Why brands should use stock footage in a corporate video
Stock footage – not many people’s first thought when it comes to producing a corporate video. However, stock footage is a highly valuable resource which can significantly increase the quality and shot diversity of your video.
If you have a very specific product or service to market, then it may be best to create a custom corporate video to explain your offering. If that is the case, you can probably film a quite a cost-effective video with a one or two day shoot in a studio or another location.
However, if your product or service has multiple uses and purposes, filming each use case scenario might prove quite costly. Let’s take the example of a product that is used in the military. It might be used in jet planes, on navy destroyers in the middle of an ocean, in the desert, in jungles… you get the idea. Filming all these different uses would be extremely costly, bearing in mind the diversity in locations and necessary equipment and crew. Since these environments are quite dangerous and hard to get filming permissions for, the costs of obtaining original footage surpasses average budgets.
Luckily, such an expense can prove unnecessary, when you factor in the availability of high-quality stock footage. New libraries are opening all the time, driving down the price of stock clips. Production companies can negotiate deals with stock footage providers and can pass those cost savings onto their clients. This is a very attractive proposition to keep in mind when you are looking to get a video produced. Stock footage can aid in the creation of a high-quality video, with a great variety of shots, at a very reasonable price point.
In our opinion, one of the best reasons why brands should use stock footage in their videos is the ability to obtain industry specific footage, where shooting access may be limited. For example, medical scenarios where it’s hard for camera crews to gain filming permission are well covered by stock footage providers.
We have recently created a number of high-quality stock footage films, with fast-paced editing and glossy visuals, which has led to positive client feedback.
Top Gear Renault Alpine in the French Alps
With the aid of archive stock footage, this video has turned from a simple promotional video, into a celebration of the car’s history and background. It gives insight into the brand and establishes an emotional connection with the viewer. Additionally, using archive stock footage and editing techniques has helped create a video that is not only about the car, but about its story.
COLT
In this example, we have made use of stock footage in order to better exemplify the processes and reliability of Colt. We used high quality, modern file footage which aligns perfectly with the message and identity of the video our client asked us to produce.
LHH Brand Video
This is a perfect example of how well-chosen stock clips can help produce an entire video with post-production only. We have carefully listened to our client’s wishes and footage preferences and later on proceeded to source stock footage which met those demands. Through the use of stock footage, we have managed to creatively put together a video which perfectly tells the story of LHH, without needing any additional original footage.
The amount of time, money and planning that it would have taken to film these shots specifically for each client, would have made them prohibitively costly. Instead, we have opted for the natural option, which is stock footage.
It is worth mentioning that using stock clips also has its downsides. It is a possibility for the footage you have used in your video to also appear in a competitor’s video. The bright side is that, with millions of stock footage clips available, the chances of that happening are very limited. As we have already mentioned, new stock footage libraries are emerging every day, offering a wide variety in footage. This can only play in the favour of both production companies and brands.
To round everything up, stock footage is a cost-efficient way of adding value and variety to your video. If you are operating in an industry which offers products that can have multiple uses, our advice is to opt for stock footage. In this way, you do not have to compromise when communicating the variety of benefits your product offers and you will be spared investing a shockingly large budget into capturing the shots you require.