The LGBT community in the US has nearly a trillion dollars’ worth of purchasing power, according to Multimedia Platforms Inc. (Owners of Frontiers Media and the largest LGBT media company in the world). How we define ourselves and our families has changed dramatically over the last decade. Therefore, there has never been more of a demand for LBGTQ+ lifestyles that include relationships, social gatherings, and families.
Shot-List Thought-Starters
• A day in the life of a same-sex couple at home, which can include cooking, chores in the house, yard-work, gardening, and watching TV
Pro-Tip: Do your best to cast real people. This approach will pay dividends in the end, as clients are constantly searching for authenticity within our collection.
Typical Users: Credit cards, car commercials, phone companies, investment services, internet services, food and beverage commercials, travel industries, healthcare
Casting Considerations: Race and age 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: Urban, suburban, and rural
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: • Please remember to tag your clips with the keyword code: LGBTQP5BRIEF • Have all property and model releases filled out and submitted. • No logos or brands may be visible in any of the clips. • Don’t forget to add any applicable conceptual keywords to the clips.
US consumers spend $3.5 billion on restaurant food deliveries a year. Manhattan restaurants alone deliver 200,000 orders a day. Consumers are looking for convenience. It’s forecasted that by 2019, food delivery will generate more than $12.5 billion.
Shot-List Thought-Starters
• Food delivery, flower delivery, grocery delivery, parcel/package delivery, etc.
• People at home eating out of food containers, people at work eating out of food containers
Pro-Tip: It would be ideal to capture the process from preparation to delivery. Customers using a food app, a proprietor accepting and prepping the order — whether your theme focuses on food, flowers, or an individual packing an order for an eBay customer, we need it all, from start to finish.
Typical Users: Food and beverage commercials, credit-card services, internet services, phone companies
Casting Considerations: Race, food (look beyond pizza delivery), and transportation diversity. Authenticity with talent and imagery. Accept the challenge to subtract artificiality from your setups — in other words, keep it REAL. These factors will play an important role in the success of your shoot.
Location Diversity: Urban, suburban, and rural
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: • Please remember to tag your clips with the keyword code: HOMEDELP5BRIEF • Have all property and model releases filled out and submitted. • No logos or brands may be visible in any of the clips. • Don’t forget to add any applicable conceptual keywords to the clips.
There are about 80 million millennials (born 1980-2000) in the US alone, and they make up some 25% of the population. There are a variety of subcategories attached to their lifestyles, from hipster to young professional. We’re looking for leisure and recreational activities that include concerts/live events, BBQ cookouts, parties, camping, travel, shopping, gaming, scenes at work and at home, and using tech.
Shot-List Thought-Starters
• Subjects using a variety of tech for entertainment, work, and communication
• Shopping
• At the workplace (SOHO – small office, home office)
Pro Tip: Loosen up and capture the spontaneity with this age group. If you pick the right talent, you’ll find a group of unique and fearless individuals that are pretty flexible to whatever you throw their way.
Typical Users: telecommunications companies, retail stores, internet services, entertainment industries, communication companies, tech companies, food and beverage commercials, travel industries
Casting Considerations: Gender and race diversity. Authenticity and diversity will play an important role in the success of your shoot.
Locations: Urban, suburban, and rural
Submission Checklist • Remember to tag your clips with the keyword code: MILLENNIALP5BRIEF • Have all property and model releases filled out and submitted • No logos or brands visible in any of the clips • Don’t forget to add any applicable conceptual keywords to the clips
We’ve received a large volume of requests for scenes that show fathers engaged in domestic activities with their children. Some of these scenes might include dropping off and picking up children from school, washing and folding clothes, grocery shopping, watching movies, art projects, and hobbies.
Shot-List Thought Starters
• Father preparing, making, and eating meals with his children or child
• Father helping his children or child with homework
• Father and children or child engaged in outdoor sports and recreational activities
Pro-Tip: Do your best to cast a real family in their own home. This approach will majorly pay off in the end, as clients are constantly searching for authenticity within our collection.
Suggested Conceptual Keywords: stay-at-home father, domestic life, togetherness, responsibility, single father, care, bonding, leadership, guidance
Typical Users: healthcare, banking and investment firms, insurance companies, car commercials, retail stores, credit cards, phone companies, food and beverage commercials, public-service announcements
Casting Considerations: Gender and race diversity. Authenticity and diversity will play an important role in the success of your shoot.
Submission Checklist
Please remember to tag your clips with the keyword code: HOMEDADP5BRIEF • Have all property and model releases filled out and submitted. • No logos or brands visible in any of the clips. • Don’t forget to add any applicable conceptual keywords to the clips.
We’re looking for folks of all ages and races wearing VR goggles, augmented-reality headsets, and smart glasses and watches. These forms of technology are sparsely represented in our collection, which is why we need pioneers like you to help populate this frontier with future-laced images. Stake your claim and immerse your actors with VR headsets and any other wearable tech gadgets that connect them to the future.
Shot-List Thought Starters
• Subjects immersed in a VR experience with a variety of emotions and expressions • Subjects adjusting and fitting VR goggles
Pro-Tip: A great way to beef up your core concept is by implementing the mix-and-match approach. Plan your day, but make sure to reserve some extra time before or after you capture your VR shots. Remember to get coverage of other important entertainment and tech-driven topics, such as streaming movies and playing video games.
Typical Users: telecommunications companies, retail stores, internet services, entertainment industries, communication companies, tech companies, travel industry, virtual-reality simulator industry
Casting Considerations: Age, gender, and race diversity. Authenticity and diversity will play an important role in the success of your shoot.
Submission Checklist: • Remember to tag your clips with the keyword code: VRP5BRIEF • Have all property and model releases filled out and submitted • No logos or brands visible in any of the clips • Don’t forget to add any applicable conceptual keywords to the clips
We’re seeing an uptrend in demand for video clips featuring women in roles that exhibit leadership and empowerment. We’re calling on you to capture scenes with women leading in workplace environments and professional settings.
• Executive Team meeting in a board room or around a conference table in an open space
• Executive leader giving presentation to staff using a video monitor to demonstrate metrics as well as video conferencing
• Portraits – individual and group for testimonial usage
Additionally, try running your scenes outside of the office, such as a meeting in a cafe, in a corporate jet, and other environments that you wouldn’t typically consider. You might also want to consider themes like working late at the office. Remember, you don’t need to feel locked into the thought-starters, they are just meant to help inspire your process.
Make the environment feel natural and authentic by avoiding industry cliches such as high-key lighting, programmed gestures, and forced emotions among your talent. Tone down the actions of your talent and shape an environment that’s real. Remember, authenticity is one of the main characteristics our customers are looking for when licensing clips.
Suggested Conceptual Keywords: teamwork, innovation, diversity (race, gender and age), focus, communication, connection, success, inspiration, concentration, empowerment and leadership
Casting Considerations: Age and race diversity. Authenticity and diversity will play in important role in the success of your shoot.
Submission Checklist:
Please remember to tag your clips with the keyword code: WOMBUSP5BRIEF. • Have all property and model releases filled out and submitted. • No logos or brands visible in any of the clips • Don’t forget to add any applicable conceptual keywords to the clips.
Artisanal, Mom and Pop shop content demand is trending upwards. We are looking for individual, family, and independently owned businesses with a specific focus on retail shops. This includes: clothing boutiques, new and used record and book stores, thrift and antique shops, and any other independent businesses.
Pro-Tip: Have your shoot take place at a business with real owners. If time allows, the benefit of shooting a real business often allows more intimacy with your subjects, without the distraction of a larger cast and location. Working with real people can be enormously rewarding, especially if the subject has no aspirations to be an actor. This results in a more natural performance.
If you’ve never “street-casted” before, this might also be a great opportunity to do so. If you’re doing a traditional casting, tone down the actions of your talent and shape an environment that’s real. Remember, authenticity is one of the main characteristics our customers are looking for when licensing clips.
Suggested Conceptual Keywords: achievement, small business, entrepreneur, empowerment, freedom, independence.
Location Diversity: Urban, Suburban and Rural
Casting Considerations: Age, Gender and Race Diversity. Authenticity and diversity will play in important role in the success of your shoot.
Submission Checklist: • Please remember to tag your clips with the keyword code: SMLBUSP5BRIEF • Have all property and model releases filled out and submitted. • No logos or brands visible in any of the clips • Don’t forget to add any applicable conceptual keywords to the clips.
The shoot brief is a document that addresses everything pertaining to your production, from concept and technical specifications to casting and what to actually shoot. It provides clarification to communicate your vision, goals, and objectives. In other words, it can be the essential tool that drives your ideas to its final outcome.
Recently, I helped create a brief for a travel shoot by Pond5 artist Floris Productions. Knowing that the company was based in Sardinia, I knew they would have access to beaches, cafes, talent, and all of the other ingredients needed to pull off a stellar shoot. My initial conversation with Floris founder Francesco Bittichesu confirmed that hunch. And since the content would be owned by Floris and licensed exclusively through Pond5, it would be easier to negotiate rates below the standard production fees. Before I could begin to discuss a discount, however, I would have to create the shoot brief and weigh it against Francesco’s budget.
Developing the Concept
I came up with a travel-themed idea that I borrowed from classics like The Talented Mister Ripley and Purple Noon. I improvised the Sardinian location with images from both of those films and added scenes that I conjured up from Patricia Highsmith’s original novel. I pulled and scanned images for the mood board that would support the concept and inspire the artist and the overall mood of the shoot.
Technical Specs
Before you choose the appropriate camera for your shoot, you need to ask yourself a few questions: Will there be slow motion? How slow? Weight? How heavy will the camera be if your intention is to do quite a bit of handheld work? We knew that we wanted to shoot everything at a minimum of 60 fps, with the majority of the setups being handheld.
We also chose to use natural light, the use of practicals and a bounce if needed, which cuts down the budget significantly. Francesco was able to secure the only RED ONE operator and owner in Sardinia, who also owned an Easyrig. My favorite lens is the 14mm — it’s a lens that’s almost mandatory for handheld work, capturing a dynamic wide image that’s hard to surpass. If you’ve seen The Revenant, you’ll understand.
Casting Talent
Francesco shoots frequently on the island and has become quite familiar with the talent its capital, Cagliari, has to offer. A “real” couple that Francesco has casted more than a few times for photoshoots was ideal for the romance we were attempting to portray. The couple was extremely photogenic and, more importantly, very comfortable in front of the camera. The direction would be “on camera” without rehearsal or blocking, which lends itself to a spontaneity between the characters and a more natural interaction.
Since we shot everything MOS, directing talent while the camera is rolling, plus the luxury of shooting digital, allowed us to capture more content on the day and pick up the real moments that would be nearly impossible to recreate. Switch to a longer lens, lock down, and keep your distance and the camera rolling. I recommend that you also capture the talent when they’re unaware that you’re filming to seize those precious moments and reach the highest threshold of believability.
The Shot List
If you’re shooting with the intent of licensing your footage, construct as many shots as you can when creating the brief, then whittle down your selection based on what’s doable in a day and the situations that target the most potential for revenue. You’ll often repeat themes that have been successful for you in the past and subtract the ones that haven’t resonated with buyers as much. Research other clips and images within the Pond5 collection and examine the popular themes and categories — themes that pertain to lifestyles, business, education, healthcare, and sports are usually the most popular. Think about ways of translating the images within these categories uniquely. Do your homework, but more importantly, choose a topic that you’re passionate about portraying.
Choosing Locations
Francesco has had relationships with the owners of commercial businesses and locations on the island for years. We were able to secure a luxury apartment overlooking the bay, a café, and a yacht for a few hundred dollars a piece. Organize your shot list according to the locations you’ve selected. It’s also very common to secure a location by offering the finished media to the proprietor in exchange for a fee. It’s wise to negotiate with a friend or an acquaintance who may have a location you require. It’s possible that you can “lock it” for a minimal fee or favor.
We kept our locations within a three-mile radius so that we didn’t lose time traveling from one destination to another. Since we had decided to shoot under natural light, that would determine which location we would choose to be our first for set-up, and which would be our last. We decided to shoot in continuity and planned the day accordingly, shooting the waking up and coffee scenes at the apartment in the morning light and ending the day on the yacht during golden hour.
Selecting Props
Before you begin to think of renting or purchasing props, remember that chances are you already own most of the props needed for your setups. In addition, it’s important to know what your talent has access to. Not only did our Sardinian couple contribute to the natural mood and setting, but they also supplied the production with their Vespa. If you ask nicely, you’ll find that your talent will be more than happy to accommodate your needs.
Check out some of the finished footage from this shoot in the Instagram reel below, then click through to view the rest in the full Floris Productions collection!
Lazy. Unproductive. Self-absorbed. Addicted to social media. W.C. Fields once said, “It ain’t what they call you, it’s what you answer to.” Millennials, the generation of people born between 1981 and 1996, have been called a lot of names, but which ones should they answer to? Over the past two years, Pond5 has seen a big uptick in search terms containing the keyword “millennial.” As mass media attempts to define and portray an identity for what’s become the largest demographic in the American work force, there’s now a huge need for relevant imagery.
Of course, when people are looking for Millennial imagery, they’re not always searching for just the keyword “Millennial.” There are a slew of other common phrases related to this demographic, such as: “Generation Y,” “Hipster,” “Startup/Startup Culture,” “Social Media/Network,” “Smartphones,” “Mobile Business,” “Student Loan Debt,” “Marriage Equality,” “Financial Meltdown,” “Occupy,” “Buy Local,” and many more.
Pond5 “Millennial” Keyword Searches up to April 2016
What is “Millennial Imagery”?
To really answer this, we have to consider what life is like for Millennials. For starters, they grew up in the digital age and were early adopters of social media (81% of Millennials are now on Facebook). They were the first to experience in-home video-game systems, mobile phones, and laptops on a mass scale. Thus they are computer savvy and generally eager to embrace new technology.
Millennials philosophize through memes, flirt with emojis, and breakup via text. They navigate with apps, share through hashtags, and propose via tweet. They know their shopping habits are monitored by marketers, friendships mediated by technology, and internet activity surveilled by governments.
Goethe had no idea when he famously lamented way back in 1800, “Everything, what everybody does, wants, writes, even what he plans, is publicly exposed. One can only enjoy oneself, or suffer, for the entertainment of others, and in the greatest rush.”
Millennials are also the most racially diverse generation in American history — 43% of Millennial adults are non-white. This is the highest share of any past generation, and is increasing every year, largely due to immigration.
When it comes to careers, Millennials unfortunately entered the job market during the economic downturn following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and experienced the worst global recession since WWII. (The Median household income in the US still remains below its 1999 peak.) In this competitive landscape, candidates need specialized skill sets, degrees are pre-requisites, and college attendance has spiked. As a result, Millennials have stacked up record student loan debt and their economic circumstances reflect a rapid technological change in the global workforce.
At the same time, the past few decades have seen big changes in our culture. From same-sex marriage to marijuana legalization, society has become more socially liberal. Of course, these changes have not come without much political debate and controversy.
As the PewResearchCenter recently reported, “Americans have become more detached from major institutions like political parties, religion, the military, and marriage… the racial and ethnic makeup of the country has changed… and women have greatly increased their participation in the nation’s workforce.”
Finally, it’s important to understand why Millennial imagery is in demand right now. Advertisers and marketers are aiming their strategies at this demographic. For example, MTV — the network that dominated pop culture during the Millennials’ childhood, has just announced that it’s going to bring back some of its most iconic series from the 80s and 90s, including shows like MTV Unplugged and Cribs (as a Snapchat series).
As videos in the style of the 1980s and 90s make a resurgence, images that evoke the issues relevant to Millennials are likely to be valuable to any company producing media, from videos to memes, banner ads to TV commercials.
A few reasons Millennials are vital in mass media right now:
They comprise the largest demographic in the American workforce (More than 1 in 3 American workers today are Millennials, according to PRC analysis of US Census Bureau data).
In 2016, Millennials are projected to surpass the Baby Boom generation as the nation’s largest living generation.
With immigration adding more numbers to its group than any other, the Millennial population is projected to peak in 2036 at 81.1 million.
Here are some themes to keep in mind when creating Millennial imagery:
Unattached — Political independence, irreligion, flexible lifestyles
Digital Natives – Computer-savvy, adapting to new technology, smartphone saturated
Diversity – Disparate groups of people sharing common goals
Tolerance – Equal opportunities, civil and political rights
Financial Struggles — High costs of living versus low wages, economic crisis
Civic Responsibility – A connected global community, strong local communities
As media creators, we may ask ourselves how we influence the spectacle of mass media. How can we take what is happening and incorporate it into what we create? Consider how images of solar cells, wind turbines, and electric cars have helped organize society’s environmental thinking around energy-production, renewable power, and sustainability.
Can we, as visual/media artists, help introduce new, subversive ideas into public discourse? Certainly we run the risk of being trivialized and sterilized by mainstream media, but then again, there is power in images and music, motion pictures and sound.
As Karl Marx once said, “It is the ideal world which always wells up out of the real world and flows back into it with every greater spiritual riches and renews its soul.” In that spirit, look at these trends through your own lens and imagine how you may influence society’s common world vision through your creations.
Artists, are you looking for inspiration for your Pond5 portfolio? Do you feel like creating something new and different? Or are you just wondering what would make our curators happy? Read on to find out what kinds of content we’re currently saturated with, and what we’d like to have more of in our collection.
Video: Go Beyond the Ducks
Ducks in ponds are pretty to look at, easy to shoot, and found in abundance in our library. Unless you manage to capture something truly unique — a rare breed or an action that’s interesting or funny — this type of footage isn’t likely to stand out among all the other similar content we have. Because of that, we’ve decided to scale back on how many Donalds and Daffys we’re adding to the collection.
We still love wildlife clips, but we encourage contributors to think strategically about the specific footage you’re shooting. It’s easy to go to the park and start filming — anyone can do it, so many, many people do. However, other varieties of birds are still highly sought-after, and we would love to see more of those.
Footage of birds of prey or woodland birds (and other wildlife) in their natural habitats is much rarer and highly encouraged. Here’s an example of a European robin singing — both the image and the audio are very well captured, and it highlights unique behavior of a wild bird in its environment. This particular video has been very popular, and we would love to see more examples of footage like this from artists like you.
With this year’s Summer Olympics happening in Brazil, we’re on the lookout for authentic Brazilian music. Try your hand at samba, bossa nova, sertanejo, pagode, tropicalia, and lambada. Experiment with lots of percussion and nylon-string guitars. Go for the gold!
Meanwhile, upbeat, poppy tracks featuring ukulele are a staple of advertising these days. So if you search on Pond5 for “ukulele” you’ll be confronted with over 7,000 results, which is probably 6,990 more than you’ll ever want to listen to. If you’re absolutely dead-set on using your uke, try creating some authentic Hawaiian-style tunes to round out our portfolio. Throw some slack-key guitar on there, record it in a hammock, and make yourself a tropical drink!
AE templates that animate 2D graphics into 3D are a great and easy way to improve your logos. But right now we already have 2,640 of these, so most of the styles and treatments are starting to turn out similar. As a result, we’ve been stricter in curating these. They’re still very much welcome, but try to step it a notch and show us something that’s never been done yet.
We rarely get templates focused on events, holidays, and seasonal themes, like Graduation, Ramadan, St. Patrick’s Day, and Awards Ceremonies. In fact, we only have eight templates spotlighting the 4th of July so far! So if you’re running out of ideas, take a look at your calendar, see which holidays are there, and create an AE template to go with it!
Shopping is one of the world’s most popular activities — everybody loves bags full of new clothes. That’s most probably why we have so many women with shopping bags in our collection (mostly on white backgrounds). We’re still looking for people of different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds with their catches though — local feel is always a benefit!
Try heading to the nearest shop and capturing some images of real shopping. If you have a bunch of models, maybe they could be a family? They can choose the best product together, try on new shoes, or pay at the counter. These images will be super useful for e-shops and stores all over the world.
Abstract backgrounds are popular, but also plentiful in our illustration collection — that’s why we generally discourage artists from concentrating on this sort of artwork too much for their submissions. (We still appreciate a good one when we see it, though!) Modern geometric backgrounds with trendy color schemes like this one are still very much welcome:
If you’re building a portfolio of backgrounds, try dipping a toe into the creation of illustrated seamless patterns. They’re amazingly flexible to use — a funky pattern can be the star of the show, or just a supportive element in someone’s final design.
