MicrostockGroup
Microstock Footage Forum => General - Stock Video => Topic started by: wollwerth on August 01, 2019, 11:25
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I create and upload quite a bit of video content. I'm just curious what people's experience is with clip length. Is there an optimum clip length that buyer are looking for, or does it even matter? What's your experience?
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Not sure if there's any data out there as to what sells best and what's the best course of action, but I guess it's finding a balance between providing the most value to the buyer (i.e. longer clips) and getting the most value out of your content (i.e. being able to split footage up into multiple clips). I'm sure most buyers only use a few seconds per clip, but there will be instances when longer clips might be required (say as a background for a text/graphics segment in a documentary or news piece)... and if somebody is on a budget then a bunch of 20 second clips could cost half as much as twice as many 10 second clips. Possible downsides for longer clips could be people with super-slow internet... they may have trouble downloading multiple one minute long ProRes or PNG clips.
Not sure if my approach is the way to go, but I very, very rarely upload anything less than 10 seconds... aim for around 15 to 20 seconds, and very, very rarely upload anything longer than 30 seconds.
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I rarely submit anything shorter than 10 sec, nor longer than 30 sec. 10-20 sec is my "sweet spot."
Note that most agencies will not accept anything less than 5 sec (yes, I know one that accepts 3 sec, but... really??), nor longer than 60 sec.
My clips are almost entirely 4K unless slo-mo, which are HD (limit of my recording hardware).
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I rarely submit anything shorter than 10 sec, nor longer than 30 sec. 10-20 sec is my "sweet spot."
Note that most agencies will not accept anything less than 5 sec (yes, I know one that accepts 3 sec, but... really??), nor longer than 60 sec.
My clips are almost entirely 4K unless slo-mo, which are HD (limit of my recording hardware).
More specifically I was wondering if there was any advantage to submitting longer clips. I realize that short clips (under 5 seconds) have very limited use. I seem to sell mostly between 10 and 25 second clips, but I wasn't sure what other people's experience was.
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More specifically I was wondering if there was any advantage to submitting longer clips. I realize that short clips (under 5 seconds) have very limited use. I seem to sell mostly between 10 and 25 second clips, but I wasn't sure what other people's experience was.
The owner of BlackBox, and a few of his most experienced people, have been doing stock video for more than a decade. Their experience is that the prime length is 10 to 15 seconds. I tend to push that to 20 sec, so the buyer has a bit of flexibility.
They state that if your clip is longer, you are best to break it into 2 (or more) clips and post each separately.
When I look at videos in which I know (or suspect) that stock footage is used, I keep a mental stopwatch on the likely stock clips. Yep, it is very rare for one to last 10 seconds. 3 to 5 seems far more common for those kinds of clips. BB did point out one specific video that was made entirely with stock clips last year. When I watched it, I never saw a scene go longer than 5 seconds.
BTW, I am not advocating BlackBox. Merely noting that the owner does appear to be an experienced and successful stock video producer, and passing along things he has said, and which seem to make sense to me (after watching published videos more closely).
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More specifically I was wondering if there was any advantage to submitting longer clips. I realize that short clips (under 5 seconds) have very limited use. I seem to sell mostly between 10 and 25 second clips, but I wasn't sure what other people's experience was.
I appreciate your question and the responses it's produced, because I'm semi-new at video (2 years, about 450 clips currently available for sale) and still trying to figure it all out.
Most of my clips are of birds, bugs, and beasts, which means there are times I'm lucky to get just 5 good seconds. But there are also times when I get much longer footage and have to decide whether or not to cut it into smaller clips.
This is a very helpful discussion to me and to others too, I bet. Thanks.
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duplicate
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I make all my clips 18 sec
I sell nothing
so 18 sec is not the right length…
Logic, no?
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It depends on the clip. I have some that are 6 seconds and some that are 20. My 6 second clip has sold a couple of times for $400. The idea behind the 20 second clips is that buyers can take snippets from that clip that fit their needs. But if the clip is really unique, bigger is not always better. Like many here, I have learned to upload 10 sec or less in most cases, but sometimes (not often) more if I think it is needed.
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I make all my clips 18 sec
I sell nothing
so 18 sec is not the right length…
Logic, no?
Thanks. I'll specifically avoid that length.
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It depends on the clip. I have some that are 6 seconds and some that are 20. My 6 second clip has sold a couple of times for $400. The idea behind the 20 second clips is that buyers can take snippets from that clip that fit their needs. But if the clip is really unique, bigger is not always better. Like many here, I have learned to upload 10 sec or less in most cases, but sometimes (not often) more if I think it is needed.
What type of material are you shooting? I suspect that makes a difference as well.