For First Time, Affordable Clips Come with Custom-Designed 5.1 Soundtracks

This week Sony Pictures Entertainment unveiled a novel concept in the realm of stock footage: high-quality clips from its archive of motion picture properties that also feature studio-produced 5.1 soundtracks. The company’s stock footage division developed the collection of curated car chases, explosions, helicopter shots, train vistas and pyrotechnics for independent filmmakers, ad agencies and corporate media producers looking for reasonably priced footage with blockbuster-style impact.
Sony executives say the collection is a direct result of the requests they received from the wider content creation market for sound effects that match the quality of Sony’s footage. “Adding sound to picture completes the storytelling process; they go hand in hand,” said Tom McCarthy, executive vice president of Sony Pictures Post Production Facilities, which collaborated with Sony Pictures Sound to mix the 5.1 Collection.

Though the majority of the included clips are seconds long, the collection also features a range of extended playback sequences that have been reedited to mimic various types of television programming such as sports, documentaries, news and drama. Better yet, you don’t have to pay additional licensing fees to use these extended clips. They too come with 5.1 soundtracks but users have the option of using the sequences without sound.

Sony’s stock footage arm now has more than 150,000 HD and 35 mm clips in its full collection, which includes outtakes from Sony Pictures Television productions and feature films produced by Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures and Screen Gems. All of the 16×9 clips are rights managed and can be previewed and purchased online at http://www.sonypicturesstockfootage.com. A free registration also gives you free preview downloads and access to the collection’s researchers. You can also organize your saved clips in customized bins.