Elizabeth Klinck Helps Build an All Archive Portrait of Frank Zappa

Eat That Question – Frank Zappa in His Own Words, includes no originally shot footage, relying on 100% archival material to build a portrait of the iconoclastic musician and composer.

Elizabeth klinck and thorsten schutte  at the 2017 focal awards. With Raphaëlle Cittanova from Films du Poisson and Paul Bowman, Head of Film Culture at Film london (the award sponsor).  

Elizabeth klinck and thorsten schutte  at the 2017 focal awards. With Raphaëlle Cittanova from Films du Poisson and Paul Bowman, Head of Film Culture at Film london (the award sponsor).  

"There was this pure need for this film to be made in this form, to give Frank the platform to speak for himself," said director Thorsten Schutte. "Because if you look at this archive footage that we've been working with, the hundreds of hours, a whole different Frank Zappa emerges."

Finding archival source material from around the world was a huge research effort. More than 70 sources were approached, and 40 archival sources were used in the final film. 

We spoke with Elizabeth Klinck, the films Archive Producer, about the process of organizing this archival mega-search, finding rare archival gems and clearing the rights from a wide network of international sources. 

Footage.net: Eat That Question took over eight years to produce. How much of that time was spent sourcing and clearing archival materials? Were you on the project for the entire time?

Elizabeth Klinck: The work was done in various stages.  I was on the project for the last five years.

Footage.net: The film consists of 100% archival footage. That must have necessitated gathering an enormous amount of archival material. Was this one of the larger projects you’ve worked on?

EK: Yes it was.  Other films have come close (How To Change the World was 85% archival) but this was unique in that there were no current interviews with family members or musicologists, but just Frank Zappa “In His Own Words” 100%.

Footage.net: How do you get a project like this started? What are the first steps in sourcing archival materials of this scope? 

EK: Luckily, Frank Zappa has a legendary number of fans around the world so we were able to start by sourcing material through lists built by various Zappa fan base groups.  The “vault” belonging to the Zappa family was important as another starting point.  Then it was a wide net thrown to the main archive houses, international broadcasters, private collectors, photographers, and even a show produced by a Pennsylvania based Educational Broadcaster hosted by a State trooper!

Footage.net: How big a factor is YouTube in a project like this?

EK: YouTube is an invaluable research tool and offers a researcher a visual cue (URL) for searching and clearing with the copyright owners.  A YouTube clip URL is worth three paragraphs of description in an email request!

Footage.net: How does that all-archive approach affect the filmmaking process? Does the film’s structure and narrative emerge from the archival materials? Or did the director have a very clear idea of the story he wanted to tell from the outset? 

EK: It is both. Thorsten had a clear idea of what he wanted to tell, but there were some lovely archival surprises that helped shape the film as well. 

FN: What are the main differences between working on a music-related doc and working on other kinds of films?

EK: The main difference is the many layers of rights and clearances to consider – the underlying synchronization and master music rights, the droits d’auteur, and in this case considering copyright issues from many different countries.

FN: Was getting clearances and rights especially challenging? Why? 

EK: There were many sources of materials in many countries.  And due to the age of some of the early clips, it was a challenge tracking down any copy not only the masters.  

FN: How significant, in terms of obtaining rights and clearances, was the involvement of the Zappa family?

EK: Very.  Thorsten Schuette, the director of the film, spent several years negotiating these rights with Gail Zappa on behalf of the Zappa Family Trust.  They were very supportive and Gail Zappa loved the finished film. Sadly she died before the premiere at Sundance but she had seen the finished film before she died.

FN: Aside from the usage licenses, what were the main rights that needed to be cleared for most of the footage you used?

EK: We needed to clear all media including theatrical.

FN: You approached 70 archival sources, 40 of which were ultimately used. Were you dealing mostly with large institutions or with individual owners/collectors, or a mix of both?

EK: A mix of both.

FN: Were there sources that you wanted to work with but just could not come to terms with?

EK: A few sources no longer had the master material available to license.

FN: Was there a lot of footage readily available? Or did it all take extensive digging?

EK: There was a lot of digging!

FN: Were there interviews or performances that you really wanted but could not find or otherwise obtain?

EK: An early Dick Cavett interview had been lost.

FN: What’s the most satisfying part of this work for you?

EK: Working with a great team: Thorsten Schuette (director), Willi Wonneberger (editor) Estelle Fiallon and Claire Babany (producers) and Liz Etherington (visual researcher) were all fantastic. It takes stamina, dedication and commitment to work for eight years on one project.  It wouldn’t have happened without such a terrific group of people making sure that it happened on budget, on time,  premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and opened worldwide theatrically.

FN: Lastly, Eat That Question won a FOCAL Award back in May. Congratulations! That must have been exciting.  

EK: Winning the FOCAL award this year in London was the perfect reward for so many years of dedication and work for our entire team.  It was a wonderful evening!

 

Reelin' in the Years Productions to Exclusively Rep ITV's Vast Music Footage Holdings

Reelin’ in the Years Productions is now exclusively representing ITV’s vast musical footage holdings (formerly handled by ITN). ITV, known as one of the world’s leading broadcasters, has granted RITY the rights to rep their musical holdings spanning nearly 60 years and including thousands upon thousands of performances and interviews with the world’s most influential artists, such as The Who, The Clash, U2, Muddy Waters, Madonna, Prince, Doors, Cat Stevens, Police, David Bowie, Judy Garland, Elton John, Little Richard, Public Enemy, Nina Simone, Ozzy Osbourne & R.E.M. 

ITV’s archive holds iconic moments in music such as The Beatles at The Cavern Club (1962); The Rolling Stones At Hyde Park (1969); Billie Holiday performing “Strange Fruit” (1959); The Sex Pistols TV Debut (1976); Johnny Cash’s famous concert at San Quentin Prison (1969); the only footage of The Yardbirds featuring Eric Clapton (1964); John Lennon’s last ever TV appearance (1975); and a rare TV appearance by rap pioneers Grandmaster Flash (1982.)  

The rest of ITV's archive (non-music related) will be represented by Lola Clips

Since 1992, Reelin’ In The Years Productions has been recognized as a world leader in footage licensing. The archive houses over 20,000 hours of music footage spanning 90 years and 7,000 hours of in-depth interviews with the 20th century’s icons of Film and Television, Politics, Comedy, Literature, Art, Science, Fashion and Sports, filmed between 1962-2012. The interviews are primarily from the archives of Sir David Frost, The Merv Griffin Show, Rona Barrett and Brian Linehan’s City Lights from Canada.

WPA Film Library Now Represents NET Journal Archives from WNET

The WPA Film Library now represents clip licensing rights to NET JOURNAL programming from WNET, New York’s flagship public broadcasting station.
 
NET JOURNAL, first broadcast between 1966 and 1970, features incredible source footage of the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, the Nixon administration, New York’s Spanish Harlem, life on Native American reservations, and much more from this revolutionary time in American and world history.

"NET Journal is tremendously fascinating and historically significant," said Diane Paradiso, Director of Licensing and Sales, WPA Film Library. "We are delighted to play our part in making this unique collection accessible to our clients.”

“WNET is very pleased to expand our footage licensing partnership with the WPA Film Library, which has represented our Soul! collection for more than 16 years," said Joe Basile, Director of Rights & Clearances, WNET. "Like Soul!, NET Journal is another historically noteworthy series that hasn’t been seen on television for decades and whose archival treasures are not well known by documentary filmmakers, let alone the general public.  We are confident that WPA is the right partner to reintroduce this rare and valuable content to footage buyers the world over.”

The WPA Film Library has been supplying high-quality stock footage for over 30 years. Covering world history, pop culture, politics, celebrities, landmarks, and much more since the dawn of motion pictures, WPA has met and exceeded the needs and demands of the advertising, motion picture, and television industries. Highlights of our collection include the WETA’s extensive coverage of important political events; exclusive rock, soul, and classic country music performances.

www.wpafilmlibrary.com

Sherman Grinberg is Live!

The Sherman Grinberg Film Library is digitizing its 35mm black and white library to 4K, using new technology contained in its own digitization scanner built by Lasergraphics, in Irvine, CA, and outfitted with special lenses that are calibrated to optically remove or hide scratches and dust.   "Grinberg has scanned about 2 million feet of film and has maybe another 8 million or so to go," said the library’s chief archivist, Bill Brewington.   "We are also doing our own metafiling, in-house, with the help of a librarian from UC Berkeley.” he said.  

"It has taken a long time to figure it out, but Grinberg now has a smooth-operating program for preserving our film,” said Brewington. 

He noted that the film is being uploaded for licensing at ShermanGrinberg.com.  The most important content consist of the Paramount and American Pathe’ newsreels, dating from 1896 to 1957, and Grinberg is methodically working through the whole library.  The prestigious old collection has been used by filmmakers since the late 1950s and has been mined by Ken Burns and others for their projects.

Because Grinberg has its own digitization machine operated by its own in-house staff, it can locate and pull 35mm film from the shelf and ship it electronically to customers within 24 to 48 hours.  

Brewington has been with the Sherman Grinberg Library, located in Los Angeles, for more than 40 years, and has seen it go through many owners and technological transformations.  For information, call (310) 382-0637.  

Watergate - The End of a Presidency

This June marks 45 years since the Watergate break-in, the burglary gone wrong that toppled a presidency.  
 
A series of clandestine events started on June 17, 1972, when five men broke into the DNC headquarters at the Watergate office complex, attempting to wiretap phones and steal documents.  The burglars, connected to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, were arrested.  The subsequent investigation revealed that President Nixon had been complicit in attempting to cover up the incident, raising hush money for the burglars; trying to use federal officials to deflect the investigation and destroying evidence.   
 
Rather than face impeachment and the possibility of being removed from office, Nixon resigned. In addition, 40-plus members of his administration were indicted or jailed.  His successor, Gerald Ford, pardoned Nixon for crimes “he committed or may have committed” while in office. 
 
The incident inspired the 1976 feature film All the President’s Men and the upcoming 2017 film, Felt (which includes footage from NBC News Archives). Remember the scandal with NBCUniversal Archives' collection of Watergate-related footage, including testimony from the Watergate hearings, b-roll from the scene of the break-in, and selected clips of Nixon addressing the nation.
 
To view, license and download this footage, go to:  Watergate at NBCUniversalArchives.

FootageBank Adds Boxing to its Growing Sports Playback Library

FootageBank has added fully released professional boxing clips to its exclusive sports collection. Fast action multi-round fight sequences include head and kidney punches, boxers being knocked into the ropes, referees separating boxers, corner sessions with coaches fixing broken noses, and winners being declared and given the champion gold belt. All boxers, coaches, and referees are fully released upon script approval.

FootageBank’s exclusive sports collection is prized for its playback potential in television, theatrical, and commercial projects. Its library of released sports also includes competitive swimming, track and field, basketball, football, soccer, hockey, water polo, marathon running, bicycle racing, tennis, and extreme sports.

www.footagebank.com

 

Archives Take Center Stage at FOCAL Awards Gala

The footage industry has made great strides over the last decade, growing in both its capacity and stature, and the FOCAL International Awards has played an important part in this evolution. Now in its 14th year, the FOCAL Awards shine a light on the critical role of archival footage in the production of world-class films, and bring together stakeholders from around the world for an evening of recognition, celebration and fun.

"The FOCAL Awards competition is a way to fully acknowledge and celebrate the contribution of archival footage to the global screen and creative industries,” said Madeline Bates, co-executive director of FOCAL. “Whether it’s in cinematic documentaries, dynamic advertising, innovative visual arts exhibitions or historical exposés - archival footage plays a key role in immersing audiences within all these forms of storytelling, and without which many of these stories couldn’t even be told.”

The 2017 FOCAL International Awards took place on May 25th before a packed house at the Lancaster London Hotel.  This was the first awards gala under the leadership of Mary Egan and Madeline Bates, new FOCAL co-executive directors, and it went off seamlessly. With over three hundred people in attendance at the black-tie gala, the event was elegant, festive and professionally produced. Host Hardeep Singh Kohli, wearing a pink turban and white gloves (in honor of his early experience with archives), set a light-hearted, playful tone for the evening, providing just the right amount of levity, lest anyone get too carried away.

“The annual gala ceremony has become a joyful opportunity to showcase all this work as well as the unsung heroes of the industry who dedicate their careers to preserving and making footage accessible to future producers,” said Bates. “It’s a truly global event that recognizes talent from across the world, evident not only by the nominations and winners but also by the number of international guests from around the globe who attend.”

Big Winners

OJ: Made in America, which took home an Oscar for Best Documentary earlier this year, was honored twice, with one award for Best Use of Sports Footage, and another going to Nina Krstic, who won the Jane Mercer Footage Researcher of the Year Award for her work on the film. The Beatles: Eight Days a Week won two awards as well -- one for Best Use of Footage in a Music Production, the other for Best Use of Footage in a Cinema Release. Eat That Question - Frank Zappa in His Own Words, won for Best Use of Footage in an Arts Production.  British Pathe won for Library of the Year, edging out stiff competition from Reelin’ in the Years Productions and ITN Source. Simon Wood of ITN won for employee of the year. Serge Viallet won the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Most of the winners were in attendance to receive their awards, including Caroline Waterlow and Nina Krstic for OJ, and the team from White Horse and Apple on behalf of Eight Days a Week. And while all seemed extremely pleased to have won, perhaps no one was happier than Serge Viallet, who celebrated his Lifetime Achievement Award with a joyous dance around the room and a rousing acceptance speech, culminating in three cheers for FOCAL. An inspiring conclusion to an exhilarating evening.

See below for a full list of Award Winners

Best Use of Footage in a History Production Sponsored by Getty Images - Hitler's Games - Berlin 1936 - Roche Productions (France)  

Best Use of Footage in a History Feature Sponsored by LoLa Clips - Letters From Baghdad - Letters From Baghdad Ltd / Between the Rivers Productions LLC (USA/UK/France)

Best Use of Footage in a Factual Production Sponsored by Screenocean - The War Show - Fridthjof Film (Denmark)

Best Use of Footage in an Entertainment Production Sponsored by FremantleMedia - When Magic Goes Horribly Wrong - Crackit Productions (UK)  

Best Use of Footage in an Arts Production Sponsored by Film London - Eat That Question - Frank Zappa in His Own Words - Les Films Du Poisson, UFA Fiction / Sony Pictures Classics (France/USA)

Best Use of Footage in a Music Production Sponsored by Shutterstock - The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years - White Horse Pictures and Imagine Entertainment (USA/UK)

Best Use of Sports Footage Sponsored by ITV Sport Archive - O.J: Made in America - ESPN Films and Laylow Films (USA)

Best use of Footage about the Natural World Sponsored by Nature Picture Library -  Zoo Quest in Colour - BBC Natural History Unit (UK)

Best Use of Footage on Other Platforms Sponsored by Visual Data Services - Terence Donovan: Speed of Light - Dog and Duck Films (UK)

Best Use of Footage in a Cinema Release Sponsored by British Pathe - The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years - White Horse Pictures and Imagine Entertainment (USA/UK)

Best Archive Restoration / Preservation Title Sponsored by Pinewood Studios Group - Napoleon (1927 Dir. Abel Gance) - BFI National Archive (UK)  

Best Archive Restoration / Preservation Project Sponsored by Prasad -  1912-1992: 80 Years of Olympic Films Restored - International Olympic Committee (Switzerland)

The Jane Mercer Footage Researcher of the Year Award Sponsored by AP Archive - Nina Krstic (USA)  O.J.: Made in America Footage

Employee of the Year Sponsored by Creative Skillset - Simon Wood & ITN Source team ITN Source - UK  

Footage Library of the Year Sponsored by Broadcast - British Pathé - UK

Lifetime Achievement Award  - A gift of the FOCAL International Executive - Serge Viallet

A Netflix Doc Binge

With hundreds of great documentary films available for streaming on Netflix, the main issue is where to begin. With that in mind, we've pulled together a shortlist of binge-worthy docs from our ever-growing queue. While our picks are admittedly long on politics and history, and typically rich with news and archival footage, they are each in their own way fascinating, compelling and compulsively watchable films. 

13th 

This Oscar-nominated documentary unpacks the "intersection of race, justice and mass incarceration in the United States." It's titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which freed the slaves and prohibited slavery (unless as punishment for a crime). Directed by Ava DuVernay. Released in 2016.

Amanda Knox

Amanda Knox documents the explosive media maelstrom and prosecutorial overreach surrounding the trial, conviction and eventual acquittal of Amanda Knox for the murder of Meredith Kercher, her roommate in Italy. Directed by Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn. Released in 2016.

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution

Renowned filmmaker Stanley Nelson's timely examination the rise of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s and its impact on civil rights and American culture. Directed by Stanley Nelson. Released in 2015.

The Blackout (American Experience)

The Blackout returns viewers to the pivotal night in July 13, 1977, when, following lightning strikes at several critical power lines, New York City was left in total darkness. Teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, the city was ill-prepared to respond, and by the time power was restored, more than 1,600 businesses had been looted, more than 3,000 people had been arrested, and firefighters had battled more than 1,000 fires. Directed by Callie T. Wiser. Released in 2015.

Dirty Wars

Dirty Wars follows Jeremy Scahill, the national security correspondent for the Nation magazine, as he works tirelessly to expose questionable US military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and other war-torn locales, many of which were carried out by the shadowy Joint Special Operations Command. Directed by RIck Rowley. Released in 2013.

E-Team

E-Team follows a group of four activists from Human Rights Watch known as the E-Team as they work on the ground in Syria and Libya to gather detailed evidence of human rights abuses and possible war crimes and bring these stories to the world's attention in real time. Directed by Kate Chevigny and Ross Kaufman. Released in 2014.

Emmanuel Macron: Behind the Rise

Emmanuel Macron: Behind the Rise tracks the rapid political ascent of Emmanuel Macron, who survived a bruising campaign to become the youngest president in French history. Directed by Yann L'Henoret. Released in 2017.

Five Who Came Back

Five Who Came Back explores the experiences of five U.S. film directors – John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra, and George Stevens – and their frontline work during the Second World War, drawing on over 100 hours of archival footage. Narrated by Meryl Streep, the film includes extensive interviews with directors Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo del Toro, Paul Greengrass, and Lawrence Kasdan. Directed by Laurent Bouzereau. Released in 2017.

Get Me Roger Stone

Get Me Roger Stone reveals the life and career of "larger than life" Republican political strategist Roger Stone. Directed by Dylan Bank, Daniel DiMauro and Morgan Pehme.  Released in 2017.

Hank: Five Years from the Brink

A humanizing character study of Hank Paulson from renowned documentarian Joe Berlinger. Paulson, who reluctantly accepted the post of Treasury Secretary under George W. Bush, was charged with preventing the collapse of the global economy in 2008. Directed by Joe Berlinger. Released in 2013.

How to Win the US Presidency

This whimsical look at rough-and-tumble American politics examines the influence of money, religion and even ancient Rome on presidential campaigns. Directed by Cal Seville. Released in 2016.

Oklahoma City (American Experience)

Oklahoma City traces the events — including the deadly encounters between American citizens and law enforcement at Ruby Ridge and Waco — that led Timothy McVeigh to commit the worst act of domestic terrorism in American history. Directed by Barak Goodman. Released in 2017.

Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States

A provocative, ten-part series from Oliver Stone on American history since World War II, intended, as Stone says in his introduction, to “bring you back to the meaning of this country and what so radically changed after World War II.” Directed by Oliver Stone. Released in 2013.

Tower

A riveting, emotionally powerful film using archival footage and animated reenactments to reveal the untold stories of the witnesses, heroes and survivors of the University of Texas Tower shooting, America's first mass school shooting. Directed by Keith Maitland. Released in 2016.

Truth and Power

An "investigative docuseries", narrated by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Each episode reveals the stories of "ordinary people going to extraordinary lengths to reveal corporate exploitation and infringement on civil liberties resulting from government overreach." Executive Producer: Brian Knappenberger.  Released in 2016.

The White Helmets

Winner of the 2017 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short, the 40-minute film follows three Syrian rescue workers with a group called the White Helmets -- also known as the Syrian Civil Defense. The film is based on footage shot by Khaleed Khateeb, a volunteer for the Syrian Civil Defense forces, who filmed his fellow volunteers’ during search and rescue missions in war-torn Aleppo. Directed by Orlando von Einsiedel. Released in 2016.

Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom

A riveting portrait of unrest in Ukraine during 2013 and 2014, as student demonstrations supporting European integration grew into a violent revolution calling for the resignation of President Viktor F. Yanukovich. As the New York Times' A.O. Scott wrote in his review of the film, "Mr. Afineevsky succeeds brilliantly, turning an after-the-fact reminder of events that have faded from the headlines into a grippingly suspenseful real-life action film." Directed by Evgeny Afineevsky. Released in 2015.

 

 

FootageBank Celebrates Golden Birthday with Treat for Clients

Paula Lumbard, founder & president

Paula Lumbard, founder & president

A Golden Birthday is a once-in-a-lifetime event that occurs when your age matches the day of your birth. It’s also referred to as a Grand BirthdayStar BirthdayLucky Birthday or Champagne Birthday… Did someone say champagne?

As FootageBank raised its glasses in celebration of 15 years in business on April 15, team members reminisced about the days of its birth…

Carol martin, vice president

Carol martin, vice president

“I opened a high definition company and learned what high definition was all on the same day! Talk about a learning curve… But that’s the thrill of being an entrepreneur. Now, we are embracing 4K and buying storage instead of stamps.”’ - Paula Lumbard, Founder & President

“I had an education in film (yes, celluloid) and a background in sales but someone had to set up the systems. Excited and unqualified, I jumped on what would be the wildest ride of my career. Who knew I’d become the engineer my father always wanted?” - Carol Martin, Vice President

Erik Dahlgren, Content Coordinator & Office Manager

Erik Dahlgren, Content Coordinator & Office Manager

“The first time I had to access the innards of our website, I was so nervous I crashed it! I remember our web host calling and asking, `What are you guys doing over there?!’ Now, I spend most of my days practicing internal medicine!” - Erik Dahlgren, Content Coordinator & Office Manager

FootageBank is grateful to all of its clients. Mention its Golden Birthday with your next order and receive a 15% discount. Cheers!

 

 

ARCHIVES ABOUND AT NAB 2017

With over 1,800 exhibits spread out across the entire Las Vegas Convention Center, and 100,000 plus attendees roaming the floor, NAB is like a small, frenetic city, and homing in on points of relevance takes some perseverance. That said, there’s a lot there of interest to the footage community, including products and services directly tailored to current needs, as well as technology and trends that are sure to affect the footage industry in the near future.

With that in mind, we’ve assembled a highly summarized “mini-directory” of companies that offer products and services that we believe will be of interest to footage companies, as well as other stakeholders in the archival footage business.

The list is divided into seven categories, including: digital asset management & storage; digital rights management & protection; logging and metadata; file sharing; film scanners and restoration; footage companies; and sessions.

We hope it gives you some sense of the state of things at NAB!

Digital Asset Management & Storage

Actus ClipFactory

Actus ClipFactory™ includes a content management system that allows users to enter and edit metadata, search and find specific clips, send the clips via mail, save the clips as files, distribute the clips to any destination such as CDN or social networks, download the clips and more.

www.actusdigital.com

Atempo

Atempo’s ASG-Digital Archive is a versatile, scalable file archiving software solution for the media industry that makes large data volumes available when and where needed, and integrates easily into user workflows. Data is secured and stored in open formats on a variety of storage media including tape, disk, cloud or object storage. Data movements are traced and logged. Users can preview assets with low-res proxies and make a partial retrieval of large assets. The AGS-Digital Archive is currently in use at the National Film Board of Canada, where they are archiving all digital masters and source files, including related metadata, for restored and new works.

www.atempo.com/ASG-Digital-Archive.aspx

Avere Systems

Avere Hybrid Cloud NAS enables use of cloud storage for tier-2 storage (active nearline storage), creating an accessible active archive at the lower cost of object storage. Avere Hybrid Cloud seeks to change the economics and functionality of data storage and computing for rendering, transcoding and encoding by allowing clients to leverage public and private storage clouds, IaaS, and elastic compute for workloads previously limited to on-premise high-performance (HPC) storage systems.

www.averesystems.com/active-cloud-storage

Cantemo

The Cantemo Portal helps manage video files, from creation through editing to distribution and archiving. The Cantemo Portal can be used for post-production management, as a distribution and sharing platform, for workflow file management and as an archive front end. Deployment can be done in the cloud, in front of a large tier-2 storage, or a tape library.  Having proxies and metadata for all items means that anyone can search the archive from almost anywhere without having to know how the tape library works, where the storage is, or where the assets lives in the storage. Portal is used for finding and recovering files that are then copied to production storage or to distribution methods for sharing or re-use. Cantemo is currently in use by media companies around the world, including the Boston Red Sox, who use it to “transition the Red Sox workflow, expand accessibility, and empower their creative team to get content to market more efficiently.”

www.cantemo.com

Cinegy

Cinegy develops software solutions for collaborative workflow encompassing IP, capture, editing and playout services tools, integrated into an active archive for full digital asset management. Cinegy Archive is the innovative media asset management solution for any organization with an archive or productions to manage. With its scalable and open architecture, Cinegy offers an affordable solution to digitize tape-based archives and production workflows. With advanced logging and metadata accumulation over the entire lifecycle of the media assets, content becomes easily searchable and reusable, saving time and money. Cinegy Archive enables local and remote real-time collaboration allowing loggers, story and video editors to work on video material in real-time, even while it is still being ingested. Using the Cinegy Workspace browser-based interface, clips can be searched, browsed, selected and even edited from anywhere.

www.cinegy.com/index.php/products/media-asset-management/cinegy-archive

Crawford Media Services

Crawford Media Services, Inc. provides premium content services, including mass digitization, human generated descriptive metadata, and digital archive storage for all owners of media content. Crawford’s service based model allows them to provide the customized solutions necessary to meet the specialized challenges now faced by content owners and make unruly media collections ready for market. 

www.crawford.com

Dalet

Dalet Galaxy is an enterprise Media Asset Management platform which unifies the content chain by managing assets, metadata, workflows and processes across multiple and diverse production and distribution systems. Dalet offers end-to-end Archive solutions to optimize workflows and to maximize assets, managing all type of multimedia content, including video, audio, texts, documents and more. Ideally suited for News, Sports, Programs and Radio workflows, Dalet’s Archive solutions makes media easily accessible and findable from any location through a Web client, but also to third-party systems thanks to the integration layer. With Dalet Archive solutions, media companies can build a truly unified environment where content is made available to everyone who needs it, no matter what system they are using, and extend the reach of owned content through easy and fast repurposing on multiple devices.

www.dalet.com/business-solutions/archives-and-media-asset-management

Imagen

The Imagen Enterprise Video Platform helps companies of all sizes and industries preserve, navigate and monetize their ever-growing media libraries. The latest update - Imagen Version 5 - has been built with both content owners and their customers in mind, providing the most efficient platform for managing and monetizing video content. With the focus on improved speeds and creating a more agile platform for media managers, Imagen version 5 enables content owners to adapt to the marketplace quicker. New features include optimized ingest tools for rapid content on-boarding, new payment models allowing customers to license clips using micro credit payments and high speed fulfillment of high resolution content. New language localization features also enable content to be licensed by a worldwide customer base, or streamed to paying audiences across the globe. Used by a number of key customers such as Premier League, Channel 4, Endemol and IMG to manage, distribute and commercialize legacy and near live content, Imagen’s latest version of its Enterprise Video Platform creates even more opportunities to generate revenue for content owners, as well as preserving large libraries of media with best in class workflow and archiving tools.

https://imagenevp.com/

Imagine Products

Imagine Products, Inc. develops high value, innovative digital video utilities to backup, view, share, transcode and archive assets. Imagine’s array of applications offer simple to use, elegant user interfaces with powerful back-ends that are affordable for both professionals and beginners. Some popular applications include ShotPut Pro (offloading application), PrimeTranscoder (transcoding application), PreRollPost (LTFS archiving application) and HD-VU2 (native file viewer). 

http://www.imagineproducts.com

Masstech

Masstech’s scalable archive and storage management solution automates the archive process, ensuring that media and metadata are stored safely, while making it easy to find, retrieve and restore content in required formats. Whether archiving on-site, across multiple facilities or remotely for disaster recovery, Masstech enables media companies to preserve and protect valuable content and build deep media libraries that can be mined and repurposed.

www.masstech.com

Object Matrix

Object Matrix provides digital content governance & object storage platforms. The company was built on the philosophy that archive systems should be scalable and interoperable, as well as ensuring instant access to data and metadata. Its flagship product, MatrixStore, is an integrated object storage software solution, providing protection and governance for the lifetime of any digital content. Customers include NBC Universal, TV Globo, Imagina, Miami Heat, EDF, the BBC & BT to name a few.

www.object-matrix.com

Quantum Corporation

Quantum StorNext production & archive solutions power modern workflows, enabling content creators to collaborate in real-time and keep assets accessible for future use and re-monetization. Evolving for 4K and beyond, new camera formats, delivery options & tighter deadlines. StorNext supports every step of media workflows, managing content files from ingest to archive. Leading studios, broadcasters & thousands of smaller content creators use StorNext to create award-winning productions.

www.stornext.com

SGL

SGL is a leading provider of content archive and storage management solutions with over twenty years’ experience in the media and content management sectors. SGL’s FlashNet archive solution delivers unrivalled levels of resilience, flexibility and adaptability and the addition of FlashNet Infinity, an elegant suite of web-based dashboard tools, adds further sophistication to FlashNet. 

www.sglbroadcast.com/products/

StorageDNA

StorageDNA helps film, video, and broadcast professionals master their digital workflow, work more efficiently and save storage costs. StorageDNA helps media professionals address the challenges of high-resolution digital file-based workflows, including cost-effective backup and storage; the long-term protection of digital assets; and the need to easily archive, search, find, restore, and directly access content when needed. StorageDNA is known for the intelligent workflow solution DNAevolution built on Linear Tape Open (LTO) and Linear Tape File System (LTFS) technologies. StorageDNA’s solutions power some of the most complex and critical workflows for a wide range of customers, from major film studios and television production companies to sports organizations, government agencies, and Fortune 500 corporations.

www.storagedna.com

Vectracom

Vectracom is a mass digitization service company specializing in the preservation and valorization of audiovisual heritage, including films, video and audio. Vectracom operates worldwide, with offices in Europe, North America and North Africa. From inventory to delivery, from manual cleaning to automatic metadata creation, Vectracom has developed innovative solutions and workflows to adapt to the specific needs of each client.

www.vectracom.fr/en/

Wazee Digital

Wazee Digital demonstrated how they can capture content in real-time, upload it to the cloud using file acceleration where Wazee Digital Core (asset management platform) kicks off workflows that include creating file renditions, metadata extraction, archiving and publishing to multiple digital endpoints including Core, Digital Media Hub, Commerce, YouTube and Facebook.  All of which was accomplished using a 25 Mbps wifi network – proving the benefit of having a lightweight browser based front end with all the heavy lifting and transformation of video assets being processed and stored in the cloud.

www.wazeedigital.com/

 

Xeric Design

Xeric Design is the developer of Cinematica, a feature-rich professional video management system designed with powerful tools and an intuitive drag-and-drop interface to manage growing libraries of video files, with a range of options to suit every need. Features such as thumbnails, storyboards, and keywords make cataloging a snap. 

www.xericdesign.com

Digital Rights Management & Protection

ContentArmor

ContentArmor creates, develops, and commercializes security solutions for entertainment content, providing audio and video watermarking technologies to deter piracy for premium multimedia content across creation and distribution workflows.

www.contentarmor.net

FilmTrack

FilmTrack’s cloud-based platform provides the tools to manage mission-critical data, including contracts, rights, financials, royalties and asset management in one solution, simplifying the complexities of managing and licensing intellectual property. FilmTrack services broadcasters and other media and entertainment organizations by providing an end-to-end solution for the back office. FilmTrack can complement current systems by integrating with ERP or finance packages, mastering media management, or scheduling solutions with secure, RESTful APIs. 

www.filmtrack.com

Markany

ContentTRACKER,  MarkAny's forensic watermarking technology, facilitates multimedia business models and protects content in high piracy environments. ContentTRACKER enforces security policies by embedding unique and robust identifying code without altering the viewing experience for the legitimate user.

www.markany.com/eng/

Vistex

Vistex partners with clients to provide powerful cross-platform content, rights and royalties management solutions, allowing complex businesses to fully automate their requirements. With (17) offices and (1,200) employees worldwide, Vistex works with clients to manage the full life cycle of their Go-to-Market programs through strategy, software, implementation, execution, and analytics.

http://vistex.com

Search & Metadata

IDENTV

Whether from live TV streams or recorded video, IDENTV's pioneering Intelligent Video-fingerprinting Platform (IVP) processes visual content at ultra-fast speed with highly scalable & accurate recognition of objects, faces, brands, logos, scenes & more in an integrated self-managed environment. Creating powerful video analysis capabilities and actionable insights from Video Big Data.

www.identv.com

Primestream

Primestream’s FORK Logger delivers a user interface optimized for tagging real-time feeds with the metadata needed to make a quick turnaround – making sifting, sorting and finding the right clips easy. FORK Logger is now available as a self-contained turnkey solution tailored for sports production –facilitating faster and more efficient workflows. Automatically add rich metadata and markers with FORK Logger using live data from STATS, the leader in sports data and content. The module’s extensively configurable and contextually dynamic user interface gives sports loggers the tools to quickly tag video with pre-defined metadata – making assets easier to manage, move and ultimately monetize.

http://primestream.com/simplypowerful

Malgn Technology

Malgn’s KeyFlow Pro is a simple, elegant and surprisingly powerful media manager. Upload, preview, organize, role edit, tag, annotate and more with KeyFlow Pro, featuring deep integration with Final Cut Pro X. It's on the Mac App Store.

www.keyflowpro.com

ReCAP

ReCAP is a consortium of European companies that has recently received funding from the European Union to develop a Real-time Content, Analysis and Processing (ReCAP) software platform. The consortium includes NMR (UK) ToolsOnAir (Austria), nablet (Germany) and Joanneum Research (Austria). ReCAP will enable media companies to automatically analyze and extract time-stamped descriptive and technical metadata, in real-time, from live broadcast quality video content, as well as process their existing archive content.

www.recap-project.com

File Sharing

Aspera

Aspera, an IBM® Company, creates next-generation software technologies that move the world’s data at maximum speed regardless of file size, transfer distance and network conditions. Major film studios, post-production companies, visual effects houses, and broadcasters rely on Aspera to reduce production cycles while securely delivering high-resolution media worldwide, with the utmost quality of service, providing consumers with content faster and more efficiently than ever before.

www.asperasoft.com

FileCatalyst

FileCatalyst is a pioneer in managed file transfers and a world-leading accelerated file transfer solution. FileCatalyst is a software platform designed to accelerate and manage file transfers securely and reliably. FileCatalyst is immune to the effects that latency and packet loss have on traditional file transfer methods like FTP, HTTP, or CIFS. Global organizations use FileCatalyst to solve issues related to file transfer, including content distribution, file sharing, and offsite backups.

www.filecatalyst.com

Signiant

Signiant’s intelligent file transfer solutions help the world’s top media companies move petabytes of content every day over standard IP networks. Built on Signiant’s patented file transfer acceleration technology, the company’s on-premises and cloud-native SaaS solutions are the market leaders for moving large files over distance - between systems, between people, and to and from cloud object storage.

www.signiant.com  

Film Scanners & Restoration

Black Magic Cintel Film Scanner

The new Blackmagic Cintel film scanner includes the most advanced Image Mill image processing Cintel has to offer, built into the machine itself, providing powerful grain reduction and optical stabilization technology, which makes the Cintel scanner a perfect choice for historical archive conversions and restoration projects. Cintel’s ultra thin size means it can be desk-mounted or wall-mounted. There are even multiple accessory mount points for adding audio pickups or key-code readers. The Cintel film scanner produces stabilized, grain-reduced files that are ready for digital restoration and mastering.

www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/cintel

FilmFabriek

FIlmFabriek is the creator of the cost effective, high quality, modular frame-by-frame film scanner, used by archives and scanning companies worldwide to replace their telecine scanners. The scanner is sprocketless, offers sound heads and the unique wetgate system to optimize the digitization of damaged film.

www.filmfabriek.nl/filmscanner/

LaserGraphics

Since 1981, LaserGraphics has been at the forefront of film imaging system technology.  Their still-frame high resolution photo and slide film recording systems exceeded the rigorous demands of customers in the medical, military and digital photography markets.  This, coupled with innovative engineering, exacting levels of quality, and superior service is why LaserGraphics has sold over 25,000 still-frame film-recording systems.

http://lasergraphics.com/index.html

MTI Film, LLC

MTI Film provides world class digital film restoration services to studios and libraries that need the highest quality work delivered on time and on budget. The MTI team of experienced restoration artists use DRS™NOVA to remove all types of defects - ranging from warping, color breathing, and 3-layer misalignment, to dust, dirt and scratches. In addition, MTI provides expert color correction, editing, and transcoding tools for HD, UHD, and DCP delivery.

www.mtifilm.com/

RTI Film Group

The RTI Film Group specializes in providing a variety of equipment and technology for those involved in the digitization, preservation and migration of media content. That content may be residing on motion picture film, broadcast video formats or optical discs. Products such as digital film scanners for all film gauges, scanning at up to 5K resolution. The RTI Group includes Lipsner Smith, TapeChek Evaluators, BHP, Calder, Filmlab Systems, Imagica, and CIR. Over 100 specialized products are available.

www.rtico.com

Vintage Cloud

Vintage Cloud recently acquired long-established film editing table manufacturer Steenbeck, and now offers the world’s fastest film archive digitization system. The Vintage Cloud Steenbeck uniquely offers the ability to digitize separate image and audio at the same time at up to 4K resolution and up to 60 fps. The all-in-one system has now been enhanced by the introduction of Smart Indexing, which uses AI and machine learning to dramatically increase the speed and precision with which metadata can be included within the asset – giving it substantially more value.

www.vintagecloud.com/

Footage Companies

The footage industry was well represented at NAB 2017. In addition to our exhbition (Footage.net), exhibitors included Dissolve, Filmsupply, INA, Pond5, Shutterstock and VideoBlocks. We spent some time at all their booths and all seemed to agree that NAB was a productive venue for footage companies. 

Sessions

Investing in Stock: Getting Paid to Follow Your Passion

Robb Crocker, author of Stock Footage Millionaire, gave a presentation at the Adobe booth on how to produce and market stock footage. He discussed strategies for successful stock footage production including: shooting footage you would want to buy; using equipment you would want used in your own productions; developing a niche; looking for developing trends; leveraging your resources and special access; and playing to your strengths.  You can watch his presentation here

From Lens to Archive: Media Management for NewTek NDI

Workflow experts at ProMAX walked attendees through an end-to-end production process utilizing NewTek devices and the NDI protocol, showing attendees how to instantly manage media from first capture all the way though archive. The session looked at each specific step along the way, including: ingest; immediate backup; encoding & proxy generation; metadata tagging; searching; editing/post production; and long term archiving.

Attendees were guided through capturing and storing NDI video streams to a storage device; how to best protect media, short term & long term; understanding how live production broadcast can integrate into a post-production workflow; how to set up an integrated "production - post production" workflow utilizing NDI devices; how to organize, tag and search for media in a dynamic production environment; and how to archive content while still having access to proxy media.

How “Saturday Night Live” Built Private Cloud Storage to Accelerate Workflows and Archive Assets for the Next 40 Years Presented by Cloudian

Session covered how SNL manages and archives assets from 40 years of programming, and ensures those assets deliver value for the next 40 years, featuring media management and storage experts from SNL and presentation of their approach to building an open architecture and saving costs, while accelerating media access in their highly time-pressured workflow.

Footage Hacks: Smart Practices and Strategies for Better Footage Research, Acquisition & Use

In many important ways, finding footage has become easier than ever before. There’s an enormous amount of footage online, both on commercial sites like Footage.net, as well as consumer-directed sites like YouTube, offering researchers nearly instant access to clips. That said, finding, acquiring and using third-party footage remains a complex process, and high-level footage research requires skill and experience. With that in mind, we pulled together a list of hacks and suggestions from industry experts to help you raise your footage game. 

1. Dig Deeper

Not every piece of footage has been digitized and not every clip is online, so don’t assume that because a clip is not available online that it doesn’t exist. Comprehensive footage research will involve some level of direct interaction with the footage providers, and most footage houses are ready, willing and able to help you out. In addition, almost all archives can now digitize footage on request and send it to you via FTP very quickly for review. For the most, part this means allowing a bit more time for bringing in sample material, but otherwise the process should fit seamlessly into your workflow.

“Unless an archive has exclusively ‘born digital’ materials (like archives that feature contemporary footage) most archives have a vast array of archival source formats that were cataloged but never formally migrated to digital formats,” says Stephen Parr, president of Oddball Films.  “These formats, ranging from 16mm and 35mm film to multiple analog and digital videotape formats are almost always available to be digitized to the format of a clients choice. In fact, most archives are continually digitizing materials to new file formats, whether SD or 4K. You should always ask an archive if they have additional undigitized materials. If so, they may be able to transfer them for you on demand, or at least send you logs before you move forward with transfers. Some archives will digitize original source materials for free, others will charge a fee. Either way it’s incumbent upon a good researcher to ask about undigitized materials - if you don’t ask, you won’t find it.”

2. Provide as Much Information as Possible about your Project and Footage Needs

Talk directly to footage providers about your overall footage needs, not just the specific items you think they have in their collections. Most footage providers know their collections inside and out, so if they understand your project, and what you are looking for, they can offer suggestions you may not have considered. Additionally, providing as much detail as possible on your footage needs will expedite your search.

“There have been numerous times where we would receive an email for a very specific item and rather than just merely send them the requested clip, I would call them up, and because of a direct dialogue, I was able to suggest material they had not thought of, which then turned into many more licensing opportunities,” said David Peck, president of Reelin’ in the Years Productions.

These conversations, whether on the phone or over email, are also the place to dig into the details of your footage needs, especially when looking for editorial footage.

“By being more specific and providing more context in your footage requests, we will get the right footage to you faster, rather than spending more time for us to get you footage and you having to sort through footage you don’t want,” said Eileen O’Donnell, content manager at NBC News Archives.  “With editorial footage, information is important - locations, dates, time periods. If you have a specific event you’re looking for, let us know more than ‘Early Vietnam War’ or ‘Late Vietnam War.’  The more information you provide, the more accurate the search results will be.”

Other issues that warrant deeper communication include the “context [in which] the footage is going to be used,” said O’Donnell. “Are you looking for branded content with reporters to present as a news story, or are you looking for b-roll on the subject in question? If you’re doing a project on a famous person, do you truly need everything we have on that person, or is there a specific interview or topic they’ve spoken about that you need for your story?”  

3. Look for New Sources & Underused Footage

Finding new sources of footage, underused collections and less obvious footage can make a big difference in the final outcome of your film, both in its quality and its marketability. Finding new sources is “very critical - not just to make a sale, but for me to be excited about the project,” said documentary filmmaker Tom Jennings. “When you tell a network you've found something no one has seen before, they get excited. You have to remember their needs. They want to set this program apart from others that may have been done about the topic. For them, it's a marketing tool -- we have something new. For me, it's being able to see something that I think is familiar through new eyes. That's a major part of making these films feel special.”

“Look on either side of the iconic moment,” added Jennings. “Too many producers just go for the usual when it comes to telling historic events.  For our Pearl Harbor show, because we had no narration and no interviews, we heavily relied on playing major moments in ways not seen.  I swear if I hear President Roosevelt say, ‘a day that will live in infamy,’ and nothing else, I’m going to go crazy.  It turns out that speech is less than five minutes long.  The ‘Infamy’ part is the first 10 seconds.  The rest of the speech lays out the entire reason why the U.S. is going to war… what Japan had been up to, how they must have been planning this attach long in advance, etc.  It’s fascinating and sums up the entire entry into the war — in less than 5 minutes.  But all we know is, ‘a day that will live in Infamy.’  In our show, we used the entire speech and illustrated it with footage along the way.  I don’t know of any other doc that has played the entire speech, but I believe our viewers are much better informed for having heard it.  So my advice is, look for what’s on either side of the iconic moment. What was said and done before and right after?  Usually, there’s something very rich that just never made it into the highlights reels that so many producers rely on.”

4. Don’t Fall In Love with that YouTube Clip

Relying on YouTube as a footage search engine is a double-edged sword. On the plus side, it’s a great platform for accessing a large amount of video and seeing what’s out there. As documentary editor Cindy Kaplan Rooney put it, “YouTube and Google searches can be very helpful, especially when you are working independently. I recently edited the independent documentary Levinsky Park, about the plight of African Asylum seekers in Israel.  I did not have a staff.  It was the producer and myself.  We did use the name sources such as CNN, Getty and F.I.L.M. Archives, but to tell this story we needed to search far and wide and really hunt because this is not a widely covered topic. YouTube and general Internet searches were great research tools and helped to connect us with people that the producer then contacted.  Those contacts led us to very important footage that helped us tell this story.”

On the downside, identifying rights-holders for YouTube clips can be daunting, and sometimes impossible. “You do have to be willing to give up material that has been in your cut that you love if you are not able to get in touch with the rights holder,” said Kaplan Rooney. “This did happen on Levinsky Park.” Or, as Tom Jennings put it, “my researchers have made me swear-off looking at YouTube. The biggest challenge is not falling in love with footage before you know it can be cleared.”

Another issue to be aware of when using YouTube and other consumer-oriented video platforms to source footage is that a most of the large, commercial footage houses have not added the bulk of their collections to these sites. These commercial footage collections are much better accessed directly through their owner’s sites or through a footage aggregator like Footage.net.

“Only a tiny fraction of the footage industry’s collective archives are available on YouTube,” according to David Peck. “Relying solely on YouTube (which sadly many inexperienced people in this industry do) and not contacting archives directly does a great disservice the film you are making. Most of the archives out there (mine included) want to help you but if you come to us after the film has been cut with bootleg YouTube footage, than there’s not much we can do. Most companies don’t charge screener fees so there’s really no excuse not to come to us directly.”

5. Some News Footage May Need Additional Clearances

“Remember that while every network and local news station has their content on their websites, not all footage in those stories is available for licensing,” said Eileen O’Donnell of NBC News Archives. “News stories come from a variety of sources, in addition to [the networks] own reporters and camera operators.  Networks and local stations subscribe to agency news feeds where they have broadcast rights or may have secured rights for other third party videos or photos for broadcast.  For this reason, you cannot assume [the news] content you’ve found online is available to license for your project until it’s been fully vetted by the library.” 

6. Send a Zap

Sending a Zap Email through Footage.net is an easy, effective can way to kick off your footage research project, allowing you to send your footage request instantly to Footage.net’s full list of stock footage partners, where expert researchers at each company will review your request and get in touch with you directly if they have footage that meets your needs. The process is very straightforward and will ensure that your request goes out to a wide network of footage providers, some of which you might not have considered contacting directly. To send a Zap, just go to Footage.net, click on the Zap button on the homepage, fill out the (very brief) request form, hit send and you’re done.

7. Understand Third Party Rights

When licensing footage, it’s important to remember that while footage houses usually control the copyright to the footage itself, they may not control the underlying rights, especially those pertaining to the rights of privacy and publicity of recognizable individuals shown in the footage.

“Researchers should always check on the talent and location release status at the start of a search so that later they are not disappointed if their selection does not have the releases they need,” says Paula Lumbard, president of FootageBank HD.

Third party rights can be especially complicated when dealing with musical performances.

"Probably the most important thing to keep in mind when working with a company like Reelin' in the Years, and others such as Historic Films and BBC that have a large archive of music performance and entertainment oriented footage," said David Peck, "is that while we control the copyright to the footage in our collections, we do not hold the underlying rights, such as the rights to the performer's image and likeness. Which means that before using a clip from Reelin' in the Years of the Rolling Stones performing ‘Satisfaction’ from a 1965 appearance on German TV, users will need to obtain clearances from, and often pay license fees to, a variety of other entities, such as music publishers, record companies, unions and directors and, of course, the band members themselves.”

Property and locations may also be subject to privacy rights. 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. One of the more famous examples is the Hollywood Sign, the rights to which are controlled by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which has appointed Global Icons to manage these rights and negotiate usage fees.

8. Get the Rights You Need

When licensing rights-managed footage, the distribution rights you ask for and the duration of the license term form the basis of the license fee. To cover their bases, producers will often ask for all rights, for all media, in perpetuity. Many have no choice but to acquire these rights in that they are producing a program for a specific network, which has mandated that all elements of a particular program be cleared for all uses, whether now known or hereafter invented. But if you’re producing an independent production and don’t have the budget to afford this all-encompassing grant of rights, talk to the provider about forming a step-up agreement, wherein minimal rights are acquired in the near-term and a price is set for add-on rights in the future, should they become necessary. 

“If you can't afford to secure all rights up front, it's advisable to discuss licensing options with an archive and have these options included as possible upgrades in the licensing agreement,” says Jessica Berman Bogdan, president of Global ImageWorks. “Options usually have some type of time limitation as to when they can be exercised. It's also helpful to know the costs you'll need to pay to secure additional rights when negotiating with distributors. Narrowing the grant of rights is another good cost control option. In our experience, oftentimes clients really don't need theatrical rights, for example. Overall, if you're not required to deliver this broad rights package or if the budget isn't there, don't ask for rights you really don't need.”

9. Negotiate License Fees

Prices for footage vary widely among footage houses. In the case of rights-managed footage, there is often some room to negotiate. Some archives have a pricing schedule for bulk deals, for example, wherein they will offer discounts for buying more footage from them for a specific project. For others, it’s more of an art than a science. Either way, it’s a good idea to give the archive a sense of the kind of project you are working on, how it is funded and what sort of budget you are working with. Without that knowledge, they’ll have no basis upon which to consider potential discounts.  

“Most archives want to have their footage licensed and want to support the production community,” says Jessica Berman-Bogdan. “Archives can be flexible but only to a point. Keep in mind there's a range within which archives can operate. If you're outside that range, you need to be able to justify why you should get a reduced fee.”

10. Work with Multiple Formats

Third-party footage, by definition, will originate on a wide variety of native formats. So a big consideration when working with third party footage is how these varied formats and aspect ratios will be integrated into your final production. “In addition to archival film and video formats, now with the introduction of Ultra HD, 4K, and even higher resolution clips into the footage world, it is wise prior to licensing to understand the master format options of the clips you are considering,” said Paula Lumbard, president of FootageBank. “Consider asking about the native capture format, the camera used, the resolution of both native digital file as well as the stock clip file, and delivery options.”  Some footage houses may offer to convert their clips from standard definition to high definition, or to assist in scanning of film elements.  Fees are often involved due to processing. Again, these are conversations to have with the footage providers. 

11. Hire a Researcher/Rights & Clearance Specialist

Online footage platforms have made footage research more accessible, convenient and efficient. With a bit of practice, you can get pretty good at finding clips. But deep, extensive and effective footage research takes experience and skill, especially if your project requires a lot of third-party content. For complex projects, the services of an experienced film researcher can be essential. An experienced researcher can not only find great footage, but can often rack down and negotiate with the rights holder, consult on your footage budget, negotiate license fees and help design and implement your in-house production archive. And, as Paula Lumbard put it, “experienced researchers/rights and clearance professionals have relationships with rights holders and archives that can benefit you. In addition to saving time, they may be offered discounts, or granted rights not ordinarily extended to those fresh to licensing.”

12. Organize Your Production Library

A large-scale footage research project will require an in-house system for storage, indexing and retrieval of clips. This is essential for your production workflow, as well as for tracking and accounting for the clips you actually end up using in your production.

“I frequently edit on shows that have many editors sharing material on a server,” said Cindy Kaplan Rooney. “An absolute must is to have a cataloging system started from the first piece of footage that comes in house.  Typically, we set up our system so the clip name tells you what the category of content is as well as the footage source and date if the date is pertinent for the show. The same type of database is created for archival stills as well as footage.  The log also includes a description of the material because you rarely get good descriptions these days. We used to get cards that told you exactly what was there on the clips. So once that footage is out there on the server and various editors are working with it you can always track it back.  Another database is also created for material that is more general in nature and can be used for many different types of sequences. “

“Periodically, an assistant editor or production assistant reviews the rough cuts and makes note of what has been used,” said Kaplan Rooney. “This is also a good check to make sure that there is no duplication.  It always amazes me that on a big history show, or series, with tons of good footage editors often zero in on the exact same shots!”

“If the schedule is tight, the staff will begin immediately to work on the rights clearances, if they haven’t already made an upfront deal with the footage source,” added Kaplan Rooney. “Most places require a log of exactly what shots you are using with time codes and lengths before they will give a quote.  This is pretty much in flux during a rough-cut stage, but it’s a starting point and you can update it later on. By doing this early, if there is a problem making a deal, the editors have time to find alternatives. When working on a big archival show, it’s pretty impossible to clear rights on everything ahead of time because there is so much gathered and only a fraction of that will actually be used.”

Conclusion

We hope these suggestions have been helpful. Obviously, it is not an exhaustive list and learning about the process of finding, acquiring and using footage is an ongoing process. Please let us know if we missed anything important. We are always happy to add to the list!

Footage.net Announces Final Exhibit Partners for NAB

Footage.net's exhibition will feature a diverse group of leading footage companies, including ABCNEWS VideoSource, Bridgeman Images, FootageBank, Global ImageWorks, HOsiHO, INA and Reelin’ in the Years Productions, offering attendees a unique opportunity to discover new footage sources, meet footage providers in person and delve into the ins and outs of locating, acquiring and using footage. 

NAB has long been known as a technology and hardware show, where broadcast engineers come to find out about the latest gear. But over the last few years, with cutting-edge production technology becoming more available to independent producers, NAB has evolved into an annual destination for production professionals of every kind. They’re eager to learn about new production tools and trends, so it’s a great forum for introducing them to our footage partners and presenting footage as an easily accessible creative option.

“Providing our footage partners with a forum to meet producers and present their content is a top priority for us at the NAB Show,” said David Seevers, Footage.net Chief Marketing Officer. “So our partner companies will be front and center at our NAB booth.” 

The 2017 NAB Show is set to take place for April 24 to 27 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Footage.net booth will be located in the South Hall, Lower, #14,810. As one of the world’s largest production shows, NAB brings together a huge number of production professionals, the majority of which are there to learn about production resources and make purchase plans and decisions.

NBC News Archives Marks 25th Anniversary of LA Riots

On March 3, 1991, Rodney King, a paroled felon, led police on a long, high-speed chase through Los Angeles.  King surrendered and four officers subsequently beat him more than 50 times with their batons. Footage of the beating videotaped by a witness was broadcast on KTLA and aired numerous times around the world.

King was released without charges and the four officers were indicted by a grand jury in connection with the beating.  On April 29, 1992, the four white LAPD officers were acquitted and protests and violence erupted in South Central Los Angeles, starting with the beating of Reginald Denny, and spread throughout the metropolitan area. The riots lasted for six days and left dozens dead, over 2,300 people injured, and more than 11,000 arrested, leaving Los Angeles with an estimated $1 billion in property damage.

25 years later, NBC News Archives marks the anniversary of the LA Riots with a compilation of footage that includes the outrage of the LA Community, aerials of the rioting and looting, the call for Chief Gates resignation, Rodney King and his representatives’ reaction to the violence and Los Angeles attempting to rebuild after the riots. Footage from their extensive LA Riots collection has been used in countless productions, including A&E Network’s “L.A. Burning: The Riots 25 Years Later”, National Geographic Channel’s “LA 92”, Universal feature film, “Straight Outta Compton”, and ESPN’s “O.J.: Made in America” amongst others.   To view, license and download this footage, go to:  LA Riots at NBCUniversalArchives.

StormStock’s Martin Lisius Acquires Final Elements for New Storms Doc

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 later 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 has been more than 20 years 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 2017, 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. The production crew has already acquired unique and stunning footage of tornadoes, massive storms and incredible lightning displays utilizing aerial platforms, time-lapse and motion control.
 
No specific distribution channel has been determined, but according to Lisius, a television, Internet or theatrical release are all options.
 
Fans can follow the progress of the documentary at the TCOTA2 Facebook page.

YouTube: an Asset for Footage Companies?

In our interview with footage researchers last month (A View from the Archival Trenches), archival researcher Jodi Tripi said that "everybody on the planet thinks that YouTube is a search engine and that they are a footage researcher," a reality that often complicates life for archival researchers. So this month we reached out to a group of footage industry leaders to find out how YouTube has affected their work, and whether the platform is an asset to their businesses. We got a great response from the footage community, including Scott Dittrich (Action Sports), Alan Bradshaw (AP Archive), Alastair White (British Pathe), Michael Goldberg (Celebrity Footage), Chris Bridson (Conus Archive), Jim Erickson (CriticalPast), Mark Trost (F.I.L.M. Archives), Lorena Booth (Framepool), Jessica Berman-Bogdan (Global ImageWorks), Sami Sarkis (HOsiHO), Sandrine Sacarrere (INA), Adam Sargis (MyFootage.com), Ben Jones (Science Photo Library) and Martin Lisius (StormStock). You can read their responses in full below.

Footage.net: As noted, in our interview for our February newsletter, Jodi Tripi said, "everybody on the planet thinks that YouTube is a search engine and that they are a footage researcher." Do you agree? And if so, what are the implications for the footage industry in general and for your business in particular?

Mark Trost (F.I.L.M. Archive): Jodi is spot on.  Just about every day we get an inquiry from someone whose higher up (usually a director, sometimes a producer) saw a clip on YouTube and wants to know if we have it or can supply something virtually identical. Overall, I think it helps shops like ours, as it does drive people to us when they have trouble tracking down the person who posted (who usually has no rights to the footage). As a catch-all video depository, I see it as a net plus both to us and researchers. There is also a lot of rare material up there that would otherwise never surface.

Alastair White (British Pathe): Yes of course YouTube is a search engine and we should all accept this.  It is the industry’s primary video platform with thousands of new videos uploaded every day, so it is human nature to start off your search there.  It is the responsibility of the industry to try and ensure this platform works to our benefit, because it is not going away.  We understand that only a small proportion of viewers are potential licensing customers, but the numbers are so large that even a small percentage is a large figure.

Jim Erickson (CriticalPast): We agree to some extent that frequent use of YouTube has “dumbed down” footage research.  That said, most of our business still comes from Google text-based search results.  Either way, we find ourselves constantly adjusting our business to suit the whims of Google, whether to satisfy text-based search or YouTube search.  As long as Google remains basically unchallenged by competitors, this will be the state of the industry.

Chris Bridson (Conus): Researchers using YouTube as a “search engine” has become ever more evident. Being part of a business that deals with archives, I have heard from researchers attempting to source video found on general internet sites can be very challenging.  As anyone and everybody can post clips, many that they don’t own rights to, it can be very challenging for researchers to source material.  Many times this workload is passed down to archive houses, to assist in determining if something exists within their holdings.  We would prefer to get the research requests directly, spending our time to find the best material to pitch within our own collection. In the end, we feel this saves our clientele time and in the end, money.

Ben Jones (Science Photo Library): I agree on both counts. YouTube is a search engine, one of the most popular, and whether people look for Kanye, cats or epic fails, it’s hard to argue it’s not footage research to some extent. Of course, footage research as we know it entails a lot more than search engines, and the vast majority of YouTube videos don’t mention much about copyright, licensing, access to uncompressed versions and all the other facets of our work. However, as a wildly, rightly, popular site it’s impossible to ignore its impact. For archives it’s a great source of interaction with clients, contributors and the wider world. For creators and rights owners it’s a showcase and a shop window as much as it’s a sea of pirates, and can generate revenue as well as publicity. For researchers it can often be the first port of call, the start of a long journey to licensing the clip they need. But while the visual history of film and television remains off YouTube, legally at least, it won’t replace the expertise of traditional researchers, nor the archives that preserve such content.

Sandrine Sacarrere (INA): We have more and more footage requests with just a YouTube link. It is quite complicated for us to identify the footage spotted on YouTube because Ina has more than 1.5 million hours of programs online. In that case, we need to do a deeper search in our database to have access to the content requested by the client. It takes us more time to process that way.

Sami Sarkis (HOsiHO): We do have a YouTube channel but we don’t push it that much. It’s here for our showreels. We haven’t yet seen any evidence of business coming from YouTube. In the future we’ll probably upload more individual clips to YouTube and see what happens. We are using many social media sites, and the most efficient in terms of visibility and driven traffic are LinkedIn and Facebook, according to our records.

Adam Sargis (MyFootage.com): Yes that is the impression most people have. I also use YouTube as a research tool, but reluctantly as it is mostly non-professionals posting the content: it is often impossible to contact and/or get a timely response from the person who posted content.  Most of time they don’t own it and have no right whatsoever to it. The footage industry can only benefit from the free exposure and any user who wants to license footage may be delighted to find that it is an established footage house posting.

Martin Lisius (StormStock): Almost anyone can do some research on-line. But, not all data is out there. Veteran researchers like Jodi Tripi, Roxanne Mayweather, and Chris Lutz have acquired and developed trustworthy sources directly for material. Their clients demand high quality footage that is properly cleared. So, if you want to do it right, you really need to hire a professional. Would you skimp on a director or cinematographer? If quality is important to you, then you can’t skimp on a researcher. They can save your ass!

Scott Dittrich (Action Sports): I agree with Jodi.  You tube is not a search engine for stock footage, nor should it be.

Michael Goldberg (Celebrity Footage): I would certainly say that the younger people do believe that it is an asset to them to search for footage. It is certainly one of the steps that young people take to find something. The hard part is how do you clear it?

Lorena Booth (Framepool): YouTube does act as an unofficial search engine and people looking for footage tend to use it as a content search engine. The problem is that they are not fully aware of the quality restrictions as well as the copyrights involved. Licensing from YouTube can go either way, very fast and easy for simple stuff, or very slow and complicated when the desired video requires third party clearance. As footage experts, we have to be prepared to educate the client on the implications of licensing YouTube material, which can potentially cause unforeseen project delays.

Alan Bradshaw (AP Archive): Over the past few years we’ve certainly seen a change in how our customers approach us in terms of buying footage. Increasingly editors, directors and assistant producers source their content from YouTube first before calling in an experienced archive producer toward the end of a production to clear the footage. Trying source copyright on YouTube is a minefield and often the archive producer has to frantically replace shots with known archives in the edit due to time constraints.

FN: What is your YouTube strategy? Do you have a dedicated channel for your footage business? If so, what sort of content does it include? Is it driving inquiries?

Alastair White (British Pathe): British Pathe’s YouTube strategy is well advanced.  3 years ago we recognized the power of YouTube and uploaded the entire British Pathe archive, 85,000 individual films; this was the largest single upload in YouTube’s history.  We have a number of YouTube channels, which currently have over 540,000 subscribers.  We also produce a number of new films each month to encourage viewership and subscribers. 

Alan Bradshaw (AP Archive): We noticed that a lot of AP News content was being uploaded to You Tube by members of the public without our control and without AP being credited for the content. So in 2014 we made the decision to up load our entire archive to the YouTube. By having our whole archive sitting on YourTube’s servers we are able to take advantage of their content ID system, which allows us to control what happens with AP copyright video on YouTube. The upload was one of the largest in YouTube’s history and when completed 1 million minutes of video had been published! For us it’s been a great marketing success and allows people to find our content easily with clear instructions on how and where they can license our video. By including our metadata with the video, it’s vastly improved our SEO on Google, making us far more visible to potential new business. We initially launched on YouTube with two channels, AP Archive and British Movietone, but since acquiring the British Movietone archive at the end of last year we’ve now launched a specialist channel looking at royalty around the world. We have more channels planned too over the coming year.

Lorena Booth (Framepool): We consider YouTube as an asset rather than as a competitor. Clients who do not yet know Framepool, will stumble upon our footage while on YouTube and come back to our site. Therefore YouTube is treated as an additional way of generating business and bring awareness to our brand and business. We have different channels and playlists where the client can be led back to our page and also show what our collections are all about. Our channels cover all content we offer - historical, editorial and creative. As well as special playlists highlighting projects where Framepool footage has been used. [It is driving inquiries] both from large and small clients.

Chris Bridson (Conus): Years ago, we started to use YouTube to highlight a special collection of “caught on tape” material, CaughtOnTapeTV, which was initially designed for our International clientele that were frequently using the site to find clips.  More recently, we created a new channel to highlight the entire OJ Simpson criminal trial, OJ Trial Uncut.  We found YouTube to be the perfect venue to post long clips that researchers can easily access.  Should they have a licensing need, the footage is clearly identifiable as being ours, and researchers can record specific time code information that will match our master.   Both channels have proven popular for researchers and have driven inquiries.    

Jim Erickson (CriticalPast): We have a YouTube channel, and our strategy with it is to simply have a wide representation of our collection on it, well watermarked. The channel drives inquiries, although oftentimes the inquiries are from consumers, not professionals.  We try to filter out items that might not be suitable for all ages. That’s sometimes difficult, given how much war-related content we have.  YouTube has placed a small quantity of our clips behind an 18+ age filter, but those clips remain accessible.

Ben Jones (Science Photo Library): We have a dedicated channel at youtube.com/sciencephotolibrary, and we post highlights, new collections, striking clips and more. Many of our contributors have their own channels too, and pass us any requests they get from the public or clients. Our own channel doesn’t drive sales as much as it’s a brand awareness tool, and a convenient embed facility for other social sites. Our contributors’ channels certainly drive sales to us, although for every sale there are dozens of people with interest, but no budget, of course.

Mark Trost (F.I.L.M. Archive): Yes, we do have a YouTube channel that features a subset of the screeners we have on our website. It definitely puts the footage in front of a great many more eyeballs than would see it on our website. We generally get a least a few sales a month from clients who see the footage on YouTube and want to license.

Sandrine Sacarrere (INA): In March 2012, Ina and YouTube concluded a partnership allowing Internet users to get free access to a part of the INA audiovisual memory. This agreement covers the broadcasting and monetization of 70,000 Ina videos on YouTube. This initiative responds to a common desire to make accessible to all, the French audiovisual heritage. It permits Ina to share its memory with millions of Internet users of all ages and nationalities browsing videos on YouTube each month. Ina has now 28 dedicated channels on YouTube for the general public only, not for footage business.  These are thematic channels (Politics, Paris Vintage, Society, Best of Classic, Travels, Sciences, History, Animals, Humor, Performances, Culture, Talk shows, Best of 60’s, best of 70’s, Best of 80’s, best of 90’s etc.). To date, Ina has 270,000 subscribers for all its channels. In 2016, 84 millions Ina videos were seen on all its YouTube channels.

Adam Sargis (MyFootage.com): Post much as possible. We have a dedicated YouTube channel including all content we have in both short clips and long form. Yes, it is driving inquiries.

Martin Lisius (StormStock): StormStock does have a YouTube channel. It features some of our more dramatic material. We do occasionally get inquires via YouTube searches, but they tend to be small jobs, projects with small budgets.

Scott Dittrich (Action Sports): I totally ignore YouTube.  Those who use it say it is a waste of time and only attracts the lowest budgets.

Michael Goldberg (Celebrity Footage): We have a YouTube channel with around 2700 followers. Every time we cover an event we put together a 2-3 minute highlight reel that showcases the best of the event and the biggest celebrities there. Then we blast that video out to all our clients and our social media sites, and pushing that video out to YouTube is just one more step in our routine. We’re producing those videos anyway, so it is not extra work for us. We just have to upload the file using a special compression because it does have all that watermarking on it. We do want people to appreciate that quality of it so we upload it in HD. We believe that YouTube is just another search tool that some of these young people will do a search on, so it is just one more outlet that we’d like to cover. We put all the people’s names [from the event] in the metadata so it helps make it searchable. And that is also where we host our videos for social media platforms, meaning that when we put something out on Facebook or Twitter, YouTube is the place where the video is hosted. It isn’t costing us anything to do it and the hope is that we either get revenue from a license or the advertising that is associated with it. The reality is low, though occasionally we do see some spikes. Our clip of Kim Kardashian getting flower bombed got over 168,000 views. We did a video on Adam Levine’s star on the Walk of Fame, which got over 30,000 views. We did an event for a pre-Grammy party that got over 20,000 views. I think somebody embeds it in a social media capacity and it gets shared and I think that is how that quantity of views happens.

Jessica Berman-Bogdan (Global ImageWorks): Yes, Global ImageWorks has a dedicated YouTube channel.  We have a representative sampling from across our various collections and have a targeted marketing plan to include YouTube. We have found that over the past few years YouTube has become an effective tool in the arsenal for business-to-business marketing.  It has become a way to connect us with new clients.  Between 20% to 30% of our collection is represented on our company’s YouTube page, organized into thematic demo reels as well as many stand-alone clips based on specific collections or topics such as historic travel, global conflict, 9/11, automotive history, world cultures, or sample reels from our premium collections such as The Dick Cavett Show, Austin City Limits, Harold Lloyd or Omnibus. 

FN: Are you getting calls from people who have found a clip on YouTube and believe it belongs to you? How do you handle these inquiries? Is this a good source of new business?

Ben Jones (Science Photo Library): Not usually from the public finding our site or our clips, although it’s happened on occasion – we’re not an archive of record per se. It’s far more common that people see clips on our contributors’ channels, contact them, and then are passed to us by the contributor. Most vanish with nary a reply when they get an email from an agency that talks of licensing and the like, but a significant minority do turn into sales.

Lorena Booth (Framepool): Yes, we do. Whenever clients come across something which leads them back to Framepool, we either license and deliver the clip right away or act as the facilitator to clear any third party rights or perform additional research to fulfill their needs. [Is it a good source of new business?] Yes and no. It does bring new business from small companies or small clients acting like a B2C. Not a great source of new business because YouTube is a huge content cloud not meant as a footage search engine therefore it becomes somewhat difficult to narrow down the search to a particular subject.

Martin Lisius (StormStock): Funny thing is folks will see footage on the YouTube StormStock channel and then ask us (StormStock) if it’s ours. Naturally, we say yes. Only a tiny percentage of jobs come through YouTube. Footage.net and professional researchers are far more important to us.

Alastair White (British Pathe): Yes, we get enquires everyday from customers who have found one of our films on YouTube and wish to license it.  It is a particularly good source of new customers from overseas who may not be so familiar with the British Pathe archive.

Chris Bridson (Conus): It’s not common, but on occasion, we have received an inquiry regarding a “caught on tape” clip that they have found on other Channels and ask if it’s ours.  Due to the infrequency, this is not a good source of new business.

Jim Erickson (CriticalPast): We get regular inquiries, usually through the contact form on our web page.   It is a good source of new business.  Usually, we just refer the person to the clip in question as hosted directly on our site rather than on the YouTube channel.

Mark Trost (F.I.L.M. Archive): We handle the sale as we do any other. If they email us about the clip, we ask how it will be used and the duration of the license. About half respond and it usually turns into a sale.  Overall, a good percentage of those who come to use from YouTube tend to be independent producers and students with lower budgets.  So, we tend to get somewhat lesser rates, but a sale is a sale. 

Jessica Berman-Bogdan (Global ImageWorks): Yes quite often. In addition to our continuing to upload more footage all the time, several of our footage partners have their own YouTube pages and include links and notes referencing Global ImageWorks for anyone interested in licensing clips. With more researchers using YouTube as a primary source, the goal is to insure all stand-alone clips are watermarked and can be referenced back to us so they can be easily licensed.

Michael Goldberg (Celebrity Footage): It’s hard to say. When we get a referral we try to ask them where they found us and it’s rare that we hear it is from YouTube. I don’t how much it generates in terms of sales or legitimate licenses. It does certainly make people aware of our brand and let’s people know what we do. There are at least 2,700 people who have subscribed and want to know what we are shooting. Obviously we have our website connected to it so there is a way to find us and reach out to us. But I don’t have an answer to that because I don’t have enough customer feedback. There are a handful of times when someone has shared a YouTube link with us and asked if we had anything like it. We find it and send it to them. Usually we’ll have something that is similar or better. It does not happen a lot. I’m sure you see on Footage.net sometimes people will just embed a YouTube link and ask whether anyone can tell me what this is or tell me who this belong to. Or can someone find me something like this? So they use it as an example.

Sami Sarkis (HOsiHO): It happens sometimes and we drive them to our main site.

Sandrine Sacarrere (INA): Ina footage on YouTube has a burnt-it logo so it is quite easy for audiovisual professionals to identify Ina as the rights holder. We only handle the inquiries for which the clips belong to Ina. YouTube could be one of the sources of new business because more and more audiovisual professionals use this platform to find their clips (quicker way to find the footage they are looking for). But, to date, Ina does not use YouTube as a professional platform.

Adam Sargis (MyFootage.com): Yes. I try to determine if the caller has a budget to afford the clips they want. Is it a good source of new business? Yes and No. If the sale is automated, yes. But mostly non-professionals and students respond.  They are usually shocked at the prices, even when discounted, and require some amount of educating about buying footage. Many of the YouTube generated interest are time wasters, however.

Alan Bradshaw (AP Archive): Each video that we publish on YouTube has a direct link back to the same video on aparchive.com. This makes it very easy for anyone interested in licensing our content to do so without fuss. It’s been a great source of new business especially with customers who wouldn’t traditionally buy video.

Scott Dittrich (Action Sports): No.

FN: Overall, has YouTube been a positive factor for your footage business? Why/why not? What are the risks?

Chris Bridson (Conus): YouTube has been a positive factor, but using the site is not a major part of our business model.   We prefer to focus our resources on making it easier to find footage within our own collections of material.  While 90% of our clips have screeners posted to view and download off Footaget.net, we are working hard to close that gap and get as much as possible online for researchers to view.  In addition, we are constantly adding metadata to our scripts, making it easier for both ourselves and our clientele to find that perfect clip.

Ben Jones (Science Photo Library): I’d say it’s been positive. Even without the publicity and sales/marketing aspects, it provides a very easy to use service for the dissemination of content across our social channels – being able to embed videos from YouTube into Facebook, etc. is a great help, saving us making different formats for every platform. It provides decent statistics and analytic tools, too, making it easy to measure the reach and effect of different topics and styles of video. I’ll be uploading a very different-style video after answering these questions, in fact, and I’m intrigued to see the responses. On the response point, it’s a truism of the web, sadly, but really: don’t read the comments! We leave them on for interaction and genuine questions, but on a popular video they can fill up with rubbish fast. We posted an animation comparing the sizes of the planets and stars that quickly turned into a slanging match between religious and anti-religious types, interspersed with people who still get a kick from puns on “Uranus.” We’ve maybe been lucky that we’ve not had anything to date that’s reflected badly on us, and we try to respond to genuine questions and enquiries quickly. Some videos we’ve posted have been picked up by media aggregators and shared on their sites, which has driven interest and interaction, and has been good publicity, leading to big spikes in subscribers, as well as contact with the aggregators themselves. On the downside there’s always a risk that someone will rip a video, block the watermark and try to monetize it themselves. It’s happened a couple of times that we know about. That doesn’t look good for us or the contributors, but they have improved reporting and other tools.

Jessica Berman-Bogdan (Global ImageWorks): My answer today is different from what it might have been a year or two ago.  YouTube has become a primary search engine for experienced researchers but it is only one of the tools of finding footage. Experienced researchers understand that YouTube is not always the most accurate way to source copyright or ownership but it is a great way to find what might be available.  However as more footage companies embrace YouTube, it is a growing way for people to find legitimate licensing channels for footage. The risk is that many inexperienced researchers do not understand that YouTube is not the be all and end all to finding footage and that too often the sourcing and copyright information may be inaccurate.

Michael Goldberg (Celebrity Footage): For our business it is more positive than negative. People do find us on YouTube, so overall it is an asset. I do think it is a much more business to consumer platform. But I do think when people do searches they have found us on YouTube and then come to us to license something. It makes people aware of our brand and what we do. And the subscribers get notified when we post something new.

Alastair White (British Pathe): Overall, it has been a positive factor in our growth; we have seen a doubling of our overseas business.  There are some risks involved such as pirating of footage, but our belief is that most serious producers would not risk ripping off a video to put into their program to then deliver to a channel (and warrant that the program is fully cleared), they would prefer to license it legally through us to ensure they are fully covered.

Martin Lisius (StormStock): I think our YouTube channel has been positive, but it really only generates a very small part of our business.

Jim Erickson (CriticalPast): YouTube has been a positive factor for our business, but we wish that Google would return to showing more video search results that are not from YouTube within the Google search engine. They used to show more video search results outside of YouTube, but have pretty much abandoned that practice. The risk with YouTube is that it is yet another layer that completely controls our Google video search results.

Mark Trost (F.I.L.M. Archive): Yes, very positive. Only downside is you do get a fair number of inquiries from people with no budget at all who want the footage for free.

Sami Sarkis (HOsiHO): I don’t think there’s any risk if the footage is well watermarked. It might be a good source for our business, but not yet! For us it is more another way to advertise our content in general. The limitation is that it needs a lot of time, thus resource and costs if we intend to have a significant portion of the collection up there!

Sandrine Sacarrere (INA): Ina does not use YouTube as a professional website.

Adam Sargis (MyFootage.com): Yes, YouTube is important to us. I think that those in the entertainment business would recognize that we are a footage company. We can post almost everything. We are able to monetize most of our content and get monthly YouTube payments. The burn-in time code we use is abbreviated, without the frenetic frame count, so that the content is more watchable as entertainment. [Risks include] take down notices made by psycho claimants for music and content. Getting copyright strikes. 3 times and you may be out.  People use the clean portions, free, and blur or crop the logos and time code. It is my feeling that those people would not have bought the content in any event.

Scott Dittrich (Action Sports): No.

 Lorena Booth (Framepool): Yes it has. It has allowed for Framepool to use it as an additional platform to highlight its content, services and expertise. The risk is having our footage being used without the proper licensing and authorization by people who may be unaware of the licensing requirements for legal use.

FN: How do you protect your content on YouTube?

Jim Erickson (CriticalPast): We overtly watermark content that is on YouTube.   YouTube consumer feedback (from viewers outside the pro industry) suggests that they absolutely hate the practice, but we know from long experience that this is a necessary protection tool.  We’re continually amazed at how poorly our competitors protect their content.  It does not bother us when consumers cast “Thumbs down” votes on our videos due to our watermarking, because we are not interested in driving up non-pro viewership, and we’re not trying to use YouTube as a major advertising revenue driver. We only want our videos to be found by the “right” viewers:  Legitimate researchers licensing for the professional industry. That kind of customer is not bothered by overt watermarking.

Martin Lisius (StormStock): We watermark our material on YouTube. We did ask YouTube if we could join their copyright protection program, but they said no. We will continue to pursue that. I think it would benefit both parties. It would help to protect our copyrighted footage, and would further illustrate their commitment to protection and the DMCA.

Sandrine Sacarrere (INA): Ina is very careful about the protection of its content on YouTube. It has a dedicated Legal Team whose role is to control any piracy of its content. Ina uses the filtering technology used by YouTube, Content ID, which is free to the rights holders. This technology allows them to identify and manage Ina content uploaded on YouTube. Identification files are created and compared to users' videos.

Alastair White (British Pathe): All our films are branded with the British Pathe logo.

Chris Bridson (Conus): We add either a watermark and/or a BITC window to our clips, which will identify the clip as being ours and discourages any outside, unauthorized production use.  Nothing goes up clean.

Jessica Berman-Bogdan (Global ImageWorks): All footage we have uploaded to YouTube must be watermarked, timecoded and tagged as being from Global ImageWorks. Content ID is a good attempt by YouTube to help with copyright and sourcing but oftentimes it has also created problems when there might be multiple copyrights or conflicting copyright interests – ie.  multiple copyright interestsmight exist when there are both the physical clip rights and separate music rights to a recording that is a second copyright or if a finished program is put through Content ID which includes legitimately licensed clips which also have been registered through Content ID- these conflicting rights situations may cause a clip to beincorrectly flagged for infringement.

Adam Sargis (MyFootage.com): I burn a large logo on the upper left and have a medium time code and user bit burn-in on the lower right or more recently centered a bit more to be in tandem with YouTube ads. So that the pop-up ad appears over the time code/user bit portion, causing the viewer less overly visual interruption.

Mark Trost (F.I.L.M. Archive): We place the same time code and company ID burn in into the footage. So, it would make it difficult for someone to use it in any kind of professional project.

Ben Jones (Science Photo Library): Mainly through watermarking, and top-and-tailing the video with our name and website.

Michael Goldberg (Celebrity Footage): We originally thought theft was an issue, so at the bottom of every video we post it says “License this Clip and More at CelebrityFootage.com” and it has a watermark on it. Because people have no problem taking YouTube footage and doing what they want with it. Which is why the watermark and the line at the bottom is there, because a lot of people fair use that stuff. Or try to. Once they see the watermark, a legitimate outlet, I think, that would scare them away from that. We are obviously happy to negotiate a reasonable license fee for that, but that is what makes us feel okay about it. Because at the beginning we knew people would just steal stuff from it. We supply footage to online platforms and people post that onto YouTube. So we need to do some enforcing on that. We do our own research and try to monitor people using our stuff. People do repost stuff on there all the time. We do a lot of policing daily, obviously separate from YouTube. We watch a whole host of shows and online platforms. Theft is everywhere. Even with the biggest companies. You’d be amazed. The news departments have just hacked their staff so far down that they just have no incentive, they just work off of complaints. If somebody wants to make a claim they just try to make it go away quietly.

Lorena Booth (Framepool): All content is watermarked for additional protection.

Scott Dittrich (Action Sports): I don't’ post it there.

FN: If you have found YouTube to be an asset for your footage business, are there any limitations to its utility?

Lorena Booth (Framepool): As mentioned earlier, it is an asset but the majority of YouTube users are there to watch videos and expose their content just like us rather than to buy footage therefore not much revenue is generated from this particular source.

Ben Jones (Science Photo Library): Its sheer size is something of a barrier to utility, as there’s so much content there that we’re a mere drop in the ocean: we don’t get many views from organic searches, however we keyword our work. As with the rest of the web, it’s not always easy to find rights information or the ultimate owner of the footage, nor contact details. Their algorithms sometimes cover our videos with adverts for services we’d never endorse, although I should say they’ve made it straightforward to remedy these. It also lacks the art and creative slant of services like Vimeo, whose more discerning users tend to offer more than slang and slanging. But I wouldn’t be without it, and we’re looking to engage more with it going forward, rather than pulling back.

Adam Sargis (MyFootage.com): Although users can search only the videos on your channel, you cannot easily search the Playlists that are like the old subject related comp reels we used to dub and send to clients. This was an easy first response to a request, which is followed by a more specific research and audition clip delivery. There is no way to sell or vend clean files via YouTube, at the moment. Vimeo Plus is a good alternative, but my library is too large to have them host all.

Chris Bridson (Conus): YouTube has been an asset.  One drawback is the occasional challenge of copyright claims from other production companies. Ironically, most of these claims come from productions to which we originally licensed the material in question.  I understand these claims are most likely auto-generated and are cleared up after filing a dispute, but it’s just another task to add on to the daily workload.

Jim Erickson (CriticalPast): For us, the primary limitation of YouTube is the sheer size of the service, which causes it to be administered mostly by bots rather than humans.  That means that we constantly have to respond to problems flagged by algorithms, which usually result in paperwork (online form responses) that may or may not be adjudicated by a human.  The biggest problem we have with YouTube is the constant daily attention it requires of us, coupled with the sense that someday HAL will randomly refuse to open the pod bay doors.

Mark Trost (F.I.L.M. Archive): The major downside is that you are throwing the stuff out there to the world and much of the world doesn't realize they have to pay for use (especially if they want clean material). Some are surprised, others just go away and we suspect they take it down and use it as is. But since they can do the same thing from our website, there really isn't much of a downside. Overall, a highly useful tool for us and the client.

Martin Lisius (StormStock): The upside to YouTube is it allows for some free exposure. But, it is limited as a source for business because it’s not the ideal audience. Stock footage is very niche. There are only a tiny percentage of people that need it. YouTube is an on-line general audience video network for people that want to see music videos, how-to videos, entertainment, celebrities, and videos of dogs running around in circles chasing their tails.

Sandrine Sacarrere (INA):  Ina does not consider YouTube as an asset for its footage business. Ina has its own professional website, www.inamediapro.com, allowing clients to carry out research in the whole of its audiovisual database, view the footage online, create clips, download low res footage etc.

Michael Goldberg (Celebrity Footage): Because it is so big, if you search Matt Damon, I don’t know if we would come up. You’d have to search something more specific, like what event he was at or something connected to it. We’d obviously appear if you were to type “Ben Affleck Footage” or a term that was more in our world, CelebrityFootage is in our domain so that helps us get to the top a lot of time on searches.

Jessica Berman-Bogdan (Global ImageWorks): It is impossible to monitor all the illegal clips that are up on YouTube. No sooner do you locate one and have it taken down, then it is either back up or someone else has put up another of your clips.  So to a certain degree we in the footage licensing business have become somewhat resigned to the fact that some of our content will end up on YouTube without permission. 

Alastair White (British Pathe): Our preference is still to drive customers to our own website, as they then have a range of enhanced privileges such as low resolution downloads, etc., but once we have made contact with the new customers we can explain this to them.  That said when we analyze our visibility each month we take into account all our digital platforms including our own website, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and all the other social media platforms.

Pioneering Producer-Director Serge Viallet to Receive FOCAL International Lifetime Achievement Award

Pioneering producer-director, Serge Viallet, is to receive the FOCAL International Award for Lifetime Achievement, at the fourteenth annual FOCAL International Awards, to be presented on May 25th, 2017. This Award is a gift of the FOCAL International Executive, as a mark of gratitude for Serge’s dedicated and exhaustive support of the footage archive world through his prodigious body of work.

In a celebrated and innovative career, Serge Viallet has been creating documentary films specializing in the use of archive footage for almost 30 years. He has worked with multiple archives across the world and has been lecturing on archive documentation, research and use in film at Sorbonne University since 2012. He has won several awards for his meticulously crafted productions, including FOCAL International awards in 2008 and 2009 for The Rape of Nanking and Mysteries in the Archives, and was nominated for an Emmy for Kwai, his landmark and revealing film on the true story behind the building of the bridge over the river Kwai.

Upon receiving news of his win, Viallet said: “I am so proud and moved to have been honored with this award. I am so thankful to all my mentors around the world who have supported me throughout my career. I am also grateful to all the wonderful archivists and archive lovers whose work has been so valuable in helping me produce my films. Thank you FOCAL!”

Historian and archive expert, Jerry Kuehl, comments: “Serge Viallet makes programs that are scrupulous in their commitment to archival integrity - and eminently watchable.  In this era of 'post-truth' and 'alternative facts' he stands for the finest in our documentary tradition. He richly deserves this recognition.”

Not only has Serge been a great friend and champion of archives from behind the camera, and on the industry’s frontline, he has also played an important role in facilitating the preservation of over 30 years of Medecins Sans Frontiere footage, shot for and by the famed humanitarian organization, and this collection is now safely established at INA, France’s national audiovisual archive.   

Hardeep Singh-Cohli will host the gala FOCAL International Awards Ceremony on May 25th at the Lancaster London Hotel. Apart from the Lifetime Achievement Award, fourteen further awards will be presented on May 25th to celebrate the achievement of producers and directors in the creative use of footage in all variety of genres, across all media platforms, plus the contribution made to the global production industry by archivists, film libraries, researchers and technicians, as well as the work done to restore and preserve these irreplaceable assets.

Jurors from across the world are shortlisting the FOCAL International Awards 2017; these fascinating and diverse submissions are joined together by their creative and integral use of archive footage. The FOCAL awards have become a vital way of celebrating the best and most effective use of archive footage in storytelling on screen, and this year is no different. And while they celebrate productions, the awards also celebrate the people that make everything possible, with exceptionally strong competition for the categories of best archive researcher, library and footage employee of the year.

The final shortlist of all categories will be announced on March 17th and all details on the productions will be listed on FOCAL's website.

Tickets for the Gala Awards Ceremony are on sale now, so you'll need to hurry if you want to book a table http://www.focalint.org/focal-international-awards.

 

Insights from Framepool on Shooting Drone Footage

Our friends at Framepool continue to receive numerous inquiries about drone footage featuring breathtaking maneuver such as circling just above the heads of people at public events, shooting through the air between skyscrapers, interfering with flowing traffic on a busy freeway or chasing after extreme sports athletes from just a couple of inches. Cool shots, but often impossible to get, as production procedures tend to be illegal in many cases. Here's what they have to say about it.

There are plenty of reasons why shooting such close contact drone footage is limited by law. For example when the alpine skier Marcel Hirscher was almost hit by a camera drone during the Alpine Skiing World Cup in Italy  in 2015. It was a close call when the camera drone crashed just centimeters behind him. As a consequence, the International Ski Federation (FSI) banned camera drones from its World Cup races.   

At the moment, the rules for operating UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) vary not only from country to country, but can also differ regionally. Filming drone operators will need more than talent and technical know-how: a valid pilot license, as well as shooting permits and an extensive liability insurance. 

These days, the legal requirements change daily, so filmmakers need to be up-to-date on the rules before conducting a shoot with a camera-carrying drone. Framepool offers clients pre-produced, stress-free drone aerials that can tell your story without any risk and offers you fascinating drone footage from all over the world.

Galapagos III, an Environmental Documentary Classic, to Screen at DC Environmental Film Festival

The French Embassy will present a screening of the 1972 film ‘Galapagos III’ by Christian Zuber as part of the 2017 DC Environmental Film Festival. Kino Productions, the rights holder of the Christian Zuber collection, and INA, its exclusive distributor, will be present at the screening. This year marks the 25th anniversary of DC Environmental Films Festival, the largest and longest-running festival of its kind in the United States.

Christian Zuber was one of the first environmental advocacy filmmaker who devoted his life to showing how nature and less-developed cultures were being destroyed by the onslaught of modern civilization. Zuber pioneered on land what Commander Jacques-Yves Cousteau later did with the oceans.

Galapagos III by Christian Zuber will be shown on Friday, March 17, 2017  at La Maison Française – Embassy of France, 4101 Reservoir Road, NW - Washington DC from 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM EDT. Admission is free. An online registration is required for this screening.

Click here to see Ina's collection of Christian Zuber footage.

For more information about this topic at Ina please email at internationalsales@ina.fr.

A View from the Archival Trenches

Following up on our interview with Jim Pickerell last month, we checked in with some veteran archival researchers to find out how all the changes in the footage industry have affected their work. Our conversation with Jodi Tripi, Lewanne Jones and Barbara Gregson finds them busier than ever and rising to the challenges, opportunities and frantic pace of their increasingly digital workflow. 

Footage.net: What big changes have you noticed in the footage business and how have they affected your work? 

Jodi Tripi, Archival Researcher

Jodi Tripi, Archival Researcher

Jodi Tripi: The changes are two fold: what is being asked for and what is available. In terms of what is being asked for, everybody on the planet thinks that YouTube is a search engine and that they are a footage researcher. So battling the misunderstanding of copyright, likeness, trademarks, is a prevailing aspect of footage research. Less and less we’re being asked for shots by description and criteria - “Hey, we’re looking for shots of x y z” - but more and more often is, “We got this on the internet and this what we are want to use.” 

Lewanne Jones, Archival Researcher

Lewanne Jones, Archival Researcher

Lewanne Jones: The main change is the increasingly electronic accessibility of imagery, which has been beneficial. Electronic communication has sped everything up. So we now have faster communication with reps at different companies. It also means there is an expectation of instantaneous compliance with requests on the part of our clients. Formerly we would have a longer cycle, now there is this pace. Like every aspect of life.

Barbara Gregson, Archival Researcher

Barbara Gregson, Archival Researcher

Barbara Gregson: The footage industry seems to be booming; new stock footage libraries and consolidation of others, which I don’t think would happen if there wasn’t some profits.  Since the recession more researchers and clearance people are back at work and many have jobs in sectors that were not as prevalent before.  Reality shows, games, Art departments, Internet shows all hire researchers.  It seems like I’ve also noticed an upturn in the number of archival documentaries and series being produced. The benefit is more productions mean more work for research and clearance people and in turn more sales for the libraries.  The biggest changes would be the move toward digital research and licensing which helps streamline the process.  Producers/directors want material now and the ability to research and purchase on-line helps with those immediate needs. In addition, Footage companies are more aware of the special needs and requirements of licensing agreements for studios, networks and major production companies so they work with us pretty well to accommodate those needs. 

Jodi Tripi: I work on feature films and opening titles sequences often with over 100 shots, pulled from YouTube, or the internet, which are then handed to me to “make this happen”. A portion of my job now is to explain the layers of aspects that need to be weighed when using footage. For example you can’t take a shot of a real tragedy like a close up of some mothers face in anguish because her child has died and then use it because it conveys are great emotion creatively for the project. Her permission is legally needed for a non-documentary commercial feature film I often need to replace at least 50% of the shots, sometimes 100%. The changes are that it’s often it’s a backwards research process now. The director has fallen in love with a shot from the internet, and there could be a myriad of reasons why it has to be replaced and we all hear over and over “but the director wants it!” 

The timelines we work under have changed as well. There is a sense of instantaneousness to YouTube, and smartphone society and their expectation is that all the clearance work will happen faster than is possible or realistic. Of course if it’s straight ahead stock footage from an online library the process is fast and efficient. 

In terms of what is available, the footage industry has grown but has consolidated a lot as well, which sometimes results in loss of some of the materials and lack of diversity. I feel like if you’re going to do news, do news. Some of the agencies are getting so vast and the one-stop-shopping is not always a big advantage for my niche of work.  I would rather just dig in at several smaller collections. It is probably very good for ad agencies, but for an archival and footage researcher working on feature films, it’s not quite as advantageous.

I want the most amount of footage available and my skills are to know where to research, locate and provide as many great options as possible. Lastly, the new technologies have also brought a lot of diversity of material, like access to libraries from other countries and small filmmakers around the world.  

FN: Generally speaking, have footage companies gotten better at supplying footage? Are they more user-friendly?

Barbara Gregson: Ease of research is key.  When we are looking for material, which can vary from a stock shot of a location to a very specific historical event, you hope that the key words that you use are in the description so that the items get pulled up.  The sites that let you put in a variety of key words to do “exact” searches, “any word” searches and combinations thereof are a very important tool.  Sub-categories to refine searches are an added boon.  

Jodi Tripi: I work with all of them, and try to always be very fair to the vendors. I’m aware it’s a business on both ends. Not just the studios but also for the vendors and I’m aware of the cost benefit of stock vs. shooting their own material. The search engines have definitely improved. I find some gaps with each of them, but overall they have gotten pretty good. Footage companies have done a good job of getting their collections up online.  Also important is the quality of the comps and screeners. Take ITN for example. Their thumbnails and comps were comparatively very small and low res. When I gather and present comps batches for productions to review & select, the lower quality comps often do not get selected even though the content and master quality is excellent. I believe Getty will load them up at higher res. Generally speaking, some RF places have a lot of the same footage, though Shutterstock really stands out in the RF arena.

Lewanne Jones: There is a tremendous amount more accessible, so my initial response is yes. The footage companies have seen the writing on the wall and made things available for viewing online, which is good. Some places not so much. There some retrogressive situations out there, but overall there has been more footage acquired, databased and made accessible, either on YouTube channels or internet sites.

Jodi Tripi: In terms of archival and news archives, there is room for improvement. They are not on par with the larger commercial stock footage libraries in terms of digitization and online tools. There are still lots of text records to sift through and shots that are not yet digitized. This can be especially challenging in the context of the YouTube mentality, where productions think everything is on line and the meta-data is readily available, but it really isn't.

Overall, the tech advances have been a huge benefit in being able to have access to material to review and license quickly. The footage companies have done a remarkably good job. And I hope their operations will grow as the needs for footage increase. An example is the advent of the viral video companies. I think it’s a brilliant business model. Now instead of sifting through thousands of viral cat videos on line trying to track down whomever from wherever,  
I can contact one of the companies to find something.  

FN: Generally speaking, is this a good time for archival researchers and other footage users? Why? Why not?

Lewanne Jones: Yes. I think there are a lot of interesting productions. Over the past twenty years the whole value of archives has increased tremendously. Everywhere you go there are people talking about archives, giving special recognition to the value of archives and the efforts people make to use the archives. So there is a greater sense of value. And there seems to be more material opening up, people giving access to things that were not accessible, and the internet has been an amazing tool for this. The tools were so much more limiting before. On the other hand, while there is a lot of production out there is not a lot of money. I was just contacted for a job that was perfect for my background, but I was considered over-qualified, or over-expensive. Often the producers are looking for someone who can learn on the job.

Barbara Gregson: It’s a good time for researchers because of online access to many sources around the world to find material.  The caveat is to always know what the source is and do you trust the source. Many non-pros have the mistaken belief that everything on the internet is Public Domain.  One of our new jobs is to educate producers and companies that this isn’t necessarily so. Just because someone posts a video online, they don’t necessarily own it. Going to trusted sources is beneficial because you’re not wasting your time pulling something from an unidentified source or owner. That doesn’t mean to say it doesn’t happen. We then have to spend additional time to source and track down the proper owner. 

Jodi Tripi: Yes and no. On one hand, there’s generally more demand for footage as the average viewer or consumer is now accustomed to “consuming” a lot of imagery throughout their day so projects are imagery rich. Then, the more productions and editors try to find footage themselves, the more they realize it is not straightforward and they need help from professional researchers. Just because you have Quickbooks does not mean you don't need an accountant. And they are using so much footage now to lend credibility, and a sense of realness so the current style of filmmaking incorporates a lot of real footage. On the other hand, when you are working with people who don’t understand the process, sometimes it is difficult because you just can’t get the clip they expect within the time or money allotted.  So In terms of access and creativity it is better. In terms of the “Selfie-Stick” society, I-Found-It-I-Want-It style of research, it is more complicated. Everyone in the business is complaining about that.

FN: I spoke with a group of independent archives back in November, and most seemed to think the demand for their footage was pretty strong, driven in large part by documentary filmmakers. Have you found that to be the case as well?

Jodi Tripi: It’s not just documentaries. The demand is very big in features, commercials and titles sequences. It’s just a very, very big time for footage. I work on many feature films that need footage of real events - The Big Short, Patriots Day, Deep Water Horizon, 13 Hours Benghazi, Money Monster. I worked on the Academy award nominated documentary  “The 13th”, and a huge percentage of the archival shots were cut from YouTube and other third party sources. There were something like 1200 shots and it took three professional researchers including myself to organize, find, clear or replace everything in a dizzyingly short period of time. 

Lewanne Jones: I would necessarily agree because that is the part of the world I see. I focus on docs and I rarely work on anything else. Maybe museum exhibits. Rarely on features, or advertising. It seems like everybody is using footage now. You go to these events, like ACSIL, and it seems like everyone is looking to put moving image material on their sites. There is a lot of production at the moment.

Barbara Gregson: There are many creative filmmakers who are always coming up with great ideas and topics to explore. Archival documentaries are very popular as well as documentaries about current events, but they can’t always shoot everything they need. That’s why we love stock footage libraries. It certainly keeps me busy.

FN: What are some of the major differences in how you do your work now as opposed to, say, five or ten years ago? What has improved for you? What has gotten worse? Generally speaking, has it become easier to find footage?

Lewanne Jones: The biggest difference is the amount of material online. I don't ever have to get out of my chair! So I miss going to the archives, like ABC, NBC. I can’t even think of the last time I did that. I kind of miss that. I like going places and handling the media. I do recognize that there is a certain efficiency in not having to go to a specific place. But you often got a lot of benefit from the people at the archives who were helping you, just by chatting, you got more immediate guidance.

Jodi Tripi: I think it is a societal difference. Maybe a neurological difference. Digital immediacy has taken things to a pace that is nearly maddening, and I hear this from a lot of people in this business. So managing expectations, educating about parameters and pitfalls of copyright & permissions are now a big part of the job. It might be easy to find footage, but the clearance level it is often more difficult. I miss anyone having the headspace for waiting, simple patience. I need to remind my clients that we are not the only clients requesting approvals or materials at any given vendor. As professionals we usually get our questions answered sooner than someone they’ve never dealt with, but it can’t always happen in five minutes. The pace is faster and faster in the smartphone  “face-tweet-chat” society where everything is instant. It can be almost undoable. Some productions are reasonable and wide open to options and replacements and others not as much. Clients inevitably wind up having to deal with the realities of the process. Nobody is going to release a feature film with uncleared footage. So at the end of the day it has to be legally signed and sealed, or it gets cut and everyone wants to avoid that. And with all the mega libraries, the editors sometimes just pull what they want, then call the footage researchers for the really hard to find stuff. So we have lost work on a lot of fluffy easy requests like time-lapse clouds. Oh, how I long to spend a day pulling clips of clouds and laughing babies! 

Barbara Gregson: I definitely now spend more time on the internet researching as opposed to being on the telephone or in the past actually going to an archive, pulling cards or files and then ordering up the film to screen. In some ways I miss the personal contact.  I still always talk to my reps at the various libraries or meet with them if possible. The ability to do online searches helps streamline the search process. Zap requests are great because you can reach out to multiple libraries at the same time. This has certainly made searching easier.

FN: A lot of footage companies are making their collections available online. I’m assuming this has benefited you. Are there downsides? Anything you really miss about the old, pre-internet days?

Jodi Tripi: I love being able to do my own research online and work on my own schedule.  But I miss the old workflow where as a researcher you presented what you found based on your clients needs and they could say yes or no or give new notes and directions. Technology has changed the process. When editors or clients provide their internet pulls it sometimes results in double the work load. I have to track down their shot and simultaneously try to find a replacement since there could be all kinds of restrictions or problems with the requested shot and deadlines. Technology has brought us interesting access to footage from around the world and history but we can’t always get the proper permissions in time or at all. 

Barbara Gregson: Again, having the collections online and being able to do the research is great. But it is always important to speak with the librarians because they know their collections really well. You must remember to utilize the personnel at the libraries because they want to help you find the best footage for your project. They are truly an asset.  

Lewanne Jones: It’s important to remember that film and video are time-based media and it takes time to look at it, incorporate it, etc. This is not a result of anything in the way footage companies are operating, but more about the way the speed of digital technology has affected production. It’s so easy to get stuff without figuring out what you’ve gotten, so it takes time to organize, catalog. At some point somebody has to do that work and figure out what is where. It is so easy to drag and drop and WeTransfer and you end up with these huge production libraries. We used to be the eyes of the project and we would only bring the best stuff into the project. The cost of transferring the stuff was so high, so there would be a smaller production library. I was just working on a big project and there was a database of 2,000 items in the project library! Anything from a 30-second Getty clip to a one-hour doc from NBC, and rather than a description, an entry would be an evaluation of the footage, like “great narration,” but nothing like a shot list which would be searchable for finding relevant visuals. So trying to find replacement footage, I didn’t have a way of knowing whether it was there or not. It goes back to where time and energy and money are spent for the purpose of utilizing archives. Not something the footage industry could do anything about, except more work on the databases.

FN: There are still many footage suppliers that have not made their clips available for search online. How does that affect your work? Does that make it more difficult or less appealing to work with these companies?

Lewanne Jones: It does make it inefficient and hard to compete with the places that do have their stuff online. It could mean that it will cost something to get a screener. It used to be standard to have a budget for screeners. Which was fair as making the screeners took work. If things are digitized it is so much faster and easier. One of the bigger changes is that even places that don't have stuff online do offer low-cost or no-cost screeners. There are still places that do charge and there is a waiting time for screeners. That is very off putting. If you are doing a big survey of sources and you want to bring in stuff very quickly, if a place does not have an online presence, it is going to go on the back burner, the end of the list.

Barbara Gregson: Libraries that don’t have their collections online can be at a disadvantage to those who have online collections. Researchers want immediate gratification to satisfy the needs of their producers. Waiting for someone else to do the research and then send you a list and then order takes a certain amount of time. That’s not to say there are some libraries that are very efficient and can provide material pretty quickly. There is a tradeoff, a connection with the library that provides this personal service where they will pull the footage for you and can come up with some interesting material that you might not have thought of to ask. That personal connection is very important. 

In my interview last month with Jim Pickerell, he said “[image] oversupply creates too much choice and makes it harder for customers to find the right image for their project. Many customers are spending hours on research and they’re getting frustrated.” He was referring specifically to the stock photo industry. Do you find footage oversupply to be an issue?

Jodi Tripi: There can never be too much footage for me. I am always happy to find new vendor or source of footage.

Lewanne Jones: I guess what I would say that might be true in terms of stock clips, which is not an area that I explore very often. With historical material there is what there is and if you go back in time there is diminishing amounts. I do get a little overwhelmed on contemporary news -- there is so much, even personal collections and cell phone video. There is sort of an overwhelming amount of material at a certain point in history. And the idea that it is possible to bring in so much stuff and not know what you have. It’s a challenge. There is only so much stuff you can keep in your mind, and the editors, who rely on assistants, can forget what you have in the production library. 

Barbara Gregson: I think you have to have a clear idea of what you want, if you’re not sure and are looking at hundreds of images to be inspired, then yes that might be overwhelming. Sometimes there can be a lot of choices to wade through, but I’ve worked on projects where the Producer/Director wants lots of choices. Granted I do the first pass sending what I think they want based on our discussions.  I think I have a pretty good track record of finding what my Producers and Directors need and I’m happy to have many choices.

FN: Jim also said “lower prices make it difficult to offer customers research support, so the leading agencies don’t really offer much in the way of picture research services.” Is this true in your experience? How important these days is access to knowledgeable staff members? By which I mean people at the agencies and footage houses that really know their collections.

Barbara Gregson: Lower prices can be great and on many productions, the budgets for footage and stills are very tight. So lower priced libraries to fill a need. I usually do find someone that can help at the libraries that I work with.  That’s why I said earlier that it’s important to call the libraries, get a rep, make a connection. This is invaluable to what we do. It’s important to work with the reps and from my experience they want to help you find the perfect shot or locate that important historical picture or footage. I work with many of the large agencies and have found them to be very helpful. It’s important for the libraries and agencies to have experienced researchers and reps because they know their collections. That knowledge is priceless and is a very important asset to the libraries.  I’ve seen many layoffs over the years at some agencies and they’ve lost that knowledge which is a shame.

Jodi Tripi: In my niche I am rarely looking for something standard stock-ish, except maybe for a fake commercial within a film, so I am not concerned in features with the lowest cost, per se, I care mostly about content. I definitely don’t want to see low prices drag the business down - most especially not the smaller boutique libraries with small, dedicated staff. We need all the libraries to stay in business and keep as much material available as possible.

Lewanne Jones: Doing research online and having access to the material without talking to someone is both an advantage and disadvantage. It goes back to the discussion we were having about proximity. I don’t get much support from people at the archives, but maybe that is because I don’t ask for it. I do call some of my longstanding contacts at some of the networks – it feels like my personal privilege! It is really important, but at some of the bigger places the person who helps you is a sales rep, not a knowledgeable researcher. I am dealing with a place now that let their research staff go, and so I am not sure if there will be access to someone who really knows the collection. So it does feel like something has been lost. 

FN: Jim noted that “the [licensing] industry has already consolidated to the point where there are really only a few platforms for professional producers to consider. A number of mom and pop platforms that have access to specialist material may survive.” Have you found that there are fewer footage companies these days? How has consolidation affected your work?

Jodi Tripi: There are advantages for people on the editorial staff that can grab their own shots. If you’re a professional footage researcher, it is not always an advantage. Am I happy that all the news is going to stock libraries? A little. But mostly I’m bummed because I’ve seen what happens when they do. I’m still recovering from the loss of the BBC library after shutting down it’s own site  and getting shuffled around. It got ruined. I don’t think a news archive belongs in the same place as Royalty Free time-lapse shot of clouds. Not all content is a commercially developed or devised. Some material needs a different type of care-taking and overseeing than a commercial stock house. 

Barbara Gregson: There are so many libraries and companies. It always depends on what you’re looking for.  You can’t limit yourself to just the few large platforms. The world is my resource and I’ve found and licensed material all around the globe. Small boutique archives, regional libraries and historical societies, foreign networks, filmmakers, scientists, museums. The list is exhausting.  And people are very helpful.  I think the internet has actually made many more libraries and resources accessible. 

Lewanne Jones: Yes it has. I find that a lot of places that I used to deal with more or less directly are being swallowed up and becoming a system within a system at a larger company. There is a difference when the collections are repped and not fully absorbed. It adds layers. If they’ve bought it and own the rights as opposed to being the agent for it, it’s a whole different ballgame. I do enjoy dealing with places that sell their own stuff. It feels like a primary source, more authentic. Every time I hear a big company is buying something, my heart sinks.

FN: What changes/improvements would you like to see as the industry evolves? How could footage suppliers make things better for you as an archival researcher?

Jodi Tripi: Digitize as much footage as possible. I know they can’t do it all, but the more the better. And better and better metadata. The rest is up to me and my colleagues about educating the clients about the speed, process and legalities. I am a bit of philanthropist at heart. If I could save every piece of nitrate I would. I’d love to work full time on film preservation. I have a reverence for the materials, for the art form. I studied Art History in Italy, I’ve seen the attention to detail in their art restoration. Film is our American historical art. But what we do here is toss what does not make money. The 80s and 90s tend to be more sparse and difficult footage to find, I think mainly because the quick changes in  recording technology of the time, and  the changes from Beta to VHS to Digital, wound up not being treated like historical preservation materials. 

Lewanne Jones: The single most important thing would be better metadata, better text descriptions on records. Up till now you can only search dates and that sort of thing. The old CBS cards were so specific. You knew what you were going to see. There is really no way to search on images. You have to screen it. So more metadata. It would be nice to be able to export the data into a spreadsheet, as well. Maybe more standardization in the licensing terms and practices, how markets and terms are defined. I know that the industry knows this, and there were some efforts, but there were a lot divergent views. 

Barbara Gregson: I’d like to see more of the older footage digitized a made accessible online. I’d tell the libraries, don’t negate some of the collections that have been purchased or may be considered “too old” or make collections inaccessible or costly to access.  There is a wealth of material out there but if it’s shuttered away, no one will see it and it might be very useful to many filmmakers. I’ve seen this happen and it’s a shame because all of this material is our history.  Not just the news and sports footage but all of the nature shots, and location shots and creative footage. They all tell a story. They are just waiting for a filmmaker to access it. 

Any final thoughts?

Jodi Tripi: I want to give a shout out to my colleagues and vendors, who diligently keep up with often hilariously absurd requests, crazed deadlines and fast changing media landscape. Somehow we keep pulling it out of the hat like magicians.  

Barbara Gregson: Researchers and Libraries have a similar goal. We want to find that perfect shot or news footage or photo to help tell a story.  Libraries want to sell you their material and want to help you find what you’re looking for.  All of this is done to satisfy the needs of our Producers/Directors. I think it’s important that footage suppliers keep that door open and be accessible to their clients and help them when they can. It not only builds good will, it will build loyalty.  When we can depend on libraries to help us with our needs, everyone wins.

Lewanne Jones: More money for productions!

NatureFootage Now Representing Alucia Productions

NatureFootage now exclusively represents the stock footage collection of Alucia Productions. As part of the Dalio Ocean Initiative, the mission of Alucia Productions is to create world-class media that educates and inspires people to connect to the ocean.

The Alucia is a 56 meter research and exploration vessel built to broaden scientific understanding of the ocean and illuminate its myriad of natural wonders. She boasts the latest in technical diving, filming and research equipment.

From the exploration of deep sea hydrothermal vents to 4K aerial cinematography, Alucia Productions offers a vast collection of premium cinematography from across the globe. This exclusive collection has never been made available online until now, and will expand rapidly with new submissions from ongoing expeditions.