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Newly installed ‘cutting-edge’ image-recognition software at stock marketplace Pond5 surveys videos and photos to determine the most effective keywords. Footage of a beachside sunset, for instance, might generate keywords like “beach,” “sunset,” “tropical,” and “waves,” among others. Those tags make it easier for buyers to find relevant clips, and help artists make more money. Artists can still manually add keywords of their own if they prefer.
“We’re always looking for ways to make our contributors’ lives easier,” said Pond5 cofounder and CEO Tom Bennett. “With auto-tagging, we’re helping them make more money while eliminating the most tedious part of the uploading process.”

Royalty-free video footage platform Pond5 have launch their new look website which includes a Public Domain Project, ‘the first library of free public domain content designed specifically for media makers.’ The initial collection includes 10,000 video clips, 65,000 photos, thousands of sound recordings, and hundreds of 3D models.

“For years, all of this amazing public domain content has been locked up and inaccessible to the average media maker,” said Pond5 cofounder and CEO Tom Bennett. “They deserve better. Our Public Domain Project empowers media makers to take advantage of this incredibly rich library that’s rightfully theirs.”
The collection includes 5,000 never-before-seen video clips, digitised directly from the National Archives outside of Washington D.C. Other video highlights include George Meliés’ 1902 film A Trip to the Moon, along with footage from the 1952 Helsinki Olympic games, the World Wars, NASA rocket launches, and the International Space Station. Speeches from historical figures like Winston Churchill and John F. Kennedy can be heard in the collection’s recordings, along with full performances from composers like Beethoven and Chopin.
Designed especially for media creators, the library’s enriched, standardised metadata allows users to easily search for content via aesthetic and technical qualities. In addition, footage sequences have been broken down into individual shots, saving video editors countless hours of work. Everything is instantly shareable and embeddable in social media and throughout the Web.
Based in New York, with offices in Geneva, Switzerland and Prague, Czech Republic, Pond5 recently raised $61 million from Accel Partners and Stripes Group. It currently employs a global team of over 80 people.

The international jury of the 2014 World Press Photo Multimedia Contest has awarded prizes in three categories: Short Feature, Long Feature and Interactive Documentary.

First prizes by category:
First prize Short Feature: ‘Staff Riding’
Photography, video and sound recording: Marco Casino

First prize Long Feature: ‘Witnessing Gezi’
Camera, director: Emin Özmen

First prize Interactive Documentary: ‘A Short History of the Highrise’
National Film Board of Canada / The New York Times

The jury chair Jassim Ahmad, global head of multimedia innovation Reuters, reflected:
“It is remarkable that the number of entries to the contest has increased by one third since last year. The overall quality of submissions indicates that many more have a grasp of visual media – a promising indicator of things to come. The winners reflect many aspects of the human condition, such as family, culture, sport, conflict and politics.” He added:
“There is clearly no one model for success in the practice. You can work in teams large and small; with the support of a major organisation or local community. The smallest stories can speak to wider truths. The possibilities of multimedia are immense.”
View all the winners here

↑ Watch the showcase – Instant Middle East Archive

The Associated Press has launch ‘a fully digitized archive of video footage from, about and relevant to the Middle East and North Africa.’
They say: ‘This innovative new product, AP Instant Middle East Archive, includes more than 60,000 news stories from 1900 to the present day sourced from AP Archive, the film and video archive of the AP, as well as from the world-renowned British Movietone News archive. New coverage is added every day from AP’s video newsgathering activities around the world.’
AP Instant Middle East Archive charts the history of the region, documenting such key events as World War I and II, the crisis in Palestine and the founding of Israel, the Arab-Israeli conflict, war in Lebanon, revolution in Iran and both Gulf wars. It also includes more recent footage from the Arab Spring, the upheavals in Egypt and the Syrian civil war. Significant events that took place outside the region are also included, such as the Camp David peace accords, the 1972 Olympics in Munich and the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Among the personalities featured prominently are Lawrence of Arabia, King Idris of Libya, King Faisal of Iraq, Golda Meir, Moammar Gadhafi, Yasser Arafat, Saddam Hussein and the Shah of Iran. The economy of the region is also covered extensively, as well as the development of the oil industry and the rise of the Gulf States. Other areas of interest include the arts, religion, culture, entertainment and sports.
“This product is simply the finest visual document of the history of the Middle East and North Africa,” said Alwyn Lindsey, AP’s director of international archives. “It is a must for any news organization that is serious about covering the region.”

Martin Lisius – pictured above ©Prairie Pictures

This year marks the 20th anniversary of StormStock, making it one of the oldest stock footage brands in the world.

20 Years of Stormy Weather
By Martin Lisius

I founded StormStock in 1993 after receiving many requests from TV and film producers who wanted to license my storm footage. They had seen my material in several weather documentaries I had produced.

In the early days, I shot primarily on Betacam SP and delivered sample reels with time code burn to clients on VHS. FedEx was a good partner back then. They were at my office every weekday at 6:00 pm to pick up a bucket of outgoing VHS samplers.

In 1996, I began shooting on Super 35mm partly to prepare for HD, but also for aesthetic reasons. I spend many hours on the road shooting tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning and other incredible weather phenomenon, and it made sense to shoot everything on a premium format. I’ve shot on many cameras, but my favorite has been my Arriflex 35-3 I purchased from my friend Mark Beasley, president and founder at MPS Studios in Dallas. My Arri shoots in rain, snow, hail, blowing dust, and intense heat and keeps on working. It’s almost indestructible and certainly very reliable. And, it shoots beautiful pictures. To make my imagery look even better, I teamed up with Glenn Shank at Video Post and Transfer in Dallas to process my film. I worked closely with him to determine the best film stocks and shooting techniques for my subject. I have to give a lot of credit for the look of my footage to Steve Franko, a fantastic colorist, also at Video Post and Transfer in Dallas (now &Transfer at Farm Truck). It’s always a pleasure to work with Steve who is always right on the money when we do a session together. And, facility manager Terry Hall is always there to make sure we both stay out of trouble.

I’ve been lucky to have shot many “firsts” for StormStock over the years including the first-ever violent class tornado on Super 35mm, the first tornado on 3D, and the only Super 35mm of Hurricane Katrina making landfall. It’s rewarding to forge new territory and do something that’s never been achieved before.

Around 2005, I began shooting HD video alongside my Super 35mm work. I’ve shot with several HD cameras, and even though technology continues to improve, none of them have been able to match the image quality of my Arri 35-3. The Arri material has such a dreamy, beautiful look.

The delivery of sample material on VHS tape actually lasted quite a long time. It was the standard in the industry until around 2004 when there was a gradual shift to DVD. DVD screeners gave way fairly quickly to digital clips. Now, even DVD’s are virtually dead in my office. For a long time, I transferred my Super 35mm footage to HDCAM tape, which was a good format. But now, it is dead too. Everything from samples to masters are digitized, cataloged clips, typically H.264 .mov for samples and ProRes 422 HQ for masters.

Although StormStock has maintained a website since 1997, our first fully automated, sophisticated venture waited until 2011. Clients can now search, preview, purchase, license and download masters 24/7. However, many still prefer to work directly with a human. I listen closely to what a client requires and gather samples for them to view. It’s really a critical step in the creative process, and I like to partner with clients on it. It helps to have a photographic memory. I can recall everything I ever shot and suggest it immediately. A web site cannot do this. I think machines (website servers) have been able to serve a portion of the market with cheap and quick content. But, those who really need the very best footage still want to collaborate with a creative. That’s the StormStock market.

I’ve had the pleasure to work with several top tier ad agencies, TV networks, corporate video producers and feature films. I especially liked working with producer Craig MacGowan (Campbell-Ewald) and director Antoine Fuqua on the Chevy “Storm Chaser” commercial in 1999. I starred star as the storm chaser who drives a Chevy S-10 through flying debris in pursuit of a tornado. We shot the spot in Lancaster, CA for that “Kansas” look and used helicopters and giant effects fans to make it fun. My Super 35mm footage was composited into the commercial for a convincing stormy look. Other StormStock projects of note include “Planet Earth,” “I Survived” and the Academy Award winning “An Inconvenient Truth.”

What’s next? As always, I will continue to improve StormStock in every way I can, with emphasis on image quality. Light, composition and content is what drives me as a cinematographer. It’s the art, the craft, creativity and imagination that count most. It’s something that will always be at the core of everything I do.

Read our Interview with Martin

this just in …and launching on the 16th Sept

Dissolve say: HD clip on Getty: $450 (up from $429 in mid-August) – Same HD clip on Dissolve: $5

Dissolve, a new stock video marketplace created to simplify the stock video purchase experience, launches in beta. Backed by $5 million in funding from several former co-founders of Veer and iStockphoto, with participation from iNovia Capital, Dissolve challenges leaders like Getty Images on quality and price. An average HD clip at Dissolve costs $5, where the exact same clip can sell for as much as $450 on Getty Images.
Dissolve’s leadership team comes with deep stock business experience and creative credibility. It includes creative director Sheldon Popiel and brand director Jon Parker, Veer co-founders who later led creative and brand direction at Corbis. Dissolve’s president is Rupa Sandhu, former brand marketer for Veer. Dissolve CEO Patrick Lor co-founded iStockphoto and later led Fotolia North America.

“Industry reports show 70 percent* of business-to-business marketers now use video as a content tactic,” said CEO Patrick Lor. “Dissolve will focus on creative inspiration, ease and affordability. The site will be engaging and clips will be simple to find and license. We will be curating for quality so customers won’t have to waste time searching through clips that are unusable, subpar, or simply too expensive.“

95 percent of Dissolve’s varied collection of video clips, which are all in HD, start at $5. There are also tiers of $50, $150 and $500 based upon quality and singularity. Dissolve is currently selling several clips for $5 that are being sold at Getty Images and elsewhere for up to $450.