The Right Footage

Stock and Archive Footage: What’s the Difference?

April 12, 2018June 27, 2018By archivevalley No Comments

We’ve all encountered stock footage whether in advertisements, or even in documentary films: ready-made footage that is used by a creator to illustrate part of a narrative or to create a certain aesthetic. However, though archive footage technically serves the same role, there are some fundamental differences between stock and archive footage that are important when trying to understand pricing, and the rights required to use the footage.

In other words, when producing a program for film or television, when am I searching for “stock,” and when is it seeking out “archive footage?” (more…)

3 Tips for Uncovering Amazing Archive Footage

April 10, 2018June 27, 2018By archivevalley No Comments

More and more archive footage is becoming readily available to license from massive commercial film and photo licensing companies like Getty, Adobe, and many others, every day. Despite this, there are worlds of unseen footage out there, and fast-growing documentary audiences crave new ways to experience the past. Today more than ever, it is extremely important for content creators and archive researchers to diversify their sources to set their productions and storytelling apart.

Here are a few ways to uncover incredible footage for your productions that will set your production apart. (more…)

Documentary Festivals, The Right Footage

SPOTLIGHT: 5 Documentaries from the “For Another ’68” Retrospective @ Cinéma du Réel 2018

March 29, 2018June 27, 2018By archivevalley No Comments

For its 40th edition, this year’s Cinéma du Réel is bringing a fascinating retrospective on documentaries from 1968 in attempt to “deconstruct the mythology” surrounding this crucial moment in history. The year of 1968 stirred a lot of cultural and social uprising all around the world. One of the most powerful mediums reflecting those events of massive shifts in human society was cinema. Thanks to a number of young and bold artists today we have now not only a better understanding of that period but also in some of the cases extremely valuable sources of archives of the radical changes happening in places like Palestine, Mexico, Cuba, India, Eastern Europe. Rare and immediate depictions like those can sometimes prove to be unusual sources for archive footage. They can serve as a unique way cover very particular moments and places that made part of global historical processes and social movements. These are also films that can be regarded as a great proof for the powerful wave of creativity that swept a whole generation of filmmakers. In the words of the curator behind the selection, Federico Rossin: ”A social uprising always elicits on a revolution of artistic forms: we consider ’68 as the generator of the most radical and innovative documentary cinema”.

This is our selection of 5 films from the “For Another ’68” retrospective that we think should be considered as true archival treasures and which made it to our long list of exceptional documentaries to see at this year’s Cinéma du Réel.

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Licensing, The Right Footage

6 Ways to Optimize your Archive Footage Budget

March 20, 2018June 27, 2018By archivevalley No Comments

Since creating Archive Valley we’ve spoken to hundreds of professional archive researchers as well as producers seeking to either use archive footage in their production for the first time, or to step up their archive research and footage licensing game for a particularly archive-heavy production. Budgeting is a clear concern for anyone seeking to produce unique content featuring archival material and one that can be difficult to navigate, especially for newcomers to this booming genre.

Here are six tips we’ve learned from speaking to archive researchers around the world to help you come in on budget and make it to picture lock with archive footage that brings your story to life. (more…)

Archive Researchers, The Right Footage

‘My Generation’ Brings the 60s Back in High Fidelity

March 15, 2018June 27, 2018By archivevalley 2 Comments

The ‘swinging sixties’ are back on the big screen in My Generation, a new documentary produced by Sir Michael Caine and Simon Fuller, and narrated by none other than Caine himself. One of the biggest archive-driven productions of the year, the film sets out to give viewers an immersive journey through the 1960s as lived by Caine – a decade that would revolutionize everything from pop culture to politics as we know them.

We had the chance to catch up with the film’s Archive Producer James Hunt – who is also a member of our international community of professional archive researchers – to learn more about what went into this epic homage to the Sixties. (more…)

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This is our selection of 5 films from the “For Another ’68” retrospective that we think should be considered as true archival treasures and which made it to our long list of exceptional documentaries to see at this year’s Cinéma du Réel.