Where to get raw footage for my students?

Report · Feb 22, 2011

I am teaching a video editing class and I need to find some raw footage for them to edit. I have some projects that came with the class but they are old and not very good. One project uses footage of a bank robbery that I now learned is for a short film called, "The Heist," but we are missing some of the footage and I cannot seem to find it anywhere online (or hardly any information about it). I do not need the highest quality footage but I do need complete projects, so the students can look at all the different shots and cut them down into finished products (commercials, music videos, corporate videos, short films, TV shows, anything and everything I can find). Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated!

Report · Feb 23, 2011

Off the top of my mind, you could find some DVDs of public domain films (you'll see really cheesy DVDs that have 2-3 black and white films from the 30's). Rip them, deinterlace them and you may have a good assignment of having your class cut them down to a theatrical trailer.

I don't know what level of class or are group you're teaching, but it may be worth teaming up with a local college's film or broadcast department. They could funnel down their student's projects.

Report · Feb 23, 2011

Yes, those are not bad ideas but I really want to find some already shot, raw footage, so they need to make choices as to how much of each shot to use. Do we see the women enter through the door and walk all the way down the hall or do we see her open the door, cut to something else, then see her near the other end of the hall, etc.?

This is an general introduction to editing, and we do have projects, I'm just sure there is better footage out there. I found this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va3BhqxxFe8

It is cut from raw footage that I was given for this class, but I do not have all the shots I see in here and my footage does not look this good. If I could find a complete copy of this, and other things like it, I'd be very happy and so would my students.

Thanks,

JKL

Report · Feb 23, 2011

James,

Welcome to the forum.

One good source of footage would be Adobe Classroom in a Book Premiere Pro CS5, Adobe Press. There is plenty of footage on the included DVD. This suggestion has an added benefit, or two:

The footage comprises several takes for a finished Project, and some of those takes are not the ultimate, so there are lessons on Color Correction, etc., sprinkled throughout the Project. Also, the book offers the teacher various options on which "lessons" to work on, and where that might fall into the course. You will basically have a teaching guide, with plenty of source footage.

I find the CiaB series to be great, as the author takes one through PrPro, step by step, starting with a tour of the GUI, and plenty of background on how things are done in PrPro. Along the way, he covers plenty of "how," but also concentrates heavily on the "why," so it's easy to translate the exercises into plenty of real world situations. I know of several community college courses that are built specifically around the CiaB. For every version on PrPro (and also AfterEffects, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.) the CiaB is my first purchase, often even before I actually purchase the upgrade, or install it. Right now, I am waiting on a new set of computers, before I install CS5, but have already read most of CiaB PrPro CS5. This helps me get up to speed, as soon as I install the new version. Of all the CiaB for various Adobe programs, I find the ones for PrPro to be about the best written.

Not sure about any licensing issues with the use of the stock footage, but I'll bet that Adobe will be very willing to help you out there, as education is a high priority, and especially with PrPro CS5. In the above mentioned community college classes, the book is purchased by each student, so your case will likely differ. Still, Adobe is big on education with their programs, so should be very, very accommodating.

Good luck,

Hunt

PS - one added benefit is that Curt Wrigley, the author, also offers tips on good videography, along the way!

Report · Feb 23, 2011

I too would be interested in getting my hands on what you are looking for. And have tried. And I work on movies, tv shows, commercials as a grip... on crews....so you would think it would be fairly easy for me to find ... After more than a year of keeping my eyes peeled for stuff I still haven't been able to get material like that.

I'll mention what I've found out as it might help narrow your own search down.

First off you're not looking for "raw" footage... raw is a type of video format and when I read this thread title that's what I thought you were looking for...

There is some raw footage samples at this link ...and a few "shots" that can be edited together ( like same scene , 2 camera angles )...but nothing near as long as you are looking for....

However, the footage is like from a red camera or prosumer cameras...I only used a couple clips from red camera from this link...and didnt check out all the stuff thats there...so you'd have to check it out yourself...

http://groups.adobe.com/assets/CreativeSuite5/CS5-Demo-Assets/
AECS 5_ Demo Assets_ final zip is the one I used...

within that zip file I used a couple clips of a guy running while explosions happen on either side of him...that you can "edit"... short though. you might find more stuff to use.

what you're looking for is "scripted" material ( could be MOS ( no sound ) --and probably would be if pro stuff )

pro stuff has sound mixed separately from the camera, and slates ( clappers ) are used in each shot to sync the sound later.

If you do manage to find "dailies" from a tv show or movie, commercial, etc... that would most likely be on DVD and the quality for editing and export would not be the best cause its aleady mpeg 2 - dvd compression for viewing....

If you want the original stuff it would have to be on hard drive or tape.... which isn't going to happen.

DVD dailies given by productions to the director of photography and some others on the crews are given BACK to production in most cases, and everyone signs secrecy clauses and all that stuff, so sharing that stuff with anyone is a clear violation of not only that contract but also the copyright laws.

So getting dailies is not a very promising and likely scenario.....

With maybe one exception... if you are an accredited school and you write to the producers of a TV show you MIGHT be able to get samples of very old show dailies or dailies from a show that has been cancelled a long time ago ( no more likelihood of marketing in a secondary market ) But as you know, DVD's are still sold now for old Hawaii Five-O TV shows...so this route for you is probably going to require you and your students sign some sort of copyright stuff etc just to "play" with the stuff...

You can see how getting material like you would like to have ( and me too ! ) is very hard to come by....good luck and if you find any source please post it here as I would also like to find that sort of stuff...even if it is just DVD stuff.

good luck

Report · Jul 23, 2012

i do not know about good footage for commercials and or other kind of footage besides film, since those others require people talking straight to the camera about a product but I found this website http://straycinema.com where you can download really good footage and create a story of your own with it. i think you could assign a project where they can only use this footage and come out with a story of their own, sort of like a film festival. Also i think having them make a script for commercials or other sort of film and then shooting it even with their cellphones (4G kind of cellphone if any around) could be a fun thing to ask them to do as well.

Report · Jul 23, 2012

I supoose that if I were you, I would contact the Art Institute of Colorado. It is their footage and their video online.

Perhaps if they no longer use the material, they might be inclined to offer it to you gratis. You never know. It is certainly worth asking.

Perhaps another way to go about this is to find a story that you like and have the class act it out. Or get the drama department to do it. There are plenty of people with Android or Apple SmartPhones to shoot the video. You might also find some students with nicer cameras that can provide you with some decent footage.

If you are the jamesklambert from jamesklambert.com then get your parents to provide a score after seeing the raw footage.

-- Steven

artofzootography.com

Report · Jan 19, 2013

I know this may be to late, but Film riot upoaded some raw footage that you can download ofr free. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2VSHC9DFbQ

Report · Aug 24, 2017

editstock.com Sells excellent short films foe classroom and individuals Complete with script,

EDL, lined script score and plenty of footage from multi-camera shoots.

Report · May 17, 2020

Elements of Film

They make editing projects called FilmKits. They are designed and created with the intent of providing the most amount of footage and coverage possible for those who are learning how to edit. There are multiple takes, shots and angles allowing you to have some creative freedom when editing the story. They are designed exclusively for editing practice.

Along with the video footage, they provide the music as well as the all the sound design files necessary to tell the story. It's the complete package!

They even have a Free Music Video FilmKit for you to try out!

It’s all royalty free and can be used for your editing reel, if you’d like.