For some of my web video productions, I've occasionally had the need to include images or videos from third parties. If you're in marketing, web design, graphic design or any of the other creative occupations, you know what I mean. Heck, even instructional designers--especially those who develop eLearning courses--have had need for downloadable, royalty free images and video.
Certainly, web sites offering downloadable images isn't a new concept. Fotolia, istockphoto, gettyimages and a bunch more others have received their share of revenue from me. Many of these guys have also extended their services to include video. For example, istockphoto/video, Fotolia videos, artbeats.com, and so on.
But, when you get to pre-keyed video footage (think: green screen/alpha effects that allow weather reporters to project a map behind them on the nightly news, star wars effects, and so on), there have been a lot less options for service providers offering affordable footage (at least for the common folk like me) AND having large libraries. Pond5 comes to mind with about 700 pre keyed videos. But now, with the introduction of Crowd Control (All Bets Are Off Productions), the landscape just got a lot bigger with a library boasting 45,000 live action clips.
I especially like the crowd control search engine, which allows you to filter for various attributes like the angle of your subject in the frame, whether he/she is walking towards you or away, come to think of it... even the fact about whether or not the subject is a he or a she, the type of action they're taking, and so on.
Certainly, web sites offering downloadable images isn't a new concept. Fotolia, istockphoto, gettyimages and a bunch more others have received their share of revenue from me. Many of these guys have also extended their services to include video. For example, istockphoto/video, Fotolia videos, artbeats.com, and so on.
But, when you get to pre-keyed video footage (think: green screen/alpha effects that allow weather reporters to project a map behind them on the nightly news, star wars effects, and so on), there have been a lot less options for service providers offering affordable footage (at least for the common folk like me) AND having large libraries. Pond5 comes to mind with about 700 pre keyed videos. But now, with the introduction of Crowd Control (All Bets Are Off Productions), the landscape just got a lot bigger with a library boasting 45,000 live action clips.
I especially like the crowd control search engine, which allows you to filter for various attributes like the angle of your subject in the frame, whether he/she is walking towards you or away, come to think of it... even the fact about whether or not the subject is a he or a she, the type of action they're taking, and so on.
I know this new provider fills a need for my production efforts. If you're an online designer of any discipline, I think Crowd Control is worth a looksee.
If you have other favorite sites for pre keyed video footage, please share in the comments below. I'd love to know about them so I can add them to my list of resources.
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