Oh boy! I’ve been almost bursting from waiting to tell you guys all about this.
When it comes to keeping secrets I would argue that there is no one better than me. This is a trait that I am proud of, it has meant that my friend, family and even people who I barely knew or only just met have been able to confide in me. When it comes to keeping quiet about something, I’m your guy.
So when Daniel from the EyeEm team contacted me about a new service they were going to be launching, his secret was in safe hands. I was sat at my desk just about to get down to some work when I heard the familiar ping of an email coming through. I had a couple of minutes spare so I had a quick peek to see if it was something I could see to.
The subject line read: Welcome to EyeEm Video.
And then, almost instantly I lost my mind and had to know more. I opened it up and started reading…
‘…we’re planning to bring videography to the platform and would really value the initial thoughts of some of our most trusted users!’
Dear diary: Jackpot!
This was awesome and totally unexpected. Thinking about it now though it makes a lot of sense. I mean, why not turn what I believe is the best online photography community into the best online photography and videography community?!
The email continued…
Before launching anything official, it would be great to get some impressions of your experiences with video. Have you shot videos before or would you be interested in shooting them?
Hmm, yes! If you are a frequent reader of this blog and my EyeEm Income reports then you will know that I have been making weekly YouTube vlogs for more than 2 years. My vlogs are usually lifestyle based and are a way of me creating memories to share with my family, friends and you guys. Over the past two years I’ve been to a whole bunch of countries and was living in Thailand for many of the vlogs, so I undoubtably have lots of footage that I could dig up.
Rowing a boat in front of Mt Fuji, playing with monkeys in Thailand and various scuba diving trips… There’s a lot to go through.
The last question Daniel asked before signing off was this…
Would you like to be one of the first to showcase and sell them through EyeEm?
Hmm, I don’t know… Wait, how about heck yes!
You know that I’m famously slow when it comes to sorting through my content, so it may be a while before my videos make it to the EyeEm Videography collection. But it’ll get there eventually.
So, What Is EyeEm Videography?
EyeEm introduced a whole new bunch of photographers to the game with EyeEm Market. People who would have never dreamed that they would be able to license their images – people like me. I don’t shoot clean, pristine photos. I shoot my memories, oftentimes with all their imperfections, and I shoot video the same way. There is one key word which I believe sets the EyeEm Market apart from other stock libraries:
Authentic.
Now, authentic doesn’t mean poor quality, but it does mean something real. Something with feeling. Something that doesn’t feel like it has been staged in sterile room.
Here’s how they describe the new video service:
License authentic moving imagery from the best videographers on EyeEm.
It’s that simple.
EyeEm Videography: What We Know So Far
Details are still a bit scarce right now – and trust me, I had plenty of questions for Daniel during our email exchanges – but here are the basics:
Video clips are sourced from a community of more than 20 million EyeEm creators. The EyeEm Videography collection is made up of eye-catching footage directed at marketers – that is, people or companies that want to use video for their projects.
The key difference here between EyeEm Videography and other video stock libraries is that they are looking to build a library of moving photos. This means instead of short movies they instead want videos of single moments.
- All video clips are in 4k or HD resolution.
- Video clips are sourced from all around the world.
- All videos will be royalty-free only, which means they will the necessary model or property release.
- Videos are ideal for web and social media use.
- Video clips will be auto-tagged using the amazing EyeEm Vision (I’m a huge fan of this!)
- Videos will be 5 to 45 seconds in length.
- Clips won’t appear on EyeEm profile pages just yet.
- Premium video licenses start at $50.
- The early creator program is open for submissions now! Find a link to check it out at the end of this article.
Additionally, these are speculative details that I was provided which means that they are not final:
- Video licenses will work the same as image licenses.
- They are considering setting a different scope of usage due to different use cases between photos and videos, for example video licensed for web may not be used for TV.
- If someone requested to buy out your clip (that is, to get exclusive rights to it) the team would get in touch and discuss this with you.
Now, as I say these details are just speculation at this point and may not be the case in the future. That said, it does make sense to introduce different limitation on videos than that of images. We’ll have to wait and see how the service develops
Submit Your Moving Photos to EyeEm Videography
The early creator program is now open to everyone and the team are looking for moving photos (short video clips) featuring travel, food, nature, urban environments and aerial shots. Remember, the same rules apply to video as they do to photos, so be sure to checkout my free ebook if you haven’t already.
Focus on capturing moving photos that don’t include brands or logos as well as people unless you can secure a model release form.
Finally, I’m hard at work on bringing more EyeEm content to you, my awesome readers. Now that EyeEm Videography has been revealed I’ll be discussing this on the blog as well as offering hints and tips for shooting video.
You can find out more about the EyeEm Videography Collection on the EyeEm Blog.
As always, have a great week and keep shooting!