Stock Directory
What is Stock and How Does It Work?
Stock can be incredibly expensive or it can be free.
There are several models for stock - you can:
- Get “royalty free” for free all over the place (sound, video, photo)
- Pay per item
- Pay for a batch or package
- Pay for “credits”
- Pay for a library unlimited / subscription license
License Types
There are a bunch but what you want is: to use something however you want (modify, composite, throw poop emojis in front of it) without having to credit the source. Unless it’s theater or whatever, then throw that shit in the program and no one cares.
Some clients will ask for “warranties” with the product you deliver that uses stock. I’m not really sure what this means, but many subscription and/or free stock sites don’t offer this level of protection. My guess: this is why GETTY is so spendy. Most clients DGAF about this - that being said, proceed at your own risk. In a decade plus of using Stock, and with at least 100 clients, this has happened to me 3 times. People don’t really care as long as you have the rights in general to the footage. In my experience: the odds that someone is going to sue you or the end client is incredibly low - because there’s a building in the background that’s somebody’s intellectual property (like the Eiffel Tower at night, for example). Can you imagine the people that troll through all the stock? Don’t sweat it dude. Buy it, make some assumptions, hope for the best. That said: want to do something potentially offensive on top of a face? Make sure you’re covered.
“Royalty-Free” does not mean a clip is free, it means you don’t need to pay additional royalties for use of the stock item. It also often but not always means that you don’t need to provide attribution. A clip can be both “free” and “royalty-free” but they are not the same thing.
Video Stock Resources
Art.grid |
Paid subscription model |
The quality is consistently 💯. Less spendy. I’ve used this and people are surprised it wasn’t shot by me haha. Unfortunately- Can only buy it annually. I think $600. Worth it if you’re doing a lot of stock edits. All things you download you own forever. You have to dig a bit but this why I have hundreds of high quality flares and burns all organized in a PR file. I cannot “resell” this…
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Beachfront B-Roll |
Free |
Some B-Roll this guy used to give away for free |
Mitch Martinez |
Free |
Everyone and their mom has used a Mitch Martinez clip in something at least once
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Pexels |
Free |
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Storyblocks (formerly Videoblocks) |
Paid subscription model |
Generally a wider net, but the quality is lower. You can engage monthly (cheaper annually tho). Make sure you get a bigger license than a personal if your company is paying for this.
Think it’s biz license. If you’re paying for it and you’re using it as a freelancer then it doesn’t matter. Videoblocks also has tons of Mograph templates with varying degrees of quality. All things you download you own forever.
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Your Own Library |
Free |
Start keeping track of all of your footage so you can use it your projects!
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Image & Textures Stock Resources
Start your engines and start downloading and organizing royalty-free, free stock.
You can pay for things if you want to save time. There are dozens of options: all are “just fine” - Getty, iStock, etc.
Here's some mostly free stuff:
Free Images |
Free |
pretty shitty but you can get lucky |
Life of Pix |
Free |
pretty good but search is bad |
Lost And Taken |
Free |
Mostly textures - grain, grunge, paint, vintage - if this site ever goes down, I’ve saved most of these packs in my personal Utility folder. Very useful.
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Loc.gov |
Free |
old shit
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Morgue File |
Free |
pretty good but not a lot to choose from |
Pexels |
Free |
pretty good bad search tho - textures and photos |
Unsplash |
Free |
Real nice
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Vecteezy |
Free & Paid |
Great source for free vectors - if you’re worried about using something commercially and don’t understand the terms for free usage, you can buy a license. Also, there are paid assets in here, too. I always have a few credits in my account here for an emergency.
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Music and Sound Resources
Free Music Archive |
Free |
I’m pretty sure this is what Nathan Fielder used for Nathan For You. The music in this video is exclusively from here. Great for making things interesting, but not necessarily objectively good
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Free Sound Project |
Free |
For all soundscapes, sound FX, and texturing, I always recommend Freesound. incredible library. Donate to them if you can!
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Marmoset |
Paid |
Stock music - Really easy to navigate and find things for the vibe you need. |
MusicBed |
Paid |
Stock music - Really easy to navigate and find things for the vibe you need. |
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