SUBMISSION STANDARDS
FOOTAGE
- 4k, 6k or higher @ 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97, 30, 50, 60 FPS Progressive. 23.98 fps in our experience is the overall most asked for frame rate. Never transcode frame rates.
- HD (1920x1080) footage is accepted with prior permission. Given advancements in technology everyone should be shooting 4k or higher.
- ProRes is preferred. H264 is fine at bit rates of greater than 80 Mb/s at 4k. It seems some video editors default to Vimeo or YouTube standards which are not acceptable.
- Clip length: 8 to 30 seconds (occasionally longer to up to 60 seconds if required). The clip should contain a single event or movement through a scene. Don’t combine clips.
- Shoot the lowest ISO possible and accept that some drones won't produce good low light footage.
- Grading: gently colour correct and enhance to a pleasant viewing standard. Don’t oversaturate.
- No audio tracks.
- Clean Video. No Watermarks, No Titles, No Timestamps, No Transitions, No Black Frames, No Letterbox frames.
- Metadata on a standardized spreadsheet. See details below.
- Don't send proxies. In the end we'll need to have the highest quality version of the footage on our server.
- Avoid auto settings. AE and AWB too often lead to rejected footage.
METADATA
The following metadata fields are used by search engines to find your footage.
Download either a Numbers or Excel spreadsheet template. Send in a filled in form with each full submission, not a spreadsheet per clip. The spreadsheet can be uploaded into the same folder as your footage.
File Name
Clip filename.
Headline/Title/Caption
The Title is the most important metadata from an SEO perspective. It’s used by search engines to index the content. The Title is also the caption of the clip and is displayed under all image thumbnails to give the viewer a brief synopsis of the content.
Aerials are very often geographic specific and Titles should always contain the city and country when applicable. Be concise and accurate.
The site automatically prefaces all Headlines with Aerial Footage for SEO enhancement.
Sublocation (optional)
Neighbourhood, park, county etc.
City
If the location is in a city then use this field otherwise leave it blank.
State/Province
Self explanatory
Country
Self explanatory
Keywords
The where, when, what, who of the image — see additional information below. Comma separated. Keywords like: aerial photo, aerial footage, stock photo, photograph… and the many iterations of these need not be added. Most are placed for you within the keyword string. 5-50 keywords.
Creator
This is how your copyright will appear on the website eg. © AUTHOR
More about KEYWORDS
Keywords are a subset to the Metadata.The best content in the world will quickly slide into obscurity without the ability for customers to find it. Properly keyworded content sells more.
Please include the following:
Location: Country, City, Province State, neighbourhood etc. Where is the scene geographically?
Time: what is the season? is it dusk, dawn, sunrise or midday?
Who or what is the main subject? Iconic features, or popular street names, and building are important to note.
Weather: Overcast, sunny, stormy, rain, snow etc.
Releases: If there are people, what are they doing? Are they released?
Other: Special technique like slow motion or time-lapse.
UPLOADING and MEDIA DELIVERY
Credentials for signing onto the Overflightstock Web Uploader will be sent to you. If you're not sure email us.
We also accept hard drives or we can download media off of your private cloud storage.
Contact us to make arrangements for shipping of hard drives. (They are of course returned to you).
MODEL AND PROPERTY RELEASES
Getting model releases from recognizable people and property releases from owners greatly increases the value of the footage.
Releases should be uploaded at the same time as the content.
Sample paper releases are available for download.