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The Footage Log

Licensing, archives and research, entry by entry

Licensing moving images, entry by entry

Notes kept while researching, clearing and buying footage: what a license actually fixes, what it costs, where archive and newsreel material is held, and how to get a catalogue to give up the shot you need. Each entry carries the date it was written and stays where it was filed.

Entries
12
Years covered
3
Last entry

2026

7 entries, February to August

August 2026

  1. What b-roll is for, and what makes a shot worth licensing

    Six jobs, the difference between coverage and filler, and the three technical points that decide whether archive b-roll can be cut at all.

    Craft8 min read

July 2026

  1. How to search a footage database and actually find the shot

    Rewrite the request as a filmed event, then let the filters do the work. Plus the tactics that only apply to archives.

    ResearchMethod9 min read

June 2026

  1. Choosing a footage library for documentary work

    Seven criteria, five kinds of supplier, and why a documentary buys a chain of title rather than a shot.

    Suppliers9 min read

May 2026

  1. The nine lines a footage research request needs

    A brief a stranger can search from: subject, period, place, people, shots, format, license scope, dates and scale.

    ResearchTemplate9 min read

April 2026

  1. What footage costs, and why nobody can quote it in the abstract

    Nine variables move a quote, and the clip fee is only one row of the budget. Plus the real comparison between licensing and shooting.

    Money10 min read

March 2026

  1. Where archival and newsreel footage actually lives

    National collections, newsreel libraries and the commercial archive houses, and how to tell a rights holder from a custodian.

    ArchiveSources10 min read

February 2026

  1. License it or shoot it: comparing the two costs honestly

    The clip fee against the day rate is the wrong comparison. What each side really carries, the four cases where a shoot cannot compete, and the reuse question that settles the rest.

    MoneyProduction10 min read

See all seven entries from 2026, month by month

2025

2025 : Stock Footage Licensing, Archives and Research

4 entries, June to December

December 2025

  1. Public domain footage, and how to license old film that is not

    The 95 year line, the renewal window, federal works, and what still bites after the copyright has expired.

    RightsArchive12 min read

October 2025

  1. What you actually receive, and whether it will cut

    Resolution, frame rate, codec, colour and audio: the five fields on an item page that decide whether a licensed clip drops into the timeline or costs you an afternoon.

    TechnicalDelivery11 min read

September 2025

  1. Royalty free against rights managed, line by line

    One fee for a broad set of uses, or a fee calculated from the use you declare. The comparison table and the two traps that catch experienced buyers.

    Licensing8 min read

June 2025

  1. A working glossary of footage and licensing terms

    Around sixty terms from footage quotes and contracts, defined in one or two sentences and grouped by where they appear.

    Reference11 min read

2024

1 entry, in November

November 2024

  1. How footage licensing works, from first search to signed license

    The four parameters every license fixes, the difference between a library and a rights holder, and what a license never covers.

    LicensingReference9 min read