The Soros Justice Media Fellowship supports journalists and filmmakers

“The Soros Justice Media Fellowships support writers, print and broadcast journalists, bloggers, filmmakers, and other individuals with distinct voices proposing to complete media projects for local, regional, and national markets that engage the public and spur debate on one or more of the Open Society Foundations’ U.S. criminal justice priorities. The fellowships aim to mitigate the time, space, and market constraints that often discourage individuals from pursuing important but marginalized, controversial or unpopular issues in a comprehensive manner. Media fellowships are one year in duration, and fellows are expected to make their projects their full-time work during the term of the fellowship.”

Find out more about grants and funding in the grants and funding category.

To purchase a download of the Funding Your Dream Documentary seminar, click here.

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Acquiring B-roll

Are you looking for good B-roll? Well, the cheapest and easiest way to get what you need is to shoot it yourself – thus giving you ultimate control over the shots you will get.  But shooting it yourself is not always an option.  That’s when stock and archival footage come into play.  There is a lot of B-roll footage out there so here are some tips on how to get what you need.

First, figure out what type of footage will work for your project?  Do you need standard definition or high definition video?  Will you need long clips or short clips?  Are you looking for clean footage or something more graphical?   Next, consider how much time and money you are willing to spend to get the type of footage you want.

I suggest starting with internet search to pin-point the type of footage you need.  Keep in mind that it is often hard to find good footage for free.

If I am looking for footage from a particular industry, I will may search specific companies or associations for that industry to see if they have any footage available. They often do and are willing to share it at no charge.  Just look under the “media” or “press” section of their websites or give them a call.  I get a lot of good airplane and travel footage that way.

News outlets have some of the better B-roll though they can get pricey.  If you are looking for something a little more fair on the pricing side, try Gannett Video Enterprises (GVE).  They have 22 television stations in 19 markets. For a list of their markets visit http://gannett.com/web/tvstations.htm. They can fulfill many types of b-roll requests but are most commonly use as an archival resource. Their clients are usually folks who need B-roll for a specific story such as murder trials, severe weather, caught-on-tape, things like that.  Contact Jamie Romaezi at jromaezi@gannett.com or 703-854-7611. Tell them I sent you.

If you are looking to keep costs down try finding “public domain” or “royalty free” footage (meaning it is free to use)  Just take note that “public domain” or “royalty free” footage  often has a transfer or download fee.  Wikipedia has a nice list of public domain images – mostly photographs but some video footage as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Domain_Resource

A number of United States government organizations provide stock video footage that is in the public domain.  On some, like the White House website, you can download directly from the site. Others, like the Census Bureau website, require you have order the videos which they will send to you free of charge.  Here is a very small sample of what you can find on U.S. government websites:

• White House images http://www.whitehouse.gov
• People filling out forms http://2010.census.gov/mediacenter
• NASA footage http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/hd
• Medical footage http://www.nlm.nih.gov/services/stockshot.html#govimage

The National Archives is a good place to look for older footage that is generally in the public domain (such as WWII, film shot by the military, Universal News reels, presidential speeches) if you are in the Washington, DC area or know someone in the DC area that can physically go search the Archives for you.  Most of the footage is free to use but there is a small transfer free. http://www.archives.gov/research/arc

I have recently stumbled upon Pond 5. It has a lot of shorter clips that individuals upload and then set the price.  They have HD footage, music and sound effects as well.  http://www.pond5.com

Here are some other recommendations that have come my way but that I haven’t tried yet.

• Public Domain comedy video has a lot of old school (black and white era) comedy video.  http://www.pdcomedy.com
• Videohive has a variety of B-roll footage and motion graphics.  http://videohive.net/
• Footagebank.com
• Getty Images http://www.gettyimages.com/Footage
• http://www.istockphoto.com/index.php pretty cheap video and other images
• http://www.footage.net
• http://www.thoughtequity.com
• http://www.archive.org/details/prelinger

And remember, always be clear about the cost and rights of the footage before using it.  Some footage is priced per clip while others are priced per second.  Some video may have a cheap fee for broadcast but may cost considerable more for internet use.   When in doubt, call or email the footage holder with your questions.

For more b-roll sources and information, visit the B-roll category.

Steal These Documentary and Series Ideas… Please!

So many ideas and so little time. So I thought I’d share some ideas for free in the hopes that someone in the universe will stumble upon them and turn them into wonderful, fun, insightful shows, series and documentaries. Or at least, get some good brainstorming going. Did I mention that they are absolutely free?

Signs of the Messiah – This would be a documentary following people who are looking for signs that the Messiah is coming in whatever religion in which they believe. I have a friend who studies rap music and hard rock lyrics because he believes that the second coming of Jesus will be announced through music. This made me wonder how many other people out there are sign seekers in such unusual and interesting ways.

The Science Behind Rock Concerts – This documentary would follow one popular music group as they prepare for a concert. As they prepare, the film would delve into how our ears hear music, how our brains process it, how instruments make music, how we are able to sing, why humans respond to music, how microphones pick up music and how speakers broadcast music.

Extreme Collectors – I was amazed to learn that there are people who spend thousands upon thousands of dollars each year to collect sneakers! What other crazy collectors are out there? I’m sure some of these collectors as colorful characters.

6 Degrees of Separation – On each episode, contestants draw a name of a celebrity out of a big name drum. Then they have 48 hours to get in touch with that celebrity. The less steps/contacts it takes to find the celebrity, the more points they get. They also get more points for face to face meetings. The show could be hosted by someone who sort of knows Kevin Bacon. The

Ultimate Couch Potato Life – this lifestyle series would be hosted by a good looking guy with a bit of a beer belly. On each episode, he would give tips on how to maximize the coach potato experience. The tips could range from comfort food recipes to entertaining on game night. There could even be a “tools and technology” segment that explores the many uses of TiVo and such things as chairs with built in refrigerators.

From Celeb to Politician – What makes celebrities like Ronald Reagan, Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger decided to turn in the glamour for a politician’s life? And what makes them so good at it?

A Week In The Life of A Reenactor – Reenactors tend to be pretty colorful characters. They often dedicate all of their spare time to researching, practicing and preparing for reenactments in an effort to make them as real and as accurate as possible.

Greatest Fictional Characters – and their impact on society. These characters can be from books, TV, movies or cartoons. They can be dogs, doctors, lovers, villains, heros or even cars. For example, what effects have Cliff Huxtable, Gregory House and Trapper John had on our collective American psyches? This could be done as a top-10 count down show.

Mommy Bloggers – this is a phenomenon that has reached Wall Street. Many blogs started by moms about family, child rearing and motherhood now have the backing of major sponsorship. Who are these mommy bloggers and how can you cash in?

International Holidays in the U.S. – I’d love to see how Hindus in Berkeley are celebrating Diwali and how the West Indians in DC go all out for the Carnival in Brooklyn. There are lots of international holidays being celebrated in our own back yards. You don’t even need a passport.

If you’ve any of these ideas on air already, that only proves that they are good. Hey, now that I’ve written these ideas out, some of them look kinda good. Hurry up and produce them before I do!  If you have any ideas that you’d like someone else to produce, please share.