Musicbed, the music licensing website in which many filmmakers rely on for quality pieces to accompany their videos, has launched a new site with big goals in the film licensing sector. Filmsupply is not content with the way stock footage tends to always stick out, and wants to change that with a highly curated library from hand-picked contributors.
Filmsupply’s initial library offers thousands of Full HD 1080p and 4K film clips (more than 75 percent of the site’s footage is available in 4K) from top visionary filmmakers such as Shane Hurlbut and Salomon Ligthelm. Their global network has more than 220 exclusive, hand-picked contributors.
Filmsupply has a global network of more than 220 exclusive, hand-picked contributors.
“No matter where you insert it, stock will always look like stock,” said world-renowned cinematographer Shane Hurlbut, ASC. “With Filmsupply, you don’t have to sort through low quality content because they have pre-screened it to give you the best.”
On top of their film footage licensing library, Filmsupply is also giving customers the opportunity to quickly get any clip they can imagine, from anywhere in the world, by facilitating the creation of custom footage.
Like Musicbed, which began with only 35 musicians before expanding to the over 600 represented today, Filmsupply is also interested in continuing to build their collection with top filmmakers and add new, helpful features to the site. All Filmsupply content is rights-managed and all files and contributors are exclusive to the site. If you are interested in becoming a contributor to Filmsupply, check out the bottom of their About page where you can apply.
The problem is this isn't revolutionizing anything. Story & Heart tried to march to the same tune when they released their service. As someone who uses stock everyday, the problems we face are solved through quantity. Searching more and more sites to find that one clip makes more problems. Quality is obviously important, but niche stock services are not what big companies are going to want to use.
Hey Casey! I'm the Community Manager over at Filmsupply - definitely hear you and know where you're coming from. I think rather than saying, "you'll find the exact clip you need faster than on any site anywhere, and you'll find the exact clip you want every time you come to us" we're more trying to get people to think differently about stock. We have things grouped around Collections and Scenes so you can better fill out the missing pieces in your film(s) and we're really focused on valuing the filmmakers behind the footage. We do this by placing value on them via the price, creating profiles for those filmmakers on our site so you can follow the ones you love, and by offering the ability to hire one of our 200+ filmmakers around the globe to go grab the clip you need if you don't see it. Hope that makes sense and helps, but always feel free to give me a shout if you have questions!
Hi Will. I understand where you are coming from, but speed is huge in my world. I want to find the exact clip as quickly as I can and get back to my edit. We normally use stock to supplement a shot we could not get and so it needs to match our style of shooting, look and feel, etc. Better curation and more ways to organize stock libraries is nice and will help people find what they need...but it's just distillation and doesn't really change the game in any revolutionizing way. I guess what I'm saying is another stock service to search isn't solving my problems just yet. Though the ability to hire someone is nice when you need a very specific clip.
Yeah, that definitely makes sense. I do think in some cases you will find what you're looking for quicker because you won't have to sift through as many "cheesy" stock clips, clips that aren't cinematic, or clips that are tough to fit your style since they have "baked in" looks. Whether or not you're convinced it's revolutionary though, definitely appreciate your thoughts :)
I love MusicBed's selection, but their licensing terms are a deal breaker. I can't use any of it for commercials, distribution, etc. I use other sites that have much broader licenses, but are unfortunately lower quality. Too bad.