Using Stock Visuals and Music to Create Compelling Content

A few years ago, we partnered with our friends at Catch&Release to create a series of videos that utilized their stock visuals with our production music. With the uninspiring stigmas that are often rightfully attached to these products, this may sound like a recipe for a lukewarm vanilla paste with a side of bland. But lo and behold, with a little creativity and curated intention, some inspiring and compelling pieces of art emerged from the process.

The result was a project we called… Workprint.

With filming coming to a screeching halt and budgets dwindling, we wanted to revisit this series and share the possibilities.

Your edit can still have the impact you need… just don’t shop in the bargain bins of production music or stock visuals. There are high-quality alternatives available that give your production the spark it needs without busting your budget.

Our friends at Catch&Release have streamlined their process for curating content, whether it be user-generated content (UGC), pre-produced stock, or any other visual assets you may need. They also have a new online platform and incredible tools to quickly help with the licensing side along the way, ensuring you don’t get to the end of an edit and find out that your clearance needs don’t quite line up with the visuals you’ve selected. If you need visuals for new campaigns, start with Catch&Release… then swing by The Lab and find some handcrafted sonic inspiration to tie it all together.

New content, new spots, new stories. Let’s keep going, together.

It begins the way all things must—with a spark. There’s a time for reflection, an urge for exploration, a quest for adventure. The melody pulling you forward grows in intensity until you’ve reached your destination. Travel out to the edge of the world and back with Volume 1, Episode 1.

Summertime in the city: there’s not a cloud in the sky, and the rolling of the skateboard scratches out in time with a gritty percussion. Volume 1, Episode 2 is for when you want to go somewhere, or spend a while with nowhere in mind. Just put one foot in front of the other.

The walls are alive with the brightest color you can imagine. There it is—bursting out, breathing life into the streets, pulsing in time to the big beat in your head. Volume 1, Episode 3 asks: with the world as our canvas, what will we create together?

Follow me to the great American west, beneath a big sky, where the potential for stories is limitless. Volume 1, Episode 4 introduces you to Emily, a frontierswoman with enchanting eyes and a beguiling smile. You just might find yourself guilty of being in love.

Volume 1, Episode 5 is our briefest, thrilling-est outing yet, taking you to the elegant chaos of Pamplona for a running of the bulls. Don’t fear—the only thing you’re in danger of getting trampled by is beauty. ¡Olé!

The sun is your wandering companion as you travel in a hazy, dusty cloud of AM gold. The moon is your guiding spark, lighting the way to exhilarating adventure. Whichever one you travel with, we know you’re never going to get Volume 1, Episode 6 out of your mind.

There’s no home like place. Volume 1, Episode 7 takes you around the world, to the far side of the rainbow, to lands where time has stopped. Across all borders and credos, the shared language of daily life provides a steady, curious rhythm. You are nowhere, you are anywhere, you are exactly where you need to be.

Director: Gregory Sylvester

Footage: Catch&Release

Music: The License Lab

Editorial: Brian Clark

Motion graphics: Kathleen Chee

Color grading: Nolo Digital Film