When was the last time you paid $500 for 20 second? Surprisingly people do it all the time, and I'm not just referring to their last trip to Vegas.
When searching the internet for quality HD stock footage, you may be shocked to find that there are sites out there charging $100, $500, and sometimes over $1000 for a single 20 second clip of royalty free video! Why then are some willing to pay this outrageous amount? Now, before answering this question, I must insert a disclaimer.
If you're not footing the bill for the stock footage and your financial backer doesn't care about budget, then the following all goes out the window and you should spend away to your hearts content.
But for those of us who are usually self funding the project and budget is the number one concern, please continue reading.
The truth be told, there is only one good reason to pay large sums of money for quality HD stock footage: the shot is worth it.
There are a few things that qualify whether or not a clip is "worth it.
" Keep the following things in mind just before you're about to drop a few hundred bucks on a clip First, do you absolutely need this particular clip? There are some projects, rare as they may be, that will not be complete until this single clip is inserted into the timeline.
Only then with the masterpiece be complete, right? Well, keep in mind that sometimes when we take a step back and a deep breath we find other solutions to illustrate our point.
If this clip is the "must have" to do it, then go for it.
Second, is it a clip that you will not find anywhere else? There are some clips that are rare.
So rare, in fact, that people justify charging thousands of dollars for it.
Historical footage, is a good example of this.
It has obviously already happened and therefore cannot be remade.
But if your video clip doesn't fall under this category, you'd better make sure that you can't find something similar.
Finally, is this a clip that you could reproduce yourself? Let's face it, a shot of a man eating a hot dog is probably pretty easy to setup.
It could probably be done in less than an hour.
And if one hour is worth as much as those hundreds of dollars about to be spend on downloading that clip of the "wiener eating man," you may want to arrange the shoot yourself.
This is, of course, if you aren't trying to meet a pressing deadline.
When searching the internet for quality HD stock footage, you may be shocked to find that there are sites out there charging $100, $500, and sometimes over $1000 for a single 20 second clip of royalty free video! Why then are some willing to pay this outrageous amount? Now, before answering this question, I must insert a disclaimer.
If you're not footing the bill for the stock footage and your financial backer doesn't care about budget, then the following all goes out the window and you should spend away to your hearts content.
But for those of us who are usually self funding the project and budget is the number one concern, please continue reading.
The truth be told, there is only one good reason to pay large sums of money for quality HD stock footage: the shot is worth it.
There are a few things that qualify whether or not a clip is "worth it.
" Keep the following things in mind just before you're about to drop a few hundred bucks on a clip First, do you absolutely need this particular clip? There are some projects, rare as they may be, that will not be complete until this single clip is inserted into the timeline.
Only then with the masterpiece be complete, right? Well, keep in mind that sometimes when we take a step back and a deep breath we find other solutions to illustrate our point.
If this clip is the "must have" to do it, then go for it.
Second, is it a clip that you will not find anywhere else? There are some clips that are rare.
So rare, in fact, that people justify charging thousands of dollars for it.
Historical footage, is a good example of this.
It has obviously already happened and therefore cannot be remade.
But if your video clip doesn't fall under this category, you'd better make sure that you can't find something similar.
Finally, is this a clip that you could reproduce yourself? Let's face it, a shot of a man eating a hot dog is probably pretty easy to setup.
It could probably be done in less than an hour.
And if one hour is worth as much as those hundreds of dollars about to be spend on downloading that clip of the "wiener eating man," you may want to arrange the shoot yourself.
This is, of course, if you aren't trying to meet a pressing deadline.