GIW Adds New Military & High Adrenaline Collection

Global ImageWorks has added new HD military and action footage of Green Beret U.S. Army Special Forces which includes excellent weapons and basic training footage, helicopters, operational vehicles and much more. This collection adds cinematic military action to complement any fast paced production. 
 
In addition, see high intensity and adrenaline-pumping footage like hang gliding, paragliding, roller-coasters, and motorcycle racing. 
 
Also included are wonderful scenic shots from cities around the world including: Venice, London, Jerusalem, and many other wonderful world destinations. Experience destination footage that will add texture to your production.
 
All of this new footage is full HD progressive with 4K availability. The HD clips are specially priced at $129 each and ready for immediate download from the GIW transactional website and right into your edit!
 
To see the footage, please click here.

StormStock Launches New Website

Prairie Pictures’ collection of ultra high-end weather and climate footage, which is licensed through its StormStock brand, has a fresh look. The new web site has been streamlined, edited, and is better integrated than its predecessor.
 
“We want clients who visit the StormStock site to quickly find what they want, or at least be inspired and let us service their needs directly,” said StormStock founder and award-winning cinematographer Martin Lisius. “The new site will help us better reach that objective.”
 
StormStock is known for offering exclusive, premium footage shot on HD, Super 35mm and 4K with fast, personal customer service. “Our staff is comprised entirely of cinematographers and post-production people who work directly with producers, directors and researchers to help them get precisely what they need in an expeditious manner,” Lisius said.
 
The new StormStock web site is open 24/7 at www.stormstock.com.
 
In addition to the new web site, Lisius has just complete a new short film titled “Wakinyan” which features some of his 4K storm footage from 2016. Click her to see the film.  

Getting Location Releases: A Primer from FootageBank's Paula Lumbard

For many years the characters in the show “Bones” lived in a house licensed from FootageBank (photo courtesy of FootageBank).

Many of the houses, restaurant exteriors and other physical locations used in television shows and movies to set a scene come from stock footage agencies. And, like shots of recognizable people, these location clips typically require releases from the property owner. Paula Lumbard and her team at FootageBank have built a world-class collection of released location footage, and we spoke with her recently about the process.

Footage.net: What is a released location? Is it mainly about buildings or are there other locations that need releases?

Paula Lumbard: A released location might be anything from a house to a restaurant to a stadium. It means we have a property release signed by the owner of the property in question. A released property could also include a private airplane, yacht, car, truck, limousine or even rights to an event.

FN: Why is it important to obtain releases? What can happen if you don’t? 

PL: It’s important because without a release anyone using an image or clip without permission by the owner of the property is in violation of the rights of privacy of the property owner. The user leaves themselves open to litigation against their use of the clip or image. It is not a risk worth taking. 

FN: What are some good examples of released locations in your collection?

PL: We’re known for day and night matching shots of locations such as restaurants, cafes, diners, and unusual locations such psychics offices, laundromats and factories. We have houses in all types of architectural styles, from tudor style to craftsman to modern as well as all sorts of businesses. We also have parks, lodges, motels, clinics and so much more, all day and night matching scenes, all angles, and all seasons. One of our most popular shots is a classic New York diner that we have shot in all seasons and all times of day. 

FN: Who are the main clients for released locations? In other words, which types of clients care about location releases and what do they typically use the released locations shots for?

PL: Our main client base is all scripted programming from network, net cast, cable movies and shows as well as feature films and commercials.  When a television show wants to establish a location in the story they often use a stock clip, if a character is in a restaurant or bar the outside of that bar will be shown to set up the scene. That bar location may be licensed from us. Characters in shows can live in a location licensed from a stock house; for many years the characters in the show “Bones” lived in a house licensed from FootageBank, likewise the characters in “Two Broke Girls”.   We produce our content for this market. 

FN: Do all locations need releases? 

That is a good question and when I’m asked that I refer my clients back to their legal advisor. I would say that of course a skyline does not need to be released. Does a neighborhood street need to be released? Is a street a location? That answer is determined by the show, or licensor of the clip. Legal departments have differing points of view on this issue. Does a public museum need to be released? Again, that is up to the licensor. We do the research to determine who built and owns the property and share that information with our clients. 

FN: Generally speaking, how do you obtain a location release? What is involved?

PL: We keep lists of those categories of properties that are in demand and are the best revenue earners. We share that with our top earning and best cinematographers. They go out and scout, secure releases, and shoot locations. We check releases as the footage comes in to us for ingestion. We also counsel shooters on what and what not to shoot as well as what may or may not be working about their clips and how they are shooting them.

FN: Is the licensing process different for released locations? Does your license indicate that the location is released?

PL: A location is listed as released in the metadata with each clip on our website.

FN: Are there certain types of location releases that are really hard to get?

PL: Hotels are very hard to get released, airports are impossible, and hospitals are hard. Churches too. 

FN:  Do released locations cost more to license?

PL: No, we charge the same. We have a couple of locations that have “premium pricing.” One is aerial footage over Washington, DC near the White House, and The Pentagon. That is because the shooter had to pay a lot for the permits. 

FN: How big is your collection of released location footage?

PL: Tens of thousands of clips. Location-Released clips and Rights-Released playback clips are the areas FootageBank specializes in. 

FN: How do you obtain the releases? 

PL: Each DP has their secrets; I have to say it is a personality thing. It is harder in other countries because of the language barrier but we are getting more all the time because we have someone full time in Europe and Eastern Europe. All our DPs pay a location fee and if a location is used a lot (such as the Bones house) we go back and pay the owner of the location extra fees.

FN: Is there a Holy Grail of location releases? Some place or building that is absolutely impossible to get released but that you would love to have in your collection?

PL: Anything recognizable and current in North Korea, Afghanistan and Iraq. More practically, almost anything can be released if you have the revenue. But that is the territory for location shooters on feature films. For FootageBank, I am currently looking for arenas and sports stadiums (I am working with a new supplier with many but am busy doing due diligence on releases). 

Another Holy Grail has more to do with access as opposed to releases. That is close shots of airports, bridges, ports, and borders. Since 9/11 Homeland Security is very watchful about anyone filming/recording near these locations. My cinematographers have been “rolled up on” by the police in numerous cities, numerous times, and even taken into custody because they were filming too close. Once was near the Lincoln Tunnel in NYC, twice at the San Pedro Port here in Los Angeles, and once was near the Lawrence Livermore Lab in California. If we had the footage we would not need the release, we wanted good medium access and tight shots of the locations.

StormStock DP Martin Lisius Tracks and Films “Perfect Storm” in Nebraska

StormStock founder and cinematographer Martin Lisius intercepted a “mega-supercell” thunderstorm in Nebraska last week and filmed it on 4K and 6K video. The isolated storm tracked across the rural Nebraska Sand Hills region for several hours producing tornadoes, giant hail and continuous lightning.
 
A supercell is a thunderstorm with a persistent, rotating updraft. They are the rarest thunderstorm type in the world, and the most prolific producer of significant tornadoes and large hail. Even less common is the “mega-supercell” which is one that is large, long-lived, and is so powerful it produces its own area wind field.
 
“I’ve only seen a handful of mega-supercells in my 30 years of photographing storms,” said Lisius who does his own forecasting. “The Sand Hills storm was rotating hard and was almost fully on the ground at times. It was like a massive vacuum cleaner and a tennis ball size ice machine maker rolled into one. The cell became the perfect storm because it tracked southeast, almost 90 degrees to the right of the southwesterly steering winds aloft, directly into moist, southeast surface winds and a 4500 j/kg CAPE axis. In effect, it was a supercell with a turbocharger.”
 
A portion of the material will be available for licensing through StormStock, while some will be reserved for Lisius’ 4K documentary about supercells which is currently in production.

Footage Award Winners Honored at FOCAL’s 13th Annual Gala Awards

Joe Lauro of Historic Films, winner of Footage Library of the Year Award

Margaret Bodde of Film Foundation.

Ray Davies of the Kinks with Caroline Richards, Editor of Imagine: The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson.

Fabrice Estève, Producer, YUZU Productions, and Archive Producer Debbie Ford- Free To Run.

Paul Bell, Archive Producer on Amy.

Jessica Berman Bogdan, winner of the Jane Mercer Footage Researcher of the Year Award.

Robert Gitt and Sue Malden.

Kate Adie, Julie Lewis and Lord Puttnam.

The 13th annual FOCAL International Awards in association with AP Archive took place last Thursday night at The Lancaster London Hotel, honoring producers, filmmakers and other creative professionals who have used library footage in a documentary, feature film or any other form of production released in 2015.  The BBC’s Kate Adie hosted the gala ceremony, which also served as an occasion to bid farewell to event organizer Julie Lewis, who is retiring from FOCAL this year. Under Lewis’s leadership, the FOCAL Awards have evolved over the last decade into a major event in the archival production community.

“The success of the awards over the last thirteen years has been due in large part to the energy, drive and commitment of Julie Lewis,” said Sue Malden, Chair of FOCAL International. “It is both a highly polished event and a major annual destination among the global production community. Her contribution to the event and to FOCAL itself has been indispensable and will be greatly missed.”

Awards in sixteen categories, including Lifetime Achievement, were handed out and several high-profile documentaries took home top honors. Academy Award Winner Amy, about the life of Amy Winehouse, won the Award for Best Use of Footage in both the Music Production and Cinema Release categories, edging out Cobain: Montage of Heck in both categories. Archive Producer Paul Bell was there to collect both awards.

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution directed by Stanley Nelson won for Best Use of Footage in a Factual Production, and Best of Enemies featuring the acerbic public debates between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr, which was short listed twice, prevailed in the Entertainment category. The BBC's Imagine strand saw off Arena: Night and Day, celebrating 40 years of the their longest running Arts series, with The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson directed by Julien Temple.

Twenty-five European films were shortlisted for this year’s FOCAL International Awards. Among them, Every Face Has a Name, from Swedish production company Auto Images, won for the Best Use of Footage in a History Production, beating A German Youth from Local Films (France) and Red Gold from Vivement Lundi (France) whilst the Award for Best use of Sports Footage was collected by Yuzu Productions (France) for Free To Run.

The FOCAL Awards also honour the work of archival researchers, footage archivists and film preservationists, with this year’s Lifetime achievement award going to legendary film preservationist Robert Gitt. In a career spanning more than fifty years, Robert Gitt has gained an international reputation as one of the foremost experts in the preservation and restoration of motion pictures.

And while Cobain: Montage of Heck and the team at End of Movie LLC went home empty handed, Jessica Berman-Bogdan snagged the Jane Mercer Footage Researcher of the Year Award, primarily for her outstanding work on that film. 

Historic Films won the Library of the Year Award, and Tim Emblem-English formerly of BBC Studios and Post Production won for Footage Employee of the Year.

The Best Archive Restoration/Preservation Award went to The Memory of Justice and was collected by The Film Foundation's, Margaret Bodde.

Julie Lewis thanked her colleagues, the sponsors, competitors and the 80 plus jurors who had worked so hard to deliver the results and for bringing the event to where it is today. 

Please see below for a full list of all 2016 FOCAL International Awards winners.

Best Use of Footage in a History Production  - Sponsored by Getty Images / BBC Motion Gallery
•    Every Face Has a Name - Auto Images (Sweden) 

Best Use of Footage in a Current Affairs Production – Sponsored by Bloomberg Content Service
•    The Queen of Ireland - Blinder Films (Ireland)

Best Use of Footage in a Factual Production - Sponsored by Bridgeman Footage 
•    The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution - Firelight Films, Inc (USA)

Best Use of Footage in an Entertainment Production  - Sponsored by FremantleMedia Archive
•    Best of Enemies - Tremolo Productions / Magnolia Pictures (USA)

Best Use of Footage in an Arts Production - Sponsored by Film London & London's Screen Archives
•    Imagine: The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson - Essential Arts Entertainment/Nitrate Film//BBC (UK) 

Best Use of Footage in a Music Production - Sponsored by Shutterstock 
•    Amy - On The Corner (UK)

Best Use of Sports Footage - Sponsored by ITV Sport Archive
•    Free to Run - Yuzu Productions (France) Point Prod (Switzerland) and Eklektik Productions (Belgium)

Best Use of Footage in an Advert or Short Production - Sponsored by Broadcast Tech
•    Lenor 'Odes to Clothes: Marvellous Scarf' - The Director Studio for Grey Düsseldorf (UK/Germany)

Best use of Footage about the Natural World - Sponsored by Global ImageWorks
•    The Nature of Things: Jellyfish Rule! - CBC (Canada)

Best Use of Footage on non-Television Platforms - Sponsored by Visual Data 
•    The Beatles 1+ Video Collection - Apple Corps Limited (UK)

Best Use of Footage in a Cinema Release - Sponsored by British Pathé
•    Amy - On The Corner (UK)

Best Archive Restoration / Preservation Project or Title - Sponsored by Prasad Corp
•    The Memory of Justice - The Film Foundation / Academy Film Archive (USA)

The Jane Mercer Footage Researcher of the Year Award  - Sponsored by AP Archive 
•    Jessica Berman-Bogdan (USA) for  Cobain: Montage of Heck and Narcos 

Footage Employee of the Year - Sponsored by Creative Skillset
•    Tim Emblem English (BBC Studios and Post Production)

Footage Library of the Year - Sponsored by Bonded Services
•    Historic Films Archive

Lifetime Achievement Award - A gift of the FOCAL International Executive
•    Robert Gitt

Reelin' in the Years Works to Preserve the David Frost Archive

by David Peck, President, Reelin' in the Years Productions

For almost two years, my company Reelin’ In The Years Productions, has been representing The Sir David Frost Archive, and in that time many unique items have been discovered in the vaults.  Because David Frost had produced many different programs for various companies around the globe, it has made it very difficult to locate master tapes and films.  From the moment we signed the agreement to be the exclusive rep for The Sir David Frost Archive, one of the monumental shows he produced that we very much wanted to represent was The David Frost Show, produced by Group W and David Frost.
 
The David Frost Show was a 90 minute syndicated program which aired daily from 1969 – 1972.  As co-producer, David Frost owned 50% of the rights, but Group W and its successor (now CBS/CTV)  had been handling all distribution rights, including clip sales. Through a series of negotiations between David Frost’s estate and CBS, all of the distribution rights to the show have been given back to the estate. This includes nearly 400 2 inch quad tapes and many film elements as well. On behalf of the Sir David Frost Estate, Reelin’ In The Years Productions is now the sole company that handles the rights to licensing this footage. Most of these tapes have been untouched since their initial broadcast. To date, roughly half of the 400 shows that survived have been transferred. (There were 750 episodes aired.)
 
The David Frost Show is an amazing time capsule of one of the most contentious and creative periods  of the 20th century. During the course of the show’s run from 1969 to 1972, David interviewed high profile guests such as Gloria Steinem, Cesar Chavez, Huey Newton, Vice President Sprio Agnew, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Mier, former Nazi Party Official Albert Speer, and a 20-year-old Prince Charles. There were many entertaining guests, comedians, singers, actors and sports figures such as Johnny Carson (in a rare 90 minute interview), Groucho Marx, 1936 gold medal Olympian Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Lucille Ball together with Carol Burnett, Norman Rockwell and playwright Tennessee Williams. Major music artists such as the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Barbra Streisand, Duke Ellington, Stevie Wonder and Carly Simon all made appearances as well. Many controversial and polarizing subjects were discussed and debated such as the Vietnam War, the Kent State shootings, Black Power, the women’s liberation movement, gun rights, drug legalization and the Apollo moon landing. Looking at all of the guests and issues discussed on this show makes this a very well-rounded program, accurately capturing the time period. 
 
For decades, the 2 Inch Quad tapes had been sitting untouched in an underground storage facility, but we now have the tapes in our care. Thankfully, we have David Crosthwait of DC Video (Located In Burbank, CA) doing all the transfers. It’s an incredible expense to transfer these if you want them done right, and many times David has to work miracles to get these tapes to play at all.  These David Frost Show 2 Inch Quad tapes are in terrible shape. They were originally preserved on used stock and Group W would store two 90-minute shows per tape at 7 ½ ips instead of the industry standard of 15ips. Oftentimes they would splice together varying lengths of used stock to fill out the reel and on some tapes you could have as many as three different brands of stock during the course of the two shows. Even with all of these obstacles the tapes look and sound great but that’s because of the laborious amount of work David has had to do to get them that way. In some cases, it has taken David 10 hours of work to properly transfer one 90 minute show. While this may not have been the most ideal way to preserve this important part of cultural and entertainment history just think of all the shows (such as the first 10 years of the Tonight Show) that were erased, and be thankful that someone at Group W had the foresight to try and save these treasures so that almost 50 years later they can be seen again. 
 
I look at what David Crosthwait and others like him are doing in the same way I see a professional who restores deteriorating paintings or artifacts found in a ship wreck. Simply, this is preserving history. It's a shame that there are so many film snobs out there who don't agree, thinking that only something shot on film warrants this type of expense and attention. Sadly, that attitude is why so much of this type of video tape archive rots in storage facilities.  The entertainment industry often looks at video tape as some type of sub form not worthy of the expense and attention it deserves.  So many times I read comments about film preservation being the only thing that matters, and while that is important, so is video tape. 
 
At the end of the day, it’s not what media it’s on but what’s on the media. I’m hoping as an industry we can get past elitist attitudes and try to preserve this material, regardless of the format it was shot on. This is our collective history, whether it’s a silent film from 1919 or an interview from The David Frost Show we just found and preserved with NASA director Clifford Charlesworth talking about the Apollo 11 mission to the moon just days before it happened. These are both equally important moments in our history and should be treated as such. 
 
Finally, to show you how incredible this archive is, we've cut a 13 minute trailer. 

ITN Signs Deal to License Twofour Group Footage

Impossible Engineering

ITN Source has signed a deal to license clips footage from Twofour Group; a family of award-winning, globally recognised production companies, which includes Twofour, Boomerang, Mainstreet Pictures and BAFTA/Emmy winners Oxford Scientific Films.

Twofour delivers world class international TV programming, spanning drama, factual, comedy and entertainment, to broadcasters around the world. Twofour Rights is its in-house distribution arm, representing the Twofour Group’s extensive catalogue of global programming within the international marketplace. In this new partnership for clip sales, Twofour's library includes globally recognisable hits, such as TV's 'toughest reality show The Jump (Channel 4), all-star The Indian Dream Hotel aka The Real Marigold Hotel (BBC / UK), in-depth true crime series Born to Kill? (Global Distribution), and awe-inspiring achievements in Impossible Engineering. 

ITN Source Managing Director Andy Williams said: “We are delighted to add Twofour’s fantastic range of programming to our global catalogue – making clips from household hits such as Impossible Engineering and The Indian Dream Hotel / The Real Marigold Hotel available to our customers.”
Twofour's Head of Sales Anthony Appell said: "We are thrilled to be partnering up with ITN Source on Twofour Rights back catalogue of clip opportunities given their excellent reputation in the global market."

If you're interested in licensing Twofour clips please contact sales@itnsource.com or call +44 (0)207 430 4480 to discuss your project and footage requirements.   

Enter the Legend of the Tour de France

Running from July 2nd to July 24th 2016, the 103th Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,519 kilometres.

This new edition is the opportunity to relive the most memorable stages, the unforgettable breakaways and the moments of joy and suffering of this mythical cycling race from 1947 to the present day.

To get more info about this collection made by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and INA, please email at internationalsales@ina.fr

ACSIL to Host Second Annual Footage Expo in NYC on June 9, 2016

The Association of Commercial Stock Image Licensors (ACSIL), a not-for-profit trade association representing the interests of the stock footage industry, is holding its second annual Footage Expo at New York City’s stately Prince George Ballroom on Thursday, June 9, 2016.  

Many of the world’s leading providers of stock and archival footage will exhibit at this year’s Expo, which will also include panels on a variety of topics pertinent to the footage business featuring senior leaders in media, production and the archive industry.

There has been significant growth in the footage business in the last five years, as well as changing business models.  A new customer base empowered by digital technologies is pushing demand for stock and archival imagery, including new customers in the areas of corporate non-broadcast, internet video and educational publishing.

ACSIL expects attendance from media executives, film and movie producers, educational administrators, archival researchers, digital publishers, corporate and advertising agencies, and others involved in communicating with video.

Further information about exhibitor and attendee registration and panel sessions is available at: http://www.acsil.org/events/acsil-expo.

FootageBank: Going the Distance

As a boutique footage agency, FootageBank has always been proud of its “small but mighty” status. Building on this legacy, FootageBank is proud to announce that it recently signed Lagardère Sports – a premier international sports licensing agency – for representation, and can now offer more fully-released elite sports footage to pack productions with dynamic action.

FootageBank founder Paula Lumbard explains, “Both footage licensors and footage suppliers come to us because we carefully manage the rights to the clips we offer. It is only with integrity, respect, and understanding of rights-management that these relationships can be successful. At FootageBank, we specialize in such partnerships.”

From the grit of the goal to the heat of the hit, this fully-released footage collection includes soccer, tennis, hockey, gymnastics, distance running, basketball, and more. Requiring no more than script page approval, finding the right sports clips for productions is easier than ever. Contact FootageBank for search assistance or sample the footage here. 

Global ImageWorks Offers a Unique Portal Into Politics

Global ImageWorks' politics collection covers the everyday and the exceptional moments.
 
GIW has incomparable coverage of presidential candidate Barack Obama on the 2008 campaign trail. This incredible footage comes from the award winning film, By The People - The Election of Barack Obama.  GIW gives you unprecedented access to Obama attending rallies, makings speeches, and mixing with Edward Kennedy, Oprah Winfrey, along with other celebrities and political supporters. This collection also includes footage of Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, and John McCain's campaigns.   
 
Engage with our 1992 election collection of Bill Clinton campaign footage featuring speeches, events, interviews, and some special footage of a young Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail.
 
GIW's political collection covers a range of political issues. From the Civil Rights Movement and school segregation of the 1950s, the anti-war protests of the 1960s, the groundbreaking Dick Cavett political interviews from the 1970s to coverage of the 1980s Reagan Presidency. Footage of President Bush in the 1990s, an exclusive interview with Dick Cheney in his Haliburton years and the George W. Presidency , plus extensive footage from 9/11 and the Iraq Invasion in the 2000s.
 
Also available at GIW: establishing shots of flags waving, voting booths, state and federal government buildings, international political landmarks and events.

Science Photo Library, the leading source for science images and footage, joins Footage.net

Preview clips from Science Photo Library (SPL) are now available for viewing through Footage.net. Science Photo Library (SPL) offers a compelling motion collection and features the best scientific footage from around the globe, covering all aspects of science, technology and the natural world. SPL provides creative professionals with striking specialist imagery and footage, unrivaled in quality, accuracy and depth of information.

“Science Photo Library is a great collection and adds a new depth to our platform in the area of science footage,” said David Seevers, Footage.net CMO. “We’re very excited about the new partnership to further expose SPL’s world-class footage collection to the global production community.”  

“SPL is delighted to make our fascinating science footage available to the network of creative professionals. Our intriguing and difficult to source content is acquired from a global network of specialists contributors, including professional videographers and world renowned scientific institutions. We are thrilled to present this extraordinary collection through the Footage.net platform”, says Simon Stone Science Photo Library’s Sales Director.

SPL works alongside leading science and medical experts who capture the exceptional and deliver science in any format. This extraordinary motion collection offers a wide range of high quality specialist video clips available in high definition with a significant collection of stunning ultra-high definition footage. 

For more information, please contact David Seevers, Footage.net Chief Marketing Officer at davidwseevers@gmail.com, or Simon Stone, Science Photo Library Sales Director at simon@sciencephoto.com.

Historic Films Among Three Finalists for FOCAL's Footage Library of the Year Award

Congratulations and good luck to our friends (and long-time Footage.net content partner) Historic Films for being one of the three finalists for FOCAL Internationals Library of the Year Award. Historic Films Archive is "a small but industrious stock footage archive located on the eastern end of Long Island New York." 

In business since 1991, Historic Films is one of the world's top collections of of musical performance and entertainment footage, spanning a century and containing over 50,000 individual performances from televisions most important networks and programs.

Huntely Film Archives and Kinolibrary are also finalists for the Library of the Year Award, and we wish them luck as well.

Set to take place on 26th May, 2016 at the Lancaster London Hotel, the FOCAL International Awards recognize producers, directors, researchers and other creative media professionals for excellence in the use and preservation of stock and archival footage across 16 production categories.

Another Great Year at NAB

We wrapped up another successful exhibit at NAB last week, and, as usual, it’s taken a few days to return to reality. This was our fourth year exhibiting at NAB, and the show seems only to grow in scale and intensity from year to year. It’s a massive event, occupying all three halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center, with an dazzling array of gear and technology on display, from fearsome drones the size of small helicopters to sleek, pocket-sized 4K cameras.

There’s always the chance that one will get lost within this pop-up city of lavish, multi-storied booths and the masses of attendees wandering the aisles. But, as in years past, we were excited to meet many, many attendees with a genuine interest in what we do.  One of the things we like best about NAB is that the vast majority of attendees are there to tour the exhibits and learn about new products and services, so they are happy to stop and chat. All of our conversations were focused on communicating the idea that finding, acquiring and using world-class stock footage has become easier, more convenient and more user-friendly than ever before, a message that was enthusiastically received. 

We were thrilled to share our booth with some great Footage.net partners, including ABCNEWS VideoSource, AP Archive, Bridgeman Footage, FootageBank, Framepool, Global ImageWorks, INA, Nature Footage, Producers Library and Reelin' in The Years Productions. As an aggregation platform, our partners are an integral part of our service, so it's essential to have them on board.

It’s encouraging to see the footage business transition from its somewhat specialized niche within the production industry to a more mainstream creative role, and NAB provides a prime location to observe that shift in action.

We'll be back again next year, and hope to see you there!

The Legendary Roland Garros is Back!

On May 16th, tennis takes center stage for the start of the legendary French Open. The perfect opportunity to share the best moments of the tournament from 1983 to 2015, through more than 3,800 hours of video content available on Ina MEDIAPRO. To get more info about this unique collection dedicated to the clay courts of Paris, please email INA at internationalsales@ina.fr.

Need Footage Fast?

Global ImageWorks offers two turnkey options - Royalty Free & Rights Ready.
 
Both Rights Ready & Royalty Free footage can be licensed online. These masters are ready for immediate download.      
 
Rights Ready - The licensing fees associated with Rights Ready footage are based on the grant of rights package. Just select your grant of rights from a simple drop down menu, complete the online transaction, and download your high resolution master.
 
Royalty Free - The licensing fees associated with Royalty Free footage are based on file size/resolution. A Royalty Free clip can be incorporated in your production (and any derivative thereof) and your new work can be exploited in any and all media, worldwide, in perpetuity.
 
Global ImageWorks also offers thousands of hours of Rights Managed and Premium footage. Their archive contains unique and carefully curated footage that you can use to tell your story and connect with your audience.
 
GIW encourages prospective licensees to use their free in-house research services to ensure no potential clip is overlooked. Global ImageWorks prides itself on a personal approach and excellent customer service.

StormStock Founder to Wrap on New Documentary about Storms

Filmmaker, and veteran storm chaser, Martin Lisius has announced that the sequel to his 1995 award-winning documentary “The Chasers of Tornado Alley” will be completed this year. Three years in the making, the doc (working title “TCOTA2”), will focus on the wonder of storms and the people who study them to improve public safety.
 
“It was twenty years ago that I began working on the original, and I felt it was time to produce a sequel to reflect on the changes we’ve seen in our discipline” Lisius said. “Both technology and the public’s perception of storm chasers have evolved significantly since the mid-1990’s. I want to reveal that despite the difference in how we handle data, the majority of the people behind it are the same; responsible and serious individuals dedicated to mitigating severe weather risks. If you told someone you’re a storm chaser in 2016, they would think you were a crazy, loud, reckless person. But, the reality is most storm chasers are not that way at all. And, many are making huge contributions to the community,” he said.
 
The new documentary is a production of Texas-based Prairie Pictures, and is being shot on DCI 4K. No specific distribution channel has been determined, but according to Lisius, a television, Internet or theatrical release are all options.

Framepool Celebrates Earth Day with Cheeky "Earth Porn" Video

Framepool, with help from ad agency McKinney, has produced the sexiest of natural landscape videos for Earth Day 2016 - featuring hard rocks, soaking wet water, lots of wood, and a '70s soundtrack by Beacon Street. 

"Earth Porn" ends the way you'd expect, with an eruption. But it also has a sexy message about conservation that ties into Framepool's business. All the footage comes from Framepool's collection, naturally. 

"This project is a perfect fit for us. Our archive of high-quality footage enables creative filmmakers to make their vision a reality without having to board a plane, rent a helicopter or hire a bus driver. We're committed to making low-emission projects possible and gorgeous. 'Earth Porn' proves both." 

"Earth porn has long been Earth lovers' term for topographic eye candy," added McKinney group creative director Stevie Archer. "On the one day of the year when the whole world is talking about loving the planet, it was logical to create an actual film that taps into that passion. We're enticing people with lust-worthy imagery, then reminding them that they can easily do something to help preserve it.

Reelin' in the Years' New Demo Reel Takes a Deep Dive into History, with Some Timely Treats

Reelin' in the Years' new demo reel, which went live on Footage.net last week, is a wonderful introduction to RITY's portfolio of deep historical collections, condensing into four minutes 20,000 hours of music history and 7,000 hours of interviews with the 20th century’s icons of film and television, politics, comedy, literature, art, science, fashion and Sports. Donald Trump's response to Rona Barrett's inquiry about a presidential run in 1980 is one of many gems. 

Reelin' in the Years' collection of interviews come primarily from the archives Of Sir David Frost, Merv Griffin Show, Brian Linehan's City Lights and Rona Barrett, all exclusively represented by Reelin' in the Years.

Check out Reelin' in the Years full collection at www.reelinintheyears.com.

StormStock Declares Itself "Not Microstock"

StormStock is a collection of premium weather footage that was founded in 1993 by Prairie Pictures, a Texas-based video production company. It was created by cinematographer Martin Lisius as a means to license footage he shot.

“StormStock was never meant to be a stock footage company, and certainly not microstock,” Lisius said. “It’s simply a collection and brand maintained by artists, by production people who truly understand photography, post-production and formats. There’s a big difference between us and microstock. StormStock is run by real, live people in Texas, not by servers and software. We can tell you which end of a camera to attach a lens, and we curate with the same human eyes that produce the content,” Lisius said.

To emphasize that point, the team has established an alternate web address. In addition to the usual www.stormstock.com, folks can now use www.notmicrostock.com to access an on-line sampling of StormStock’s legendary content.