Stock Footage Trading?

[Jay Gladwell]

Keith, that 4-Gigs will limit how large the clip can be... what, about 15 minutes?

Jay

[Cleveland Brown]

Originally Posted by Keith Forman

Ask Chris Hurd if he would host a new forum, "Stock Footage". In it, you would have two threads, Footage Wanted and Footage For Use.

That is exactly what I was thinking would be the first step.
While your at it, do you think we could ask him to do something about this new color scheme. Tan on tan makes it a little less frindly on the eyes when looking for the next post. The old one was nice and didn't seem to need fixing. One thing is for sure however, I have had no more problems with having to sign on again every 15 minutes.


Back on subject, we have to be careful not to expect people to give up too much time over this. One thing that we would want to do as a sharing group, is to start getting a few minutes of B-roll at whichever new location we shoot at. Stuff with no actors and as few people as possible zero being optimal. Unless its a downtown street of course. If anyone needs any footage of St. Louis I'll see what I can do. While its good to do this for the no compensation, I wouldn't get footage that would take a whole day to get, for free. If I already have it, I'd be more than happy to share it.

[Yi Fong Yu]

i think you can comp in those animals ;) especially with some CG skillz.

anyway, who has a project RIGHT NOW and they need 2nd Unit footage?

[Jeremy Peterson]

I’m a little surprised that more people aren’t interested in trading on a website. If I were trading footage, I would much rather hit a couple of buttons, then burn a DVD package and send it.

Just to clarify, the website I am working on is just a glorified way to send file between people, though if a bunch of people also want the file, it actually works better, because it creates a “web” between the people download, and they all attempt to share with one another.

Although sending physical media also has it’s merits, if your on a slow connection, downloading gigs of footage may not sound like much fun.

I just don’t want you all to dismiss something that’s easy and free to use.

[Cleveland Brown]

How about this? In order to keep servers from getting too full. There could be a daily or weekly deletion of all files that have been shared. That way, if there is something more than one person can use, they can all get it while it's up. I still think it should be moderated through a forum on this message board. That way we, the DVinfo.net community, can all take advantage of it.

So you request footage on DVinfo.net and people who have it, post it on a web server for others to download.

[K. Forman]

Capture source footage from miniDV, export avi file, open Nero (or DVD software of choice), burn to DVD. Or... For those Mac users- export to mov file, burn.

[K. Forman]

"Keith, that 4-Gigs will limit how large the clip can be... what, about 15 minutes?"

Jay- order volume 2 ;)

[Jeremy Peterson]

Originally Posted by Cleveland Brown

How about this? In order to keep servers from getting too full. There could be a daily or weekly deletion of all files that have been shared. That way, if there is something more than one person can use, they can all get it while it's up. I still think it should be moderated through a forum on this message board. That way we, the DVinfo.net community, can all take advantage of it.

So you request footage on DVinfo.net and people who have it, post it on a web server for others to download.

That sounds fine to me; the server is set to not show any files that aren’t being actively used. The server doesn’t store the clip, you are sharing the clip, the server just coordinates people to get it from you, or whoever else is downloading it. Potentially the server could also hold it, but then we start talking about needing 100's of gig's of storage and bandwidth, which is not cheap, though potentially if 20+ people wanted to pay a monthly service charge it would be feasible, but that goes against the whole free concept.

My server would be open access, so anyone could start sharing a file using it. A forum request thread would be a perfect way for someone to publish there needs, and then someone with footage could reply and start sharing.

[Travis Maynard]

I think probably the best way to go about this is to pass all of the files via BitTorrent. Torrent files wont eat up webspace. Assign a couple people for the job of moderating the torrent files.

We could easily hold the trading on these forums. We can have a stock footage catagory and then under that we can have a place for everyones requests (For people needing that CERTAIN shot) aswell as people that just want to add footage to the community.

Im guessing that most people would want some of their footage trading to be unique. In other words, If I trade with someone I wouldn't want someone else to get the same stock footage he is giving me. You use it in your film and then...Oh, someone else is using the same shots?!? That's not good. Just something to think about.

With everyone's help we can make this something very useful. We can do most of the requests through PM's if we have to. I'm sure there will be some kinks to work out, but just about everything starts out that way.

I'm willing to help in anyway I can.

[Jeremy Peterson]

Originally Posted by Travis Maynard

I think probably the best way to go about this is to pass all of the files via BitTorrent. Torrent files wont eat up webspace. Assign a couple people for the job of moderating the torrent files.

The server I've setup IS a torrent server and tracker. There's a version of bittorrent included in the site that makes creating a torrent and uploading it very easy.

http://dvpub.info

[Travis Maynard]

Ah! I see! I like it very much. I must've skipped over a post.

I will contribute as much as I can!

Good work!

[Pete Wilie]

Originally Posted by Travis Maynard

Im guessing that most people would want some of their footage trading to be unique. In other words, If I trade with someone I wouldn't want someone else to get the same stock footage he is giving me. You use it in your film and then...Oh, someone else is using the same shots?!? That's not good. Just something to think about.

Hmmm, if that's the case, then would you still call it "stock footage"? I mean there are lots of companies selling stock video and audio. By definition when you buy this you know it's not going to be unique to your film.

[K. Forman]

Pete is correct. Stock footage is nothing more than generic clip art for video. You need a sunrise in Hawaii, city streets, etc, you get stock footage. If you need a red 57 chevy rolling down a rural highway, that is 2nd unit stuff.

While we're at it, why couldn't we also offer 2nd unit footage? There are enough people from around the world in these forums, who have their own cameras, and just waiting for an excuse to use it. Consider it an excercise, and another way to get credits for their reel.

[Travis Maynard]

Thanks for the correction guys!

I'm still getting used to the terminology, but I think that 2nd unit footage should definitely be incorporated into this "trade". I know there are some "unique" shots that I would want for some films in the future that are impossible for me to get. Maybe we could setup an agreement contract upon the trade (Such as an agreement page where you have to accept to proceed to download. Maybe a unique one with a filename and the person who shot it, and then it can be printed out as proof. Your ideas?) to make sure that no one could use the footage you recieved.

Keep the ideas coming. I am learning as we go along and Im eager to make this work.

[Yi Fong Yu]

ok boys, does anyone need any footages? so far, no1 has asked for a concrete and specific type of 2nd Unit footage.