A Letter from the Artists & Content Team

Dear Pond5 Artists,

A few days ago, I captured the photo below, showing New Yorkers waiting in line for coffee while respecting 6 feet of interpersonal distance. These are scary and unprecedented moments we are all currently living through. Pond5 has instituted a work-from-home policy across all three of our global offices, and we hope and encourage all of you to be safe and to respect your local directives on social distancing.

This will mean disruption for us all. I live in a small New York apartment with my wife, who also works full time and our two-and-a-half year old daughter whose daycare is closed. We’ve been sharing parenting duties while still trying to get all our work done in very tight quarters. I’ve been forced to take many work calls in the bathroom! Thankfully, we still have our health, which is the most important thing. Many others around us are not so lucky.

So while these are turbulent times, and everyone will see fluctuations in their business due to the halted global economy, I thought I’d reach out directly to share with you some of the things we’re hearing from within the industry and pass along some info from the buy-side of the market that can help focus your efforts and keep you creating and earning.

Air travel restrictions and limits on the size of gatherings have put a halt to location-based shooting. However, content will still need to be produced to feed the record levels of media consumption on television, streaming and social media that we’re seeing as a result of stay-at-home orders. As a result, TV production is being forced to shift quickly from scripted content to factual programs.

This increase in news, archival and documentary programming will mean a subsequent rise in interest for stock media relevant to those categories. Additionally, networks may lean into programming that relies heavily on CGI. So think about what you can (safely) shoot, render, or might have already sitting on hard drives that fits these criteria.

Also, be sure to include shoot location info in your metadata. Historically, many buyers look for this data when deciding what to license for different reasons like complying with SAG obligations or funding a show by ensuring that content was shot locally. Because we expect to see a significant pivot from the TV production community away from location shooting, providing location data on your media is going to become even more important as buyers want to ensure that they are using content that is factually relevant and geographically specific.

Finally, if you capture media that reflects the current pandemic, or tangential issues like economic hardship, scarcity or social distancing, let us know when you upload by shooting an email to Support@pond5.com – we’ll consider your work for one of our Coronavirus homepage collections.

We’ll do our part, too. Rest assured that in spite of global conditions, you can continue to count on the following things from Pond5:

  • Our work-from-home curatorial team will ingest and review your content at the same, industry-leading rate
  • We will continue to be available, as before, through our world-class Support Team
  • Our Creative Partner Team is remote and firing on all cylinders – pushing and upselling your content to our Enterprise clients
  • Product and Engineering teams are still hard at work speeding up the site, making U/X enhancements and improving the ease with which e-commerce buyers can purchase your content

Thanks for being a part of our community. Now, stay safe and stay creative!


Greg Andreacchi
Director, Head of Artists & Content

Music Briefs: Slow Jams, Medical Soundtracks, Sea Shanties, Weather Forecasts

This month we’re looking for slow jams, medical soundtracks, sea shanties and weather forecasts.

Once you’ve completed your work, a unique code can be applied to each track – just add the code (provided in each brief) to your keyword tags when you upload. As a result, we’ll know which genre you’ve been focusing on.

If you have any questions or comments about any of these briefs, please email Pond5’s Director of Audio Collections, Mike Pace, at mike@pond5.com.

 

Slow Jams

Mid to down-tempo sultry R&B tracks with tasteful instrumentation for a hip, sexy, urban feel; don’t skimp on the groove!

  • KEYWORD CODE: SLOWJAMAPRIL20
  • SUGGESTED KEYWORDS: R&B, R and B, soul, urban, romantic, cool, contemporary, chill, slow jam

 

Medical Soundtracks

Think PSAs, science documentaries. Modern, minimal, thoughtful, unobtrusive.

  • KEYWORD CODE: MEDICALAPRIL20
  • SUGGESTED KEYWORDS: Documentary, medical, minimal, PSA, pharmaceutical, science

 

Sea Shanties

Avast ye! We’re looking for sing-a-long tunes for when you’re sailing the high seas (preferably accompanied by accordion or concertina). A warm hearth, a cold pint and a good time!

  • KEYWORD CODE: SEASHANTIESAPRIL20
  • SUGGESTED KEYWORDS: sea shanty, singalong, fishermen, pirates, pubs, alehouse, 1900s, accordion, jolly, tavern, captain, vessel

 

Weather Forecast

Smooth, calming, jazzy, easy listening. Great background music for when your local meteorologist gives you the five-day forecast.

  • KEYWORD CODE: WEATHERAPRIL20
  • SUGGESTED KEYWORDS: weather, local TV, calm, forecast, smooth jazz, easy listening

Don’t Forget:

Take advantage of the 50-keyword limit and add both broad and specific keywords (but no recognizable band or artist names please)!

We also encourage you to submit separate :15 and :30 versions of these tracks for social-media use.

Tags can be applied to existing tracks in your portfolio.

Top image: Starfish Guitar Player On Beach by yellowj

Creative Brief: Working From Home

Keyword Code: WFHP5BRIEF

Whether it’s a full-time remote position, a couple of days of telecommuting per week, or a full-on pandemic keeping workers inside, working from home is only increasing in the digital era. Globally, 52% of workers spend at least 1 day a week working from home, and 4.3 million Americans work from home at least half the time. Throw in the 2020 Coronavirus global health crisis, and the number of remote workers has risen to an all-time high. This can be a way to capture the new normal, including the benefits and the challenges of working from home.

Shot List Thought Starters:

  • A home office from all ends of the spectrum, both super fancy to makeshift and disorganized
  • Unique workplaces that are in non-traditional offices, for example, cabins, hotel rooms, coffee shops, etc.
  • Telecommuting with children, pets, and/or plumbers, repairmen/women and more around
  • One spouse/partner working while the other spouse/partner is cooking/cleaning/working in the background
  • Doing chores/activities while in meetings (cooking, cleaning, organizing, working out, etc.)
  • Pitch meetings/presentations in a home/apartment setting
  • Virtual group meetings, with multiple people on the screen at once

 

Suggested Keywords: Working from home, telecommuting, home office, remote, workplace, virtual team, freelance, autonomy, multitasking, business

Typical Users: Technology, city planners, travel industries, governments, fitness and health companies, outdoor brands, vacation companies, lifestyle brands, news media, documentary filmmakers

Father Working From Home On Laptop As Son Plays With Toys by monkeybusinessimages
Pro-Tip: The biggest thing here is to stay safe and healthy when making this content, and don’t shoot with more people than what your government or public health agencies recommend. Do your best to cast real-looking talent with real skills, to get authentic content. Be conscious of logos and other intellectual property as well.

Casting Considerations: Race and gender diversity, authenticity with talent and imagery. Accept the challenge to subtract artificiality from your setups. In other words, keep it REAL. These things will play an important role in the success of your shoot.

Location Diversity: Houses, apartments, cabins, bungalows, hotels, campers/RV’s

Young Woman Working At Desk In Home Office & Talking On Phone by hotelfoxtrot

Before You Shoot:

  • Please check what content already exists in the Pond5 marketplace
  • Think about a visual approach that will result in new and fresh footage
  • Remember that each shot must communicate a clear message

Submission Checklist:

  • Remember to tag your clips with the keyword code: WFHP5BRIEF
  • Have all property and model releases filled out and submitted
  • Also, please remember, no logos or brands may be visible in any of the clips
  • Don’t forget to add any applicable conceptual keywords to the clips

Top image: Female Freelancer Working From Home by kasto80

Music Briefs: Cartoon Music, Arpeggios, Music from Tamil, Political Campaign Themes

This month we’re looking for cartoon music, music from the Tamil region of India, arpeggios and political campaign themes.

Once you’ve completed your work, a unique code can be applied to each track – just add the code (provided in each brief) to your keyword tags when you upload. As a result, we’ll know which genre you’ve been focusing on.

If you have any questions or comments about any of these briefs, please email Pond5’s Director of Audio Collections, Mike Pace, at mike@pond5.com.

 

Cartoon Music

Time to throw caution to the wind and get wacky. In other words, harp plucks, string screeches, fog horns; get zany!

  • KEYWORD CODE: CARTOONMARCH20
  • SUGGESTED KEYWORDS: cartoon, comic, animation, wacky, zany, crazy, funny

 

Tamil Music

Devotional folk music from the southeastern region of India utilizing traditional instruments, for example, idakka, thavil, chenda, udakai, and dhol). Popular at weddings.

  • KEYWORD CODE: TAMILMARCH20
  • SUGGESTED KEYWORDS: Tamil, India, wedding, percussive, festive

 

Arpeggios

Layers of broken chord sequences (either descending or ascending) create a powerful effect. Try experimenting with instruments outside of acoustic piano for a different dramatic outcome.

  • KEYWORD CODE: ARPEGGIOMARCH20
  • SUGGESTED KEYWORDS: arpeggio, broken chords, layers, electronic, dramatic

 

Political Campaign Themes

Inspiring and aspirational, therefore, presidential. Try to spread a message of hope in 15 or 30 seconds.

  • KEYWORD CODE: CAMPAIGNMARCH20
  • SUGGESTED KEYWORDS: campaign, presidential, election, 2020, candidate, aspirational, hopeful, politics, political

Don’t Forget:

Take advantage of the 50-keyword limit and add both broad and specific keywords (but no recognizable band or artist names please)!

We also encourage you to submit separate :15 and :30 versions of these tracks for social-media use.

Moreover, tags can be applied to existing tracks in your portfolio.

Top image: Father And Little Daughter At Home, Girl Playing Guitar by pandorastockpictures