How to Create Engaging Content with Stock Footage

Stock footage can be difficult to use in your projects. You have to work with someone else’s footage that was recorded on a different camera, a different lens, different lighting, and with a totally different idea in mind than you had for your content. It can save you time, money, and effort to use stock footage in your own projects, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to find the ideal clips! You’ll likely be hunting for a long time to find the perfect footage, and you may struggle to find something that fits. But that’s why this blog post will show you the strategies you can take to find the best stock footage and make it work for you!

Use Stock Footage in Explainer Content

Stock footage works great in explainer or educational content. This is because there isn’t the same level of pressure to make everything match as there is in a film. Educational videos will use stock footage to illustrate points, and it doesn’t have to match perfectly. When talking about running or pushing your body, you can show stock footage of a person running. And it won’t matter whether they’re running on the beach or running on the sidewalk, because all you needed was something that conveys the general feeling. This is where stock footage can really come in handy. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it helps to illustrate a point.

Know Where Stock Footage Shines

If used incorrectly or interjected into your A-roll suddenly, stock footage can be jarring. If your A-roll is mostly close-ups and medium shots, don’t use close-up stock footage! Instead, rely on stock footage for zoomed-out establishing shots that show a location for the scene. Or use your B-roll as a sharp contrast for stylistic reasons. If you are going to insert shockingly different B-roll in a video, then make it make sense.

Maintain Visual Cohesion

Maintaining visual cohesion is key when incorporating stock footage into your content. Look for stock footage that matches the visual style, color palette, and overall aesthetic of your original content. Consider the lighting conditions, camera angles, and composition of both the stock footage and your own footage to ensure a seamless transition between the two.

Make it Your Own

However, most footage you find won’t be a perfect fit. But that doesn’t mean you can’t alter it. Crop, resize, or add overlays to the footage to make it seamlessly integrate with your content. Adjust the colors, apply filters, or add text overlays to align the stock footage with your brand’s visual identity. Customization adds a unique touch to the stock footage and ensures it aligns with your creative vision. It also means you can be less discerning with the footage you use, making the project go faster.

Enhance Storytelling

Remember that stock footage is a tool to enhance your storytelling and evoke emotions. Select clips that effectively convey the intended message, elicit specific emotions, or support the narrative you’re building. Use stock footage strategically to complement your own footage and highlight the emotional impact of your content. Sometimes the right clip at the right time can be powerful, especially in something like a talking head video.

Get Creative with Your Searches

Finding stock footage can be hard. Not everything that you want will be on the stock video sites you’re looking at. And often the footage you’re trying to find will be buried or tagged with some specific keywords. So you need to get creative with your searches and try different variations and combinations of words. Don’t give up! Try both general search terms to get a wider view of what is available, then get more specific if you didn’t find the perfect shot. Describe the subject, the actions, and the setting to get the best-fitting clip.

Looking for awesome stock footage to use? Check out the FilterGrade stock footage store to get high quality footage with licenses for commercial use.