When creating video, production costs can often become a hindrance to achieving the shots you want to really have in your storyline. A drone shot over waterfalls, an action shot of a bungee jumper, a speed tracked shot of a city line from sunrise to sunset or high speed slow motion shot of a basketball going through a hoop, for instance, might be the shot you want embedded into your shot list but it’s just too expensive or risky to take the shots.
The good news, however, is you don’t have to give up on your hopes to have those shots just yet. You might not have the equipment or funding to shoot them yourself but someone else might have and could be offering it for use royalty-free!
With the rise of the demand of epic yet extremely difficult shots, some innovative souls have blessed the world by making their shots available in stock format for video producers and entrepreneurs to download and use. But where can one find such videos? Here are five great websites to get royalty-free and beautiful stock footage for your film.
Videohive
Known as one of the most affordable options, VideoHive provides a wide array of options for you to choose from. The site is a part of a network of great online resources- Envato- and provides us with the cheapest stock footages online priced for as low as $10! But of course, with a drop in price point comes a sacrifice in quality, but if you aren’t too picky with your shot, this just might do.
Shutterstock
The most popular stock image and footage provider would have to be Shutterstock. Here, videos would usually average around $40-45, and can provide pretty good quality. Shutterstock also has one of the biggest existing databases of stock video with over 1.4 million options to choose from.
Adobe Stock
Clear layouts and good quality are some of the few things that stock footages from Adobe Stock can promise you. Previously known as Fotolia, Adobe Stock prides itself in having a team individually check and approve uploaded stock videos for downloads. It also offers a 30-day free trial in which you will be able to download a maximum of ten files. Stock footage in Adobe Stock will cost around $50 on an average.
Pond 5
Pond 5 has to be one of the most user-friendly stock video footage providers out there. They also have a wide range of videos with up to 2.1 million stock footages made available. The site has a nice split interface with the catalogue being at the top and the Collections below it. The Collections split also allows you to bookmark video without leaving the main screen.
Dissolve
Though expensive (price of video stock footage can go for $75 to $85), Dissolve has some of the most beautiful stock footages available. The footages on Dissolve are shot mostly with high end equipment such as Red Epics, Arri Alexas, and Canon C300s. If quality is your primary focus and you don’t mind paying top dollar then this is the stock footage website for you.