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Documentary producers, film directors, or journalists may at times need archival footage of news for their documentaries, films, or special news. Being a direct proof of reality, archival footage leaves a much stronger impression than any form of animation. In this article, Online PR Service B2Press will address what archival footage is, how the use of archival footage in documentaries enriches the narration and how to find the archival news footage about Turkey.
Archival news or historical news footage is characterized as the most realistic documents that shed light on a certain period of a country. Documentary producers, directors, or journalists in particular may need various archival footage for the projects they work on. Historical video sections come forward as powerful tools that augment the reality of the story, help the viewers witness the circumstances of the period in question, and maximize the narrative power of the final product.
However, the resources available on the internet are often not sufficient for access to archival footage that is suitable in form and content for being directly used by the producers in their documentaries, films, or special news. In such cases arises the need to contact with organizations that offer the broadest audio visual news archive in the country to obtain the required footage. The news agencies operating in a country are capable of providing the richest archives to respond to such needs. So, how do you contact with the news agencies and obtain the footage?
In this article, Online PR Service B2Press will discuss the importance of using archival footage in documentaries and the things to pay attention to when using archival footage. We will also talk about how you can access Demirören News Agency, the provider of Turkey's richest audio visual news archive, via B2Press. And such questions as “How do you find the documentary archival footage?", “Why is archive footage important in documentary?”, “How much does archival footage cost?”, “What is archival footage?”, “How to find old news footage?” will thus be answered.
Let's start with the definition of archival footage. Archival footage in the sense of documentary or film production includes visual materials, such as photographs or videos, recorded and saved the moment an event has occurred.
The use of historical footage helps maximize the impression left by documentary films and special news. Archival films, photographs, letters, news captions, newspapers, and all other archival materials enable the viewers to feel more closely bonded with the subject. This helps your film serve its intended purpose. Archival footage of past events that the viewers have not witnessed in person but only hear about by means of what is told also serves as proof of the reality and the truth of your story.
Ken Burns, the director and producer who has been making documentary films for more than 40 years, also recognized with 15 Emmy Awards, 2 Grammy Awards, and 2 Oscar nominations, is the creator of the Civil War which is listed among "the most impressive documentaries of all times" in a survey carried out by the Realscreen magazine. According to Burns, you have to collect as much archival footage as possible and use materials with the highest relevance to the subject when producing documentaries. This is because general stock footage of the country, despite being available through platforms such as Shutterstock, fails to create a sufficient impression since they often are too generic in nature and disservice to the originality of the documentary. In cases of more specific events with direct references to historical reality or a historical piece of news, it becomes more difficult to find footage that offers the chance of fair use. While animation is an option, it is not preferred in many cases because of the extra cost and the risk of damaging the reality of the documentary. In short, documentary producers and journalists choose to make direct use of historical archival footage and historical video sections when creating films that focus on a country or a community such as Turkey.
Those who intend to use archival footage in their films, documentaries, or special news must pay attention to some details. This is the only possible way of making effective use of archival news footage or historical videos. Before moving on to the pricing of archival footage and the average costs, let's have a look at these details.
Be decisive and identify your needs. Film producers or directors must first be strong-minded in finding resources. The unauthorized use of images that are under the possession of a person or organization can lead to copyright issues. License and copyright fees may vary depending on the purpose for which the documentary, film, or news is produced. It gains importance at this point to work with the correct providers and reach out to sources that have adapted the sale of archival footage as a business model.
Have more footage at hand than you can use. No matter how well you plan the production process, many things may change during the course. Therefore, keeping an ample set of archival videos available gives you the flexibility to quickly adapt to any possible changes in plans. According to Ken Burns, the amount of archival footage to be stored by a production team must be 40 or 50 times what is planned for use in the final output. Producers are expected to know the details of the subject they are telling about. For instance, the producers of a documentary on the 80s of Turkey must possess as much material to teach them what life was like in Turkey during those years. This is the only means of ensuring content integrity and using the correct archival videos in the correct places.
Give as much weight to aesthetics as the narration itself. Archival videos are materials that were recorded in a time when technology was not as sophisticated as today. A documentary becomes aesthetically stronger when pieces of footage used are consistent in quality. Therefore, the suggestion is to obtain documentary footage from a number of powerful resources, if possible. The news footage must all be of similar technical quality for achieving a coherent visual narration language.
Online PR Service B2Press enables you to have access to the wealth of archival videos and photographs that Demirören News Agency (DHA), one of Turkey's biggest news agencies, has been sharing with film producers, documentary makers, journalists, and other people since 2004. The archival footage database of Turkey, with categories as general, sports, and foreign news, promises a wide collection of archival footage of Turkey including TV news archive, social life footage, historical video archive, digital news, and archival footage of Turkey for documentary production. Offering full access to the archival news footage of Turkey, B2Press also comes out as an advantageous option in the pricing of archival videos.
Having been in service since 1999, DHA is in the hold of an extensive footage archive of many events that have shaped Turkey's recent history, thanks to its reporters, cameramen, and photographers working actively in all corners of the country. The scope of DHA's archives includes but is not limited to news footage or events. Images with documentary quality that demonstrate the living practices of Turkish society can be obtained from DHA archives through Online PR Service B2Press.
The question of “What's the price of archival footage?” can be answered as follows: Though the old footage does not have a fixed price scale, pricing depends on such details as the importance and date of the content, how long and in what region it will be used and whether to be used with or without a logo.
Online PR Service B2Press asks those who demand archival footage the following questions in order to calculate the cost of archival footage of Turkey offered by DHA:
The persons wishing to access the news footage archive of DHA first have to share with B2Press the details of the news, the content, or the date. B2Press then provides to the requesting person the original files with time codes obtained from the archival video and photograph collection of DHA. Archival materials, priced according to the content, date, duration, intended purpose, and degree of importance, are delivered to the requesting person upon agreeing to the purchase and signing the license agreement.
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