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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Stock 4K footage

Jim Retar

Jim Retar

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I know stock footage is often a bit of a dirty word around cinematographers .... but I tend to sell stock footage to put money in my pocket for film work and equipment.

I was thinking of what will happen with regards to selling 4k footage? How do you think I should prepare it.... same codecs as normal (Photo JPEG is standard).
 
This is from Getty images about a year and a half ago, it may have changed but they will tell you what they want.
Digital Film Files – 2K or 4k scans
Digital Film files are a relatively new form of assets accepted for submission and as such their specifications are subject to
change. However, if your submission to Getty Images is a Digital Film File, the following minimum criteria should be met:
• Resolution: 2K (defined as 2048 horizontal pixels by a minimum of 1080 vertical pixels)
or 4K (defined as 4096 horizontal pixels by a minimum of 2160 vertical pixels)
• Frame rate: 24 or 25 frames per second, or 30 or 60 frames per second for slowdowns
• File compression: uncompressed or lossless
• Color space: RGB or YUV (4:4:4)
• Bit depth: 8-bit, 10-bit, 12-bit or 16-bit – Logarithmic or Linear
• Image file format:
o Recommended - DPX
o Other – R3D, Cineon, TIFF, or OpenEXR
• When supplying an image sequence, we recommend you include a QuickTime movie in the Apple ProRes 422 (HQ)
codec. New!

Shooting with the RED ONE Camera (special note) New!
There is plenty of stir created by the RED ONE camera and its affect on the Motion Picture industry. Getty Images accepts
files acquired on the RED ONE camera and is excited to support this new technology. As with all new technologies, there are
some challenges. Currently, they don’t offer the ability to resave an edited R3D file. RED is working on this for the future.

Recommended:
• Shoot in 4K for the best HD result (slow motion effects require lower resolutions)
• Provide Getty Images with both the 4K R3D files and an accompanying HD 1920x1080 23.98 QuickTime file using
the Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) codec.
• Create your log from the QuickTime files

Shooting Greenscreen/ Bluescreen / Chroma Key New!
We accept greenscreen, bluescreen or chroma key material. These submissions must be in a QuickTime file format using
an Animation or PNG codec with each file containing an alpha channel with the traveling matte. The QuickTime file should
look like an image and a black matte. This provides best ease of use for the majority of our customers. Files with a separate
traveling matte file cannot be accepted. As with any keyed images, be particularly careful to eliminate any edge fringing.
Click to expand...
 
I shoot 75% stock...and this is my workflow:

1. Acquire images in 4k
2. Color correct (one light for look) in redcine or redcine-x
3. transcode images to prores 4:2:2
4. move images to FCP for trimming ins/outs
5. output new trimmed images to prores 4:2:2 files
6. save R3d files and prores files in master folder with subfolders and EXACT same names--prores file names match the R3d file names
7. Deliver 99% prores files---and if client wants master-send master along with R3d file
8. Stock house gets both R3d files AND prores files

using FCP server for storage of files...using prores 4:2:2 files to create small proxy files for viewing. Rarely need an R3d file...but i i do, i just search the matching file name that matches with the prores file.

.....long process, but what else to do with ones time.
.....Oh...and saves time to have tangent wave, 10bit color correction ability.
My setup is Redrocket acceleration card with Matrox MXO2 breakout box since it gives me ability to go HD-SDI or HDMI out to Plasma TV and do color correction on my plasma or my 10bit desktop HDMI monitor. At least this way i get very close to a proper color scheme.
 
there are several agencies out there offering to host/represent your footage. BUT, not many can really sell it. Most of my sells is in house and i then refer them to stock house for purchase since i have little time to deal with it.
For me it is very specific footage--usually underwater/nature that is not easy to find or find in 4k.

but been there with some agencies that may not be able to or just don't get sales....i think it is really up to the shooter to make most sales unless you have something very unique.

...there is mammoth hd that is heavily into red footage, but i think everyone is now.
 
Martin Weiss said:
Who do you guys use to sell your footage?

The one we're using doesn't quite seem to understand R3D, grading or 4k. Plus I'm underwhelmed at how little they've sold.

So, any advice would be greatle aprechiated.
Click to expand...

I was having a very similar problem at Footage Bank HD. I still think to this day they haven't sold any of my footage. But Getty Images is selling a lot of my timelapse both from the 5D2 and my RED One. Plus all that firearms footage I have sells pretty good as well. I also have a deal with Art Beats but I recently joined up with them so I can't say how things have been with them yet. The split with Getty kind of sucks but they make up for it with sales. Have you tried hitting up Getty yet?

Here's my footage so far with Getty Images, more on the way of course.
http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?assettype=film&artist=599+Productions

Here's the Art Beats page.
http://www.artbeats.com/footage/search?keywords=599+productions
 
Jim Retar said:
Very nice Andrew.... can you upload the same footage to both sites or do you have to give them exclusive rights?
Click to expand...

Everything I give Getty is exclusive to them, which I don't mind. A lot of my earlier footage that was tied up and couldn't be given exclusively to Getty I had Art Beats manage for royalty free. That way I didn't breach any contract and I made my earlier footage more available. So now I kind of shoot with two kinds of footage in mind. Some for rights managed and some for royalty free.
 
Thanks for the leads.

When submitting footage, how do you handle the grading. I.e. do you grade very conservatively, as to preserve as much image detail as possible - yielding a "flat" look, or do you make more dramatic choices?
 
I do grades just to bring the most out of the shots. You do have some choices as far as color temp and stuff like that if you want to stylize the shots a little. You can always submit two versions of the same clip to see what sells better. Not sure if stock footage houses want double versions of every clip.
 
We accept R3D files and then grade for output as 4K photoJPEG QT movies. We also render all the lower resolution versions, HD, NTSC, PAL, etc. HD is the best selling category.

It's a little early to see 4K footage gain traction in the market place. Still, we are shooting/collecting as much as we can and represent quite a few Red cinematographers.

Phil
 
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