Stock Footage

Greg Drotzur · December 8, 2008

Hey all,

I've been editing for a short while now (Avid MC, After FX etc) and have a stock footage question.

I've searched all over the net but cannot find how or where to get stock or b-roll footage from car manufacturers. I have some potential clients lined up but I want to get the beauty shots that you see in all their ads. How or where can I find this stuff?? Any help would be appreciated!!

Ira Ratner · December 9, 2008

Greg, anything done as ad work by a particular ad agency, for a particular client, isn't going to be available as stock footage for sale. That's proprietary work that's never put up for sale.

However, some of the still stock photo houses also sell video/film clips, and maybe THEY have the kind of thing you're looking for.

Online, check Comstock, Photodisc, and others--and I wish I could help you more but it's been years since I bought stock stills online. So there are probably a ton of other names I'm unaware of now.

The thing is, the whole market for this has changed over the last 10 years, the MAIN change being that the still houses now also sell more video, due to a lot of mergers and consolidation in the industry, and due to the fact that it's now so easy to show the clips for sale on web sites.

But if, for example, you have to have a 2008 Expedition riding up the Pacific Coast Highway, meaning a clip of a specific model, that's a really impossible nut to crack.

Ford, or Mercedes, or any of them just don't put this kind of footage up for sale. They spend many thousands upon thousands for these shoots (think helicopters!), but they don't do it to resell the footage.

Of course, the way this economy is going and the auto bailout, this can all change by Thursday--and you may be able to get exactly what you want for a buck and a half!

Edited December 9, 2008 by Ira Ratner

Greg Drotzur · December 9, 2008

Thanks Ira,

I was afraid this was the case. I didn't really expect to find it on a stock site but I guess I was holding on to a glimmer of hope.

I did talk to someone else who had done several car shoots and said that basically an ad agency or a dealer has to get the beauty shots from the manufacturer. The reels cost about 12K a year and that's how you see the same footage on every car dealer in town.

I guess since I'm a broke newb, I will just have to be creative and make my own beauty shots. :D

David Desio · December 9, 2008

to add to what Ira said,

That footage you see is called "Running footage". I use to edit local car dealer commercials and we used it all the time, but I think that was only because we were selling the cars for the dealership. I don't know that a private user can gain access to the footage.

Greg Drotzur · December 9, 2008

to add to what Ira said,
That footage you see is called "Running footage". I use to edit local car dealer commercials and we used it all the time, but I think that was only because we were selling the cars for the dealership. I don't know that a private user can gain access to the footage.

thanks! at least I know the right terminology for it :)

So basically, I have to get the dealer to purchase it in order for me to use it... or work at a production house that already carries it.

I think for now I'll stick to being creative