Stock footage

Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock footage is called a "stock shot" or a "library shot".[1] Stock footage may have appeared in previous productions but may also be outtakes or footage shot for previous productions and not used. Examples of stock footage which might be utilized are moving images of cities and landmarks, wildlife in their natural environments, and historical footage. Suppliers of stock footage may be either Rights Managed or royalty-free. Many websites offer direct downloads of clips in various formats.



Movies and television


Videographer captures stock footage of a passing train outside Las Vegas: photograph by Patty Mooney.


Television and movies series also often recycle footage taken from previous installments. For instance, the Star Trek franchise kept a large collection of starships, planets, backgrounds, and explosions which would appear on a regular basis throughout Star Trek's five series and ten films, being used with minimal alteration. That kept production costs down as models, mattes, and explosions were expensive to create. The advances in computer graphics in the late 1990s and early 2000s helped to significantly reduce the cost of Star Trek's production, and allowed for a much wider variety of shots than previous model and painting based visuals. Other films that re-used film footage from previous productions include; Transformers: Dark of The Moon, Blade Runner, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of The Clones, Hitman, Jaws: The Revenge, Halloween II, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.[2]



Stock footage is often used in commercials when there is not enough money or time for production. More often than not these commercials are political or issue-oriented in nature.[4] Sometimes it can be used to composite moving images which create the illusion of having on-camera performers appear to be on location. B-roll is also another common term for stock footage and is used in reference to film making.[5]




Stock Footage are also used in live reality TV Shows such as I'm a Celebrity. Most of the stock footage used in that show is footage that is related to jungle creatures and insects. There is one stock video in particular which lasts for four seconds. It also excites people. The video in particular is a short video of a spider catching a fly and spinning it in a web. The makers of the stock footage added some cartoon sounds to the video to entertain people.

Corporate usage

The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing Band, USMC, performs in San Diego, 2011: still shot from stock footage clip.


Public domain



HD versus SD

Betacam SP, VHS, and early digital footage was shot in Standard Definition, in 4:3 aspect ratio, whereas the more contemporary format, HD, has a 16:9 aspect ratio, which is more like film. HD has dwarfed and may eventually completely snuff out SD footage. Many stock-footage companies and producers were concerned that their libraries would become irrelevant.[9] Most stock footage companies & distributors now require HD 1080p footage at a minimum with many requesting 2K and 4K raw footage.[10]


Popular digital container formats include MOV (QuickTime File Format) AVI, FLV, MP4, and MXF which are commonly used in non-linear editing system applications such as Avid, Final Cut Pro, and Adobe Premiere Pro.[11]


Notable stock footage libraries and archives include:

See also


  2. Dyce, Andrew. "Movies That Stole Footage From Other Films". Screen Rant. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  3. "6 Reasons You Might Want to Start Using Stock Footage in Your Films". No Film School. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  4. Eliza Collins, Daniel Strauss. "Jeb Bush super PAC video about America uses stock footage from overseas". Politico. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  7. "6 Essential Tips for Using Archival Footage". International Documentary Association.
  8. Obius, Rudie. "10 Movies That Recycled Footage From Other Movies". Mental Floss. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  10. "4K Stock Footage: When 1080p Just Doesn't Cut It". External link in |website= (help);

Further reading
