There are all types of ways to enhance a news editorial or movie. Some people shoot on location, but there are times when there is no access to a location. News stations may be covering a storm, but the area that they need to set up in may not be accessible due to weather conditions. People that are filming a movie may not have access to the type of budget that they need to shot in certain locations. This is why stock footage is so valuable.

There are lots of film crews that go out and take lots of extra footage that is not used in production. There are multiple reasons that this may happen. Sometimes the directors may not have a total grip on the production. The final presentation can always be edited. Sometimes it may fit into the production. Sometimes it doesn’t.

It is very common for news programs to use all of these extra pieces of footage for other stories down the line. This is what happens quite often with local news programs. Camera crews may just shoot a lot of footage just to have extra for other news stories. This is more cost effective. A crew is already on site. It just makes sense to get the footage while they are already on location.

Movies will pull these types of videos from archives at times to incorporate it into movies. It is essential for films that are based on time periods. So many times the film will depend on the footage from the archives to create the timeline. There are some clips that are edited in movies by inserting movie characters.

This is also quite common in music as well. Lots of artists that are deceased will have music that is remastered and released to the public. Big artists like the Beatles and Michael Jackson have a lot of footage to concerts and rehearsals. There is so much footage that has never been released. Some of it may be related to concerts. Other things may be interviews. All of it becomes valuable to fans after the artist is no longer living. This type of footage will usually become part of a box set or music and video. A DVD with this type of video can sell well.

That is the amazing thing about this concept of archived film. A lot of it is just recorded and not really used anywhere for a really long time. Something may happen that triggers the need for this footage. Suddenly, these interviews, concerts, and landscape timepieces become the most important thing in the world. This is why there is a time and place for everything in the world of film.