Don't Fall for Footage Firm's "Free" Offer
Footage Firm is marketing heavily right now, both through individual emails and through a blast via Movie magazines. They are offering "free" stock footage for the cost of an exorbitant "shipping and handling" cost. It's a scam. I fell for it the last time they did this, thinking, why not have a collection of low cost footage that I might need someday? It cost me $50 and the HD DVD was totally unusable. It had severe interpolation problems (lines streaking the footage). Also, their DV DVDs have random people in them - you don't get the rights to use those people in your projects. No releases or permissions come with the DVDs. You can tell most of them are taken by tourists or something with a camcorder because the footage shakes and has the look of your dad taking footage with a camcorder. People randomly look into the camera, making the footage self aware. Virtually all of it is unusable for real projects. I sent several emails and complaints to the "company" but none were answered. Also, I bought 5 or so of these DVDs and they all came in a single envelope. Somehow, I'm supposed to believe that it costs them $50 for shipping that.
Comments
@lbwalker: I'm surprised by your comment as we have only had a few charge backs in the 10 year history of our company due to our open ended return policy. There is no reason to cancel a charge through American Express when you can simply call or email us and we will happily refund you entirely.
@Fresh: Thank you for stating your concerns. For the past decade we have sold footage primarily to large production companies and TV networks, and this campaign is an effort to expand our customer base and get our footage into the hands of new potential users. We are certainly not out to scam or mislead anyone, as we would love to live see another decade in business! Your comments are very helpful as we plan for future projects and advertising campaigns.
If anyone else has any questions, comments or suggestions, please let me know: laura (at) footagefirm.com. Our company is run by a small group of independent editors, videographers and production industry veterans, and we want to make sure we are serving our peers well!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4tOYc-mkx8&feature=PlayList&p=732DC75C59DA0093&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=9