An Interview on Stock Video with Kyle Trotter, Director of Creative Video Content, Shutterstock
Get the inside scoop on Stock Video from one of the most popular Stock enterprises Shutterstock!
Tell us a bit about yourself, Kyle, and your role at Shutterstock.
I started my career in film as a Production Assistant, just like anybody who starts out in this industry. I went to film school, started making some things myself, and built a commercial spec reel. Most of my experience came from working on some internal productions, commercials, and then later in broadcast news. After that, I started building my own brand and content series, where we produced a micro-series about craft cocktails.
The idea of stock became really interesting to me. There was a problem to solve about how you can make stock footage work across multiple verticals and use cases. They have to be generic, but also specific. Stock essentially means everything, not just one thing. I learned how to apply that knowledge from my technical background in film and that medium. I built that into my role here, with a goal of how to make the quality of stock footage rise. That’s what intrigued me, and that’s what I’m working on executing with the team and talented filmmakers on Select - Shutterstock's new premium stock video service.
How has video production in stock footage changed since you started?
There is a misconception that stock footage can be lower quality and that it isn’t executed by professionals. But that’s not the case. We receive professionally produced content from contributors daily. Our Select collection is a great opportunity to feature that exceptional content.
All stock is a digital marketplace for people to find the content they need.
We have the opportunity to raise that bar, and allow differentiation with a different price point. By launching Select, we aim to change that paradigm over time.
In your professional opinion, what defines good stock footage?
It’s somewhat subjective, but there are standards you can associate with stock footage. When you’re searching for commercially viable content, you are looking for good resolution, color space, composition, camera movement, and camera dynamics. All of that works together to help tell stories that are authentic and create meaningful connections with audiences.
What goes into creating high-quality premium footage for Shutterstock Select?
With premium footage, you want that quality level to be there, therefore there’s a lot of steps to get to that quality level. Things like sourcing the right camera, which may mean renting the right gear to maximize the best visual aesthetic you can create. You need to understand the scene, so sourcing the right location in relevant cities. Finding actors in those places who understand what stock is, and how to create for stock. And then finally, on Shutterstock some contributors work in teams, so it’s finding the right team that’s able to move at the speed you need.