks. So how do we get rid of this? We simply press together or Alt and Alt on Windows Option on Mac. And select the ODE your track with a left button of the mouse. And then right-click on the mouse, select, Delete, delete, selected. And here it is, okay. Now we only have the video track and that was very easy, very simple. In the next lesson, we'll walk through framing, adjustment, trade and the horizon and also stabilization in a minute in the next lesson.
18. Trim Adjust and Stabilize: Let's check now the beginning and the end of this footage. Why? Because we don't want shaking movements. We don't want black frames. Everything must be perfect so that agencies will not reject our clip. And let's play it from the beginning. Okay, this is the middle part and the final part. Okay. My case, I notice that the horizon on the very first part of the clip is not straight, is not level. And it is also a bit shaking. And this is because although I use the gimbal for this shot, it was a stormy day. It was very, very windy. Actually, that was really hard to even walk without flying away with a camera and the Gimbal. So we want to remove this part of the clip and we do it this way. We would check again the clip and I think we will cut the clip until this point. Okay. Let me see again. Until here. Now I simply have to drag the clip until it reaches the red bar and now reposition in here at the beginning of the timeline. Okay, now we've got a read of the shaky movements, but the horizon, it looks to me like it is still not level, not perfectly straight. And the last check, if it's true, we move here where it says Transform and click on the little y squared I can, okay? And we tracked down the frame until it reaches the horizon here. And as you can see, is not level's still not perfectly straight. You drag down the frame is simply holding the left button of the mouse. Okay, so how do we correct this problem? Let's move here where it's saying inspector, it's not a naval already. You just have to click here, inspector, here, this and where it says a rotation angle, you gently move toward the right until you think it is level. Track the frame down a little bit, a little bit more. Okay? And now what you have to do is to click here on this little circle where sales position, so it reposition it. And now what happens is that we have to get rid up the black parts due to the rotation work we did before. See here and here. And we can do this, simply enlarging a little bit, zooming a little bit. So now the black bars are not visible anymore. And there it is. Let's turn this off and I think it looks perfect now, we can check the final result. And we can do this by watching the clip in full screen mode, simply pressing Control F together on Windows and the Command F on a Mac. Let's see, Control F. Let's play from the beginning this clip. Okay. It's okay, but because it was so windy when I recorded this clip and because we are professionals, we also want to correct all those micro movements that may be visible on large screens, okay? And we'll do it via software and this weight. So we move from that, the edit section of the software here where it says color, the color tab you have to click here. And voila, welcome to the color section of WHE result, which is basically where we work on the rest of the editing process. Now click here where it says window and choose stabilizer. Okay, The stabilization mode has three options, three different working algorithms, which are, if you go here, you can see them, perspective, similarity and that translation. And it is impossible actually to say which one of these options will work best because each clip is different and the analysis will lead the algorithms to work on different parameters every time. But we want things to say simple now and in my opinion, perspective can be a good choice. Good compromise, okay, most of the time. Now, the smooth controller here, this move controller determines house move. The camera movements should be because it may happens that you don't want to remove all the movements from the food that, and so you can change the value of this parameter if you want. And the default value is 0, 25. Strength. The other parameter we need to know. Strength simply controls how strong you want your civilization to be, and by default is set to one. There's no working formula for all your clips. This two important settings. But what we can do is tarred him by leaving strength to one and smooth to 0.25. And if we don't like the result, we increase smooth of 10 and decrease strength of ten each time until the clips look more natural. So what do I mean by this? 0, 2500, 3500, 45, and so on. Strength from one, you can decrease to 0 9000, 8000, 70. Now for me, Good, good balance would be for this clip. I did it before. And it's 0, 65 us move, and 60 here, 060 actually strength. Okay, I click on stabilize. Analyzing. I wait a few seconds. And we'll, we'll check the final result in full screen mode. So Control F on Windows. Let's play from the beginning this file. And it's definitely better than before. Control F window and comment F. If you're on Mac. In the next lesson, we'll go through another fundamental part of this post-production process. I'm talking about the color correction. But first of all, you will learn the difference that exists between color correction and color grading in a minute in the next lesson.
19. Color Correction Vs. Color Grading: Welcome back. In this lesson we are going to see how to color correct a clip which has already be trained, adjusted and if needed, also stabilized in this case. So we have a very simple shot that we will use only for this lesson, okay, Only for this test. This clip was recorded setting, setting a log profile on camera. And as you learned in one of the past lessons, luck footage has no contrast, is saturated. And using a luck color space, a digital camera sensor record and transmit the most dynamic range of information possible. And this gives, this gives you much more color data to work with in post-production. Now the camera used for this shot was Sony Alpha 73 with an S log profile. S stands for Sony, just like Cannon has its own c log and Fuji has an F log. Okay. Before we start to color correct this footage. What is color correction? Yes. Because you know, you also need to know the difference between color correction and color grading. Don't be confused because there is a big difference between color correction and color grading. Color correction is basically the adjustment of white and black levels, exposure, contrast, saturation, white balance so that the food that she looks realistic, the way we see the world with our own eyes. Color correction will also give the buyer the flexibility to color grade the food that the way he likes it. So we color correct. The clip. And who is going to buy who's going to buy the clip? We'll color grade it. If he wants to do. Color grading is the way editors and colorists who are employed by the production companies change the look and feel of a clip for it to be sure for a movie, they can add more blue or orange or more saturation, or they can even completely desaturate the image, the clip, okay, completely. So they actually apply their own style in few words. So what we want here is to give those who work in the production studios in Hollywood the flexibility they need to change, what they might need to change our footage. And now that you learned the difference between a color correction and color grading, Let's start working on this clip, but we'll do it in a minute in the next lesson.
20. How to Color Correct: Welcome back. Let's start to color correct this footage. First of all, we have to add a node. A node, which is a sort of layer where you can apply different effects or different colors to the footage. And you can do, you can do that by right-clicking on your mouse or simply pressing Alt S on Windows or Option S on Mac. If I right-click here on my mouse, I can go where it says At node and then, and then add cereal in this case. But there is a shorter way which is holding Alt and S together. Or Option on Mac. And a here or this new node was created. Now, we need to balance out the contrast and that we have a fantastic visual tool that really can help is called VDO scope. You have to go down here. Where, where you see, you see this icon here, okay? Click on it. And the sub menu, we have to choose parade. What this all means. 00 here is the total black, okay? Is, is the total blackness. And here instead you have total whiteness. So pure black here, pure white here. We want to focus now on blacks and whites. And you can see here at the bottom, see we have the saturation value and saturation controller. And we need to change this value from 50 to 0. And boom, we have a black and white image. Okay? Now we can't really focus on the black and white details of this footage. And we click on the curves. I can here see this sort of S. Okay, let's click here. And the world is all about. And this is simply a graphical representation of the shadows. Of the shadows here, the highlights and the midtones that are part of a clip. Now let's move to the shadows cursor and drag it down. Dragging, Sorry, not down, but drag it to the to the right until the bottom part of the scopes almost hit the 0. Okay? We do the same exact thing with the highlights. We hold with our left button of the mouse and drag and drag the cursor to the left. Until the highest part of the scope, it reaches the highest value available. You don't have to touch okay, The bar up here just, just a little bit down, okay, like this. And since we also have some grace areas here, it's not just black and white. You also have grace. We do somewhere in the middle of this line and drag it to the right until you think the exposure would be fine for you. All right, my case, I think this is enough. Well, the exposure seems to be okay. Now let's bring back some colors and change it back from 0 to 50, the saturation. So 0, and we will type 50. And here it is. Okay. We already improved a lot this footage, because if you go here and click on this colored icon, you can see that difference between how it was before and how it is. Now, look at this. The next step is to try to make the colors pop, because when a buyer searches for a specific clip on stock agencies, you want the purview of your clip tim, at the visually stand out among all the others and catch the buyers of tension. So click on Alt S again to add a new node. Option S on Mac. Add the new node. And node is simply an adjustment layer. Ok, working on different notes will allow you to work on specific aspects of your food, which individually. So this is the reason why I am asking you now to create a new node to work on colors. Let's go back to the saturation controller. Saturation means intensity. If you bring it down to 0, as we've seen before, you'll end up with a black and white image. On the other hand, if you bring the value up, you will boost the intensity of the colors. We have to find a good balance, a good compromise. The quality of your monitor is important and you might see, you might see colors in a different way, or you might not see the colors the way I do on my monitor. So I think for me I think for me it would be fine to stop here. 90. Okay. 90 for me as a is a good value. How can I see which changes I made before and after increasing the saturation Here, Okay? If I move here on the new node I created and I go on the bottom left part of the node. I can enable and disable this note by clicking here. And as you can see, there's a huge difference between how it was and how it is now. Okay. So now what happened? We already did a fantastic job. Okay? Now we're talking about very basic color correction. And click here on the colored icon I showed you before and see how much this footage has changed from the beginning, from the very beginning. Wow. That's incredible, isn't it? We already did a great job, okay, but there are still some things we can do to further improve the final result. We can add, for example, a little bit more of contrast because I think the roofs yeah, the ribs where a little bit darker when I sell them with my eyes before shooting. So what do I do? I add another Serial Node and I don't look at the scopes anymore, but I'll show you what I do, okay, at a node first. And I don't look at the scopes here anymore. But what I do instead is to rely on other nature and through my eyes, decide how much I can increase the contrast. And when the image looks perfect to me, that will be the right value. And I do this by dragging down the middle tones a little bit here. See, Okay. Yeah, I think that's enough. Actually. Like this. Okay. Remember that we are correct in the food edge, we are not applying any weird of Hollywood style effects, so don't exaggerate because the less is usually more, in this case is. Okay, it looks good. And I think the footage is ready to be exported. We'll see how to do it in the next lesson.
21. Bit Rate: When we finally export the clip, we need to choose a file name. And this name is not the one the buyers will see on the agency's is just the name we give to our clip to remember what's in the clip. Supposed to clip as a zoom out on the sea at sunset, we can type C sunsets and mouth for example. Or if you have, let's say, many clips of the same subject, we can type C sunset one sees sensitive to see censored three and so on. To keep that batch o files organized, the important thing is to always give different names. Otherwise, stock footage agencies may think that is a duplicate file. If the file and their database a clip with the same name and it would probably rejected. Now let's also talk.
22. Export with Davinci Resolve: In this lesson, we will consider two scenarios. In the first one, you have debenture result free edition installed in your computer. And in the second one, you have DaVinci Resolve Studio addition installed. If you're added, if you add it to your file with da Vinci free edition, please download and install also this software called hand brake. Here it is, so you can find it here at this address. Okay. Download it, install it. It is an open source video trans colder, very powerful. And the, and the unlike Adobe Media Encoder, for example, is absolutely free. Now in the bean she, what you have to do is move from the color tab to deliver tap, okay, which is the exporting section of this software. And give a name to your file here and choose a location so that you can find your exported clip later, then move to audio. And if you find this option enabled, just deselect, uncheck it back and beat you. And in format, choose QuickTime. You have many options here. You choose QuickTime. In codec where it says codec, you will choose dn, XHR and in type DNA XHR for, for, for 10 bit. Okay? Resolution and frame rate must match the original resolution and frame rate of your, of your clip. But probably you will find the already be set by the system automatically, automatically, and leave the rest as it is. Just be sure that you use constant bitrate is selected here. Okay? Now, you can save this configuration by clicking here and choosing save as new preset. And you will finally here, very nice and ready for whenever you need it, okay, for your future works. You also have many other options for you just in case you want to upload your videos on YouTube and Vimeo tweeter and both Ebla, you have all the, all the options here available. Now click on Add to Render Queue. And finally, render all. Wait a little bit and the phi will be encoded and exported. Okay, it's now time to move to hand brake. So open it and you select or drop and drag and drop your file right here. So we can do this this way. Oh, here it is. I drag and drop my file here. Largely a little bit. You have to, first of all, you have to click on Presets. You click on Presets, and you go here where it says production and choose production max. Okay? As you can see here, the extension of the file is and for v, which is, which is not the one we want to change it, the extension file. We have to click here on MK Bu and then back again on MP4. And now finally the extension is the, is the right one. Move forward, go to dimensions and here where it sees a cropping, choose automatic filter's, leave everything as it is. Vdo. Here, be sure that the where it says video codec H.264 x2 64 is selected. Frame rate must be the same one of your file. And the cost and frame rate, okay, it's perfect like this. And that what we have to change here is simply one thing here where it says quality. Let's move to seven, okay, seven, I choose this value. Why? Because I think it is a good balance between file size and video quality, in my opinion, but might be different for you. But for me I think seven is a good value. Now select a location here in which to save the file and simply click Start and cold. Okay. What about if you don't have a free version of DaVinci Resolve that. The studio version, the full version, and also powerful NVIDIA card inside your computer. Well, in this case, everything will be much more simple. We will not even need hand brake will simply encode the file and exported directly with DaVinci Resolve, ready to be uploaded to the various stock footage agencies or if you want to follow my advice just one time and directly on black box, let's see how to do it. First of all, again, given name and choose a location to save to, in which to save your file. Go to the Audio tab if you, if you didn't do it before, deselect this option back on video, and now things are a little bit different. Why? Because first of all, in format, we don't use QuickTime, but we will use MPEG-4 codec, H.264 Encoder. Switch to NVIDIA, resolution and frame rate that will be set automatically by the system. Quality here where it says quantity, you have to switch to restrict to enter this value. I'll show you 150000, okay? Which means 150 megabits. Keyframes. Live is a lipid as it is. You have to jump here where it says rate control. Rate control is, where is where we have to choose a constant bit rate to give even more quality to our video. So what we will choose is cbr constant cost and B trait, CBR high quality. And you can leave all the rest and touched. Just, let's jump directly to the advanced settings here. Pixel aspect ratio, square data levels, OTA, and be sure that it retains some black and super wide data is checked. Data burden in must be set to none. And now if I enable, if unable, deselect, bypass, re-encode when possible, and select the two, the last two options here for sizing to highest quality, enforce the Bayer to highest quality. Now you can finally saved this configuration the same way you did before with the Vinci Resolve free edition. You can write, you can click here and choose Save As new present and give it a name. We'll call this my fantastic present. Okay? Click on Okay. And you will find it here among all the other configurations that a software already makes available to you for other different types or worse, like uploading video to YouTube, as I said before, female or even Twitter if you want. Okay, now what you have to do is click here where it says Add to Render Queue. Lets me get rid of this was the past Project, Add to Render Queue and then render all. In the next lesson, we'll see together how to export your clips in case you want to use a different software, such as Adobe Premiere. And we'll see it in a minute in the next lesson.
23. Export with Premiere: In case we prefer to work with Adobe Premiere, here is what you need to set when exporting your clips. Go to format and choose 8264, okay? Present Match Source, High bitrate. And then you have to give a name to the file and choose a folder in which you'll save it. Go here and deselect export Odeo. And now you'd jump directly to the basic video setting. What you have to do here is deselect this, this parameter field order. You deselect this and put a checkmark here where it says render at maximum depth. Now encoding settings will be the next step up. Here they are. You deselect this two parameters and change them. Here where it says profile. You switch from main to high and levels, you will choose 52. Okay, leave the rest untouched, and now jump to the bitrate settings. Bitrates settings so you can find them here. And where it says bitrate encoding, you will choose VBR 2 pass. Target. Bit rate must be set to 150. Maximum bit rate must be set to 2, 0, 0. And now select a selected this box here where it says use maximum render quality. Okay, put a check mark here. And now you can export your beautiful clip. First of all, you have to save this configuration by going here where it says save preset name to your present and simply save it. That's all I really hope you enjoyed. This lesson is about postproduction, and I will see you in the next one.
24. Final Thoughts: The best way to be a successful producer is to keep a good distance between you and your competitors and how you do it simply by trying to understand the market. A fantastic tool to understand what the buyer wants is the search engine available for free on every agency? Let's take an example. Go to Shutterstock.com and switch from all images to food ditch and type. For example, New York. The search engine will find thousands and thousands of clips related to New York. But we are only interested in clips that have been sold many times, which have generated a lot of money. And how do we do it? Go insert, buy from best match, switch to popular. And boom, here they are. That way you also get an idea of what kind of food which buyers are looking for, what kind of footage about New York in this case, people are ready to pay for a general tip for capturing good stock footage, as mentioned in one of the previous lessons, is to try to get a footage as smooth as possible while keeping the subject name focus, and of course properly exposed. But if you're just starting filming, take your time, take your time to practice and the fill as much as possible, but at the same time, do as much research as possible using Agency search engines. And this will be the perfect, successful strategy to follow and you will become a stock footage guru pin just a few months. Another good idea would be to study the commercials on TV. Why? Because this commercials are likely to include a lot of stock footage that was used by the company to complete the BTO project that finally brought the commercial to life. In the beginning, it's all about seeing what works and what doesn't work. It's more or less like going to school to find a job you need. So you'll need to learn what works and what doesn't work. You need to improve your skill and learn everything you need. Everything you need to learn before starting your new job and why not show your boss how good you are? Well, with stock footage, it's almost the same. But you are your own boss. Once you understand how the market works and what buyers want, what buyers need. And furthermore, once you understand how to deliver value potential buyers, well, you can start taking advantage of the skills you developed and from what you've learned. But I warn you that it is possible that many of your clips will be rejected due to manufacturers like a grainy footage Lakoff uniqueness, your clips may be rejected because they are simply blurry, or maybe they are too short or too long and many, many other reasons. But all of this is part of the learning curve and you will get better and better day after day until your clips will all be accepted. And some of them will, even Among those popular footage in agencies, search engines, within a few months, you will be on your way to build a great portfolio. That's all for this course. Thank you. Thank you for enrolling. If you end up having any questions, you can always feel free to contact me and I will be really happy to help you in any way I can. And they're really, really hope you enjoyed this course.
Marco Cirone
