Written by Stock footage can be called many things and used for many reasons. It is most commonly called archive footage. When movies are made, not all of the film used in the making of the movie becomes part of the final product. There are mistakes, bad takes or a myriad other things to account for literally miles of film shot. This extra film is stored in giant warehouses until it is one day needed.
The reasons why this film is kept are numerous. First, it is stored through the editing process because filmmakers might not know everything they need. They afterwards forget about the extra film or store it because it is property of the studio. Or they can use the extra film to put out a behind-the-scenes preview for the movie, allowing the audience to see some of the things in the movie without actually showing scenes from it.
Since the birth of the DVD, stock footage makes for nice special features. Bloopers are a great way to get to know the cast and footage can let the audience know how certain stunts or big moments were really done. It can give clues to the what it might be like to be on the set. Many fans of movies watch these special features religiously and would do anything to get their hands on all of the stock footage from a film.
Public domain footage is included in many films. There are many large moments in history that were taped and are available for people and filmmakers to use. The government maintains much of this footage. It makes it easy for filmmakers to find appropriate clips of their subjects or to include or research historical figures for their projects.
This is not just limited to public figures though. There is stock footage of almost any iconic momement, even moments from other movies. The latest trend on some playful television channels is to do movie or celebrity countdowns, where a bunch of people sit around and talk about great moments in entertainment. This is when stock footage is often used from other films – to show the audience at home exactly what the person on TV is talking about.
It doesn’t have to be a large, iconic moment, though. Much of the footage is used as background in the movie and is scarcely noticed by the audience. Many films can use the same shot of a landscape or the same background for someone driving. Thematically the footage can be good to subtly demonstrate the atmosphere of the film.
It is certainly not as interesting as other types of stock footage, but it can be a clear indicator of the quality of film. If even the background shots are well thought out to go with the main action, it will all appear seamless and appropriate.
This stock video footage is also very useful in films with low budgets or television shows that can get away with using the same clip over and over. Many children’s programs use this type of video stock footage video. If a character does a certain joke or dance over and over, it is very often just the same clip played every episode.