What is stock video footage?
Stock footage, stock video, b-roll, stockshots or stock video footage are common terms for the moving images that are used in a film or video production, but not shot with that particular production in mind. Typical productions where stock footage is commonly used are documentaries, television series, news programmes, independent films, commercials, sports reviews and movies.
While most historical stock footage tends to be on film or tape, more and more footage is finding its way to disk in various digital formats and compression codecs. Due to the large amount of footage available today, both from a wide range of analogue footage archives and online digital footage marketplaces, the footage industry includes a large number of licencors and researchers/consultants. Such researchers and consultants are especially invaluable when it comes to