Is easy access important? And at a time when ROI rules, is ittime for an overhaul of the various purchase models? "It's about allthose things, but some sites seem to be trying too hard, addingmultiple payment options and a huge array of search facilities whichactually bog down the functionality," says Graham Elliott ofnzstockfootage ( www.nzstockfootage.co.nz ).
"There's no point to quantity if it is not relevant, but there'salways a point to quality. If there is an over-supply, you just haveto be better than the rest," says Steve Bicknell, who, with wifePenny and dog Al Guthrie, operates New Zealand Stock Library(newzealandstocklibrary.co.nz), a collection of nearly 6000 images,taken over two years as the trio travelled the length and breadth ofthe South and North Islands.
But while parts of the stock industry may be oversupplied,Dunedin-based David Wall ( www.davidwallphoto.com ) believes thereare still many subjects where it's hard to find a range of goodquality images.
"For example, we have a big demand for our large collection ofaerial images. There are not many photographers charteringhelicopters, bolting stabilising gyroscopes to top-end professionalcameras and hanging out the door to get shots at locations across NZand Australia." (Actually the number of flying photographers isgrowing. The Bicknells also take to the air, with Penny piloting thecouple's own aircraft and Steve taking the pictures.)
"The industry is not what it was 10 or even five years ago," saysArran Birchenough at Getty Images ( www.gettyimages.co.nz ). "Asclients consume a diverse range of media, demand for a variety oftype, volume and price has increased. With the advent of microstock,and user-generated content, our clients have demanded we produceauthentic imagery and most importantly, regionally relevantcontent."
Two years ago Getty Images partnered with Flickr to launch TheFlickr Collection; images created by photographers from the Flickrcommunity who are enrolled and located in more than 100 countries."It includes over 1500 NZ images," says Birchenough.
NHNZ Moving Images ( www.nhnzmovingimages.com ), which startedlife as the archive for the Natural History Unit of TVNZ more than30 years ago, has been largely under the radar for many in theadvertising industry, says manager Caroline Cook.
Since the unit was acquired by Fox TV Studios and reborn as NHNZMoving Images, the focus has shifted from supplying footage fortelevision production to the advertising industry. "It's a differentmarket, with different demands," says Cook. "With ideas needing tobe developed and delivered quickly for short production deadlines,we recognised it was important to have a strong online presence todeliver footage straight into their hands."
In December, NHNZ Moving Images relaunched its website andcontent, and can now connect directly with the creative industrythrough its high speed video database. "Our new site enables us toshowcase the very best of our stock footage, respond quickly torequests and offer high speed screener downloads and secure downloadfrom our FTP site," Cook says.
"The advertising industry can now search our clip library,interrogate our database and order stock seamlessly."
For NHNZ Moving Images, the quality of the information around theshot is every bit as important as the quality of the shot itself."We recently had a client looking for a specific type of ice floefound only in a certain area of the Antarctic," Cook says. "We wereable to advise on the exact location of the shots and also whethertheir assumptions about the ice floes were correct."
High quality key wording gives it an edge, and its informationabout a shot and technical details are accurate and specific. "Whenwe say HD it is not HDV or prosumer camera footage," Cook says."It's footage that's typically shot by a high-end HD camera by aworld-leading film maker."
Consistency of quality gives Peter Young Stock Footage (www.peteryoung.co.nz ) that essential point of difference, saysPeter Young. He shoots all material himself and his images have astrong focus on NZ landscapes, people and places. "Our aim is tobecome the go-to site for quality NZ imagery."
Young says today's market can be generally categorised into threegroups: those looking for individual shots (usually for TVCs), thoselooking for sequences for longer form (such as docos), and thoselooking for content generated from images for branding and digitaldisplay from websites to large screens.
"I would say this third group offers the greatest room for scope.If you have the footage you can create content right across theboard, whether it's television, the web or digital signage.
"Technology is changing all the time in terms of backend websitecoding and for accessing and viewing material, but the real work infootage libraries is the enormous amount of time cataloguing andconverting so you can present footage in an online store-frontsituation. It needs to be logical and make sense to the personcoming to the site for the first time."
Being competitive is all about making it as easy as possible forclients, says David Wall. "They don't want to look through screedsof images that are not relevant or are of poor quality. We put ahuge effort into good key wording of images, having a range ofsearch options on our website, such as map search, keyword, theme,region, and so on, and ranking the images so those with the mostimpact will appear in the front pages."
The market is evolving all the time, says Graham Elliott. "Newproducts like cross-media packs featuring matched high-end stillsand motion using the same models, styling and location are oneexample. And of course the demand for 3D footage will steadilyincrease."
New printing technologies have seen growth in demand for verylarge prints and murals, says David Wall. "We regularly supply hi-res images for larger prints, often replacing images sourcedelsewhere because the quality or resolution is not high enough."
'New and unique' HD and 3D footage is the catchphrase this year,says Caroline Cook. "By mid-year we'll be able to offer 3D stockfootage of some of the world's greatest natural heritage sites."
The growing number of stock libraries and the demand for imagesto use in new media is driving changes to the traditional purchasemodels. "Client demand has required us to expand the purchasingmodel," says Getty's Birchenough. "Our Thinkstock product recentlylaunched Flex Subscription allowing clients to subscribe frombetween 50 and 250 images a month which suits Monday to Fridaybusinesses. By the end of 2011 approximately 10 million royalty-free images will be available via Thinkstock."
Getty Images has also relaunched and reinvigorated its Photos.comoffering aimed at meeting the needs of designers who are happy towork with smaller file sizes and require imagery at the most cost-effective prices. Getty Images offers plans from a single image toannual subscriptions with the choice of file sizes for just web useto smaller print sizes, says Birchenough.
David Wall says his subscription deals mean designers can getwhat they want, when they need it, without having to worry aboutprice negotiations, keeping in budget and usage rates. "They canjust get on with sourcing the images they need. In the end it's notrocket science - it just comes down to making it easy for clients tofind and use, top quality images."
"With more players comes more pressure to lower costs," saysGraham Elliott. "I think there will always be a market for RM and RFbut not surprisingly, with new markets being created, there comes aneed to adapt and find fresh ways to price stock material.
"It's a challenging but also very exciting time for any stockfootage business."
For newcomer Steve Bicknell, a challenge has been discovering how"many and varied" clients are. "Since getting into the librarybusiness [he's an advertising photographer] I'm constantly surprisedat the broad scope that is required. Images one might have thoughtwould never sell do, and other more obvious choices do not."
David & Barby Brown, are also newcomers to the industry. Theytook over mychillybin ( www.mychillybin.co.nz ) late last year, andbelieve having a single price for any image size, with releasesalready taken care of and instant image download, is what makestheir business stand out in a crowded market.
"Customers find it incredibly frustrating to find the perfectimage in a stock library then click and discover it's an ultra-premium priced image and either outside the budget or not availableon their particular fixed-price subscription plan," David Brownsays.
Without exception, stock libraries want to make choosing imagessimple and cost-effective, but as Peter Young points out, sites takea lot to maintain. "There needs to be a bottom line that allows usto stay in business."
Canterbury Tales
It's hard to keep a good stock library down. In spite of thedevastation wrought by the Christchurch earthquake in February, it'sbusiness as usual for three well-known Canterbury libraries.
Hedgehog House, photonewzealand, and Peter Young Stock Footageall report major upheavals to their business premises but they're upand running again, thanks to back-ups and well planned managementsystems.
All three libraries say phones have been running hot withmessages of support from around NZ and from overseas - messageswhich have been very much appreciated.
