Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/13405
Soul Train footage was licensed for a TV1 se- ries titled Unsung, and The Military Channel called on the stock provider for footage for its Toughest Military Jobs. “Being a small company, we can be very reactive to our clients,” Berman-Bogdan ex- plains.“We’re efficient and can turn on a dime. I think that has been a key to our longevity — client services.” ANTICIPATING DEMAND Because of its royalty-free licensing model, Myrtle Creek, OR-based Artbeats (www.artbeats.com) is not as aware of its user base as other stock companies. But that doesn’t mean they don’t know what sells.As such, the company was adding new footage to its collection, specifically shots of Hawaii and tornadoes. At press time, Artbeats had just made some of its new Hawaiian footage available online, with lots more to come.The aerial Hawaiian footage was captured from a he- licopter using a Red camera on a gyro-sta- bilized rig. “There’s actually not a whole lot of aerial Hawaii footage in the royalty-free footage market,” explains Artbeats’ Phil Bates, who directed the ambitious multi-island, one-day shoot. Bates says the company was looking to create three categories as a result of the shoot: Hawaiian Scenics, Hawaiian Establish- ments and Hawaiian Cities, the last of which was already available online at press time. Artbeats is making the Hawaiian footage available as single clips and also in the form of a disc collection. “We counted about 400 shots, and about 200 are really usable,” says Bates of the Hawaii shoot.“Breaking it down, it’s probably several hours that worked out for us.” While footage for the Scenics collection was shot close to the ground, the Establish- ment shots were captured from higher ele- vations and show more of the islands’ coast- lines. The Cities collection includes spots such as Oahu, Lihue and Kona. “The licensing is royalty free, so there are no additional costs or restrictions,” says Bates. “It’s very affordable, considering how much it costs to go there.” The Cities collection includes 31 shots and is priced at $1,200.While the footage is delivered as 1080/30p HD,Artbeats also has the original 4K Red files available for produc- tions demanding the highest quality. “On top of that, [customers] can get the RAW file that came out of the camera, which is at its purest form,” notes Bates.“It’s almost like getting a film negative.They can color treat it themselves and have the full potential of all the dynamic range and lati- tude that is there.” In addition to the Hawaiian collection, Artbeats was in the process of capturing tornado footage, which Bates says is always popular. In mid-June, the company had a “chase” team, including a camera operator, a meteorologist and a storm chasing expert in Colorado hunting down tornadoes with a Red camera. Bates says they’ve already had some success. “We don’t know if it will be a collection or single clips,” he says of the tornado footage. Customers will often buy a storm- related collection just for its two or three tornado shots, he notes.“It might not make sense to put that super extra value in a col- lection, so we might keep them separate, because a tornado shot is pretty valuable it- self.Tornadoes are good sellers.” FootageBank HD (www.footagebank.com) cinematographer Ralph Madison, a native of Louisiana, has been hired by the local gov- ernment to document the Gulf oil spill and record the devastation to the towns, waterways and wildlife. Madison is using a Red camera and is shuttling drives with clips to FootageBank HD for upload to its Web- site. Footage is being made available this month in Red Raw and HD codecs. The image shown was captured Grand Isle Beach in Jefferson Parish, LA. www.postmagazine.com July 2010 • Post 43