There is a reason why stock footage isn’t all that popular among those that are wanting to get a more professional look when filming. For one, stock footage doesn’t always match up, and it’s a definite sticking point for many people that the simpler the footage, the less likely it is that people are going to watch, sometimes. For the A-Team or any other established show or movie, it’s not a great idea to depend on stock footage for anything other than what might be planned when trying to show the program. As you can imagine, stock footage has been used in the past for a variety of shows and movies, in a lot of different ways and for different reasons. But the idea of using stock footage for anything that should be original is one of the worst ideas possible since it indicates that there was no other option or that someone was up for being lazy when it came to hatching and developing their own ideas. It’s true that stock footage can save time and money, but at the same time it’s usually kind of easy to point out and it’s the type of footage that usually needs to be used in a way that is ironic or simply because the use of such footage is considered humorous or otherwise useful. In any other case, it’s just flat out lazy.
That sounds a bit harsh, but when talking about big studios it’s easy to think that the lot of them should be able to come up with something original for a lower budget that wouldn’t break or push them over the line. Given how much it takes to create a Hollywood movie it feels as though using stock footage might actually be seen to be something that would open a debate over the particulars of why it’s acceptable and why it isn’t. After all, not every studio has the same budget and what one studio can afford might break another studio. The argument against stock footage is that if a studio can spend the kind of money it would take to make the movie or show in question then it’s worth spending the extra money since quite often the result is that they’ll see a much better return for the effort that was put into the project. The idea of needing state-of-the-art special effects and visuals though isn’t always going to guarantee a great return since plenty of big movies that have had a seriously inflated budget have gone on to make very little when it comes to getting their money back. In a way, it makes a person wonder just how big, expensive movies keep being made when a studio makes a serious flop now and again. Obviously, the money comes from somewhere, but the idea of keeping the faith after one or two flops is hard to see, especially in a place such as Hollywood.
Stock footage isn’t the worst thing that’s ever been used in a movie or TV show, but what we see in the clip above isn’t even the bargain basement, it’s as close to nothing as a person can come before hitting rock bottom. There is plenty of stock footage out there that is useful to many filmmakers, but some of it is usually best considered as less than useful unless someone is making a commercial that needs a certain look or image. Even then it might not be the right kind of footage that’s needed since to be real, stock footage is the kind of footage that requires the right time and place to be used no matter how vague it is. In a big way, stock footage is more like filler that no one wants but can use when they need it and have to fill a few seconds here and there in their movie, TV show, or commercial. Otherwise, stock footage feels like the kind of thing that someone might have in their junk drawer and has to shuffle past in order to get something they needed. Of course, the very idea of being in the metaphorical junk drawer means that the footage might have use at some other time, no matter how obscure it might be when it’s used. There’s usually someone out there that can make use of the stuff that other people don’t want, but in this manner, it does feel as though it might be that one in a hundred chance that it could be useful.
Maybe the odds are better than that, but at times it feels as though stock footage is best when left where it might be found, in a drawer somewhere that someone forgot about. Some stock footage is quite useful, but other footage is basically filler that has little to no other use.
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