Use as B-Roll

One of the most common uses of stock footage is as supplemental footage or what we call ‘b-roll’. 

For example, stock footage of a city or landmark to establish a geographical location, or a sunrise or sunset to establish the time of day or a certain emotion or feeling.

Free Stock or Paid Stock?

We produce videos all the time for our clients that are entirely stock based. This can be a challenge but there’s some great sites out there these days (as well as free ones like Unsplash or Pexels) which we use a lot when budgets are tight. They also have a pretty good selection (including some random and funny visuals!) and rival what you can find on paid sites like Shutterstock.

But if you need to show something really specific in your video, it’s always best to use stock assets from paid sites, as they offer much more choice and also diversity if you need to show lots of different people. 

Using Stock in Promos and Adverts

Stock can be used in adverts and promo videos as a way to save time and resources that otherwise would have had to have been spent on casting actors or shooting on-location. With stock footage, these problems are eliminated and the most optimal footage for the advert can be selected.

Other Ways Stock is Useful

Sometimes stock footage/images/assets can simply serve the purpose of acting as an attractive background for information being delivered either via text on the screen or via a voiceover narration. It can also be used on website pages to add a visual interest to information, or something visual to fill time before an event begins.

Another useful way to use stock assets can play a part is when time or budget is short, we pay for ‘asset packs’ of various icons or infographics, subtle effects like floating particles or lens flares, camera transitions - all of these things help to add an extra layer of sparkle to our video content we produce for so many of our clients!

Get your Video Content Off the Ground

With a ton of creative expertise here at CH Video, we can help get the ball rolling and plan the best content for you. Say hello, give us a call or drop us an email.