Almost every filmmaker encounters situations where it is not possible—or feasible—to get original footage needed for a project. For example, maybe your shooting a music video and you absolutely, positively need a shot of a rocket blasting off or a volcano spewing lava or a rainbow that frames a large city.

Your best bet in such situations is to find someone who has the shot you’re looking for or who is in a position to get it. That’s why we included a Clip Exchange forum on our site.

The alternative is to get high quality shots from a stock footage company, which has collected video material on innumerable subjects. You can easily locate many companies that will sell you single shots of almost anything you can think of.

Videoblocks is a stock house with a   a different business arrangement. Instead of selling you specific shots, they require that you to subscribe to their service. For $89 (half a year) you can download and use—without any royalty—as many clips as you want in such categories as  aerial, motion backgrounds, nature and animals, people, slow motion, time lapse, cities and other locations..  It’s a good deal if you think you’ll be using lots of clips, Otherwise, you might prefer using other stock companies to buy clips only as you need them.

To see if you like Videoblock’s approach, you can sign up for their  free one-week-free trial.. 

Videoblocks