GE
thegeek
Founding member
I was once in an edit suite in TVC and heard an editor asking "Don't we have any more recent footage of unemployed people? I think this guy's been looking for a job for 15 years."
Personally, I'm a fan of this football.
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/464xn/p00xyl4d.jpg
Personally, I'm a fan of this football.
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/464xn/p00xyl4d.jpg
IS
Although it is true that the storage gets turned over more quickly these days (even more now that cameras are tapeless) that doesn't necessarily mean that nothing else is kept. The trick is to have the resources to identify anything worth keeping between and then archive it in offline storage. The big news organisations still employ people to do that because it is just so useful and of course places like ITN make a lot of money through selling their archive footage.
However the attitude in recent years when server based systems have been introduced is that things will just archive themselves, most have automated archiving. Of course management forget that archive footage by itself is useless - it needs logging and metadata to make it useable.
The gaps in archive will be where operations have been slimmed down to a minimum. A friend of mine at an ITV region which has been slimmed down considerably was telling me about shelves of tapes in his newsroom, left behind when their sports reporter left. They were just sitting there with no hope of anything being used.
The problem isn't so much stockshots (although they are very useful in day to day news production) but rushes of specific stories. That said I reckon about 90% of what's kept is never ever used again
The difficulty with any archive is what do you need and when? A library will always be out of date and servers are regularly wiped to free up production space. Expensive shoots like aerials are often kept on tape but most camera tapes/cards are re-used pretty quickly.
I can imagine in a few years a real shortage of archive material as all that is kept will be broadcast items and programmes.
I can imagine in a few years a real shortage of archive material as all that is kept will be broadcast items and programmes.
Although it is true that the storage gets turned over more quickly these days (even more now that cameras are tapeless) that doesn't necessarily mean that nothing else is kept. The trick is to have the resources to identify anything worth keeping between and then archive it in offline storage. The big news organisations still employ people to do that because it is just so useful and of course places like ITN make a lot of money through selling their archive footage.
However the attitude in recent years when server based systems have been introduced is that things will just archive themselves, most have automated archiving. Of course management forget that archive footage by itself is useless - it needs logging and metadata to make it useable.
The gaps in archive will be where operations have been slimmed down to a minimum. A friend of mine at an ITV region which has been slimmed down considerably was telling me about shelves of tapes in his newsroom, left behind when their sports reporter left. They were just sitting there with no hope of anything being used.
The problem isn't so much stockshots (although they are very useful in day to day news production) but rushes of specific stories. That said I reckon about 90% of what's kept is never ever used again
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 16 February 2013 2:02am - 2 times in total
PT
I saw one the other day with people using mobile phones and it must have easily been stock footage from 10 years ago. Nokia 3210s etc.
NW
I remember I think it was from 2000, ITN filmed aload of people from my school on their phones after school, on that day it was shown on ITV at 6.30pm and 11pm, then it was on the ITN NC a couple of times, and last I saw it was definitely around 2005 on the ITV NC, not seen it since though, probably because most people had Nokia 3210's.
I saw one the other day with people using mobile phones and it must have easily been stock footage from 10 years ago. Nokia 3210s etc.
I remember I think it was from 2000, ITN filmed aload of people from my school on their phones after school, on that day it was shown on ITV at 6.30pm and 11pm, then it was on the ITN NC a couple of times, and last I saw it was definitely around 2005 on the ITV NC, not seen it since though, probably because most people had Nokia 3210's.
BA
Shots of new technology like phones will also come from the manufacturers sending out video news releases.
In my experience it's just down to someone noticing it's out of date or a news editor getting bored of it and the footage/tape being deleted or withdrawn. There normally isn't a way to put expiry dates as you can't predict when stuff will expire.
However it is sometimes difficult to stop shots like that being reused because with today's production systems producers can look through archives and retrieve their own archive. So instead of going back to the stockshots compilation they'll just use it from a recent package, it's not possible to go back and label every single instance it was used. I believe some modern systems do allow this, though it's not foolproof.
No, something like that is usually done in house by the broadcaster, if someone wants a particular shot like that for a package it's far easier just to film it exactly as they want it than rake through libraries and you certainly wouldn't want to buy it. In my experience studio crews appreciate having something creative to do between bulletins. Of course such shots are then kept in case someone wants it again
That response was truly insightful - I did suspect that such things didn't have a massively formal process, and it's interesting to read that some of the footage is a nice bit of creativity for crews.
Maybe one day I'll be part of a bit of footage, in a crowd of people...
What I was wondering about was how often are such shots updated? In general, technology reports include very recent footage - doubtless down to the number of conventions they make the trip to.
Shots of new technology like phones will also come from the manufacturers sending out video news releases.
Quote:
But sometimes, you get that aforementioned shot of Internet Explorer 4 displayed on the boxy VDU sneaking in. Is there a schedule to update the shots? Or are the older shots down to the fact the older ones aren't always excised?
In my experience it's just down to someone noticing it's out of date or a news editor getting bored of it and the footage/tape being deleted or withdrawn. There normally isn't a way to put expiry dates as you can't predict when stuff will expire.
However it is sometimes difficult to stop shots like that being reused because with today's production systems producers can look through archives and retrieve their own archive. So instead of going back to the stockshots compilation they'll just use it from a recent package, it's not possible to go back and label every single instance it was used. I believe some modern systems do allow this, though it's not foolproof.
Quote:
On a related note, I would presume the shots of various objects in slow motion on a white background are purchased rather than made by the broadcaster themselves - is this true? In either case, it'll still be somebody's job to spin a pound coin so it looks good on the slow motion shot.
No, something like that is usually done in house by the broadcaster, if someone wants a particular shot like that for a package it's far easier just to film it exactly as they want it than rake through libraries and you certainly wouldn't want to buy it. In my experience studio crews appreciate having something creative to do between bulletins. Of course such shots are then kept in case someone wants it again
That response was truly insightful - I did suspect that such things didn't have a massively formal process, and it's interesting to read that some of the footage is a nice bit of creativity for crews.
Maybe one day I'll be part of a bit of footage, in a crowd of people...
JO
That football image is being used on the new series of Late Kick Off on the plasmas here in the Midlands, first time it's come from the current BBC Midlands Today set.
I was once in an edit suite in TVC and heard an editor asking "Don't we have any more recent footage of unemployed people? I think this guy's been looking for a job for 15 years."
Personally, I'm a fan of this football.
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/464xn/p00xyl4d.jpg
Personally, I'm a fan of this football.
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/464xn/p00xyl4d.jpg
That football image is being used on the new series of Late Kick Off on the plasmas here in the Midlands, first time it's come from the current BBC Midlands Today set.
GE
thegeek
Founding member
An excellent bit of stock footage on Breakfast this morning:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/nonstick/1998-1_zps0f5c6991.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/nonstick/1998-2_zpsddb16be7.png
which can be pinpointed to November 11th 1998, as the only Wednesday 11th between the launch of Sky Digital and the demise of Sky Soap.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/nonstick/1998-1_zps0f5c6991.png
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/nonstick/1998-2_zpsddb16be7.png
which can be pinpointed to November 11th 1998, as the only Wednesday 11th between the launch of Sky Digital and the demise of Sky Soap.
JO
ah, Paramount still timesharing with Nick...
which can be pinpointed to November 11th 1998, as the only Wednesday 11th between the launch of Sky Digital and the demise of Sky Soap.
ah, Paramount still timesharing with Nick...