Jellyfish Cupcakes Blog

Most everyone who has ever made a film they intending to be seen by an audience (a serious production) has has probably looked into stock footage. One common comment about stock footage is that “it is too expensive.” Especially if you intend your film to be seen by many people. Typically, the larger the amount of people who will view it, the more expensive it is to license a piece of footage. Of course, that is when we consider “Rights Managed” licenses. They are typically aimed at feature films that already have a lot of financial backing. For smaller productions, royalty free licenses may be more beneficial. Just because the footage is cheaper and royalty free, it does not mean the quality is any less. In fact, these days, you can find cheap royalty free footage that is of amazing quality. Sites such as Austin Texas Stock Footage and other independent stock footage firms provide footage that fits smaller production budgets. With royalty free, you pay a one time fee and are able to use that footage anytime you want. So if you are looking to make a high budget feature film, you may want to look at licensing footage with a rights managed license, but if you’re on a tight budget, royalty free is the way to go. Another positive note about royalty free is that if your indie movie gets a distribution deal, you won’t have to get a new license for your footage, whereas you would have to if you had a rights managed clip.