How to Turn Your Footage Into Money - by Mark Schulze

Image by cleopatra69 via Flickr

Today I wanted to inspire you to put your video footage to good use. If you have shot any interesting, unusual, rare or awesome clips, there could be a market for them.

My wife, Patty Mooney, and I started our stock-footage library, New & Unique Videos, back in 1994, when we returned from a journey around the world, during which we collected dozens of hours of stock footage for our mountain bike documentary, the award-winning "Full Cycle: A World Odyssey." It won kudos, multiple honors and lots of reviews in publications around the world, but was never broadcast on television.

We have never lost hope that it would some day be broadcast, because we do a lot of broadcast television work, and we know this is a stellar show. However, where we seemed to get ROI (Return on our Investment) was via stock-footage sales. We have sold clips shot for "World Odyssey" to all kinds of programs and corporate projects. Clients have bought our Tasmanian devil, boxing kangaroos, underwater mountain bikers, Canadian waterfalls, and many other clips.

The way that you, too, can pocket a little cash from your videographic passion is this.

First, invest in a tripod. There's a market for what I call "shaky-cam" but the traditional smooth work done with a tripod will always be desired.

Second, make sure that you gather three versions of your shot: a wide (establishing) shot, a medium shot and a close up.

Third, log your footage. Make sure you are as detailed as possible, even down to transcribing what people say. You just never know what a client is going to want. If you have it, and you logged it, it's going to be a lot easier to find it when you need it.

Fourth, if your work is professional enough, or at least engaging or sensational enough, then approach some stock-footage libraries and let them know you have footage available. Be prepared to send digital clips (with your watermark) so they can see what you have.

This is just one way to help support your addiction to videography. You may sell a clip here or there. You may even decide you want to get fully engaged in the arena of stock footage. How deeply you venture into the profession is up to you. The way technology keeps advancing, and because the appetite for video content is seemingly unquenchable, you may be able to carve a niche for yourself that will keep you nicely involved in all kinds of amazing adventures. That's how it happened for us. The sky is really the limit for today's videographer.

Balboa Park, San Diego's Jewel - by Mark Schulze

Mark Schulze collecting stock footage in Balboa Park, San Diego - Photo by Patty Mooney

One of the fun things I do in my job is to gather clips for our stock footage library, New & Unique Videos. We actually started the company after shooting a documentary called "Full Cycle: A World Odyssey," which took my partner, Patty Mooney, and me around the world with our mountain bikes and a ton of video equipment. After the documentary was completed, we started getting calls from clients who wanted to buy footage from the places where we had traveled. And thus began the stock footage branch of New & Unique Videos.



"Full Cycle: A World Odyssey" garnered over 13 international awards and lots of press; however, it was never broadcast on television because it was considered too "nichey" and because it was the first "reality show" ever produced, it was misunderstood and just too far ahead of its time. Patty and I started calling it our "red-headed stepchild" as we began parsing out clips like the crazy Tasmanian devil and the underwater mountain biker clips which both appeared on Real TV.



Anyway, one of my favorite places to shoot footage is our very own jewel, Balboa Park. Above you will see one of the two water fountains featured at the park along with the Museum of Man. If you ever get a chance to visit San Diego, you must be sure to check out Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo. There are also several museums that are excellent, including the Reuben H. Fleet Space Center & Theater, the San Diego Natural History Museum which is now showing the Body Worlds Exhibit, the Automotive Museum, the Hall of Champions Sports Museum, the Museum of Photographic Arts, and the list goes on. On a beautiful day you cannot go wrong.