For a video, we sometimes need an extra shot we just don’t have. And occasionally that shot should show something outside. We attempt to take each step to shoot ourselves any video we need to tell a story. But if purchasing stock video is our last resort answer, we try to choose well. Here’s why:
Most of the country does not look like our home state, Arizona. Most homes in the United States do not look like the homes here. Most stock video depicting exterior scenes would appear out-of-place in a sequence of shots of the Grand Canyon State. However, finding the right shot under these circumstances simply takes patience, common sense and perhaps a second opinion.
Now media outlets across America are reporting a shot supposedly portraying America in an ad for presidential candidate Marco Rubio actually shows the Vancouver skyline. And we’re not referring to the city named Vancouver in the State of Washington. In fact, when viewers see the skyline shot, a narrator states, “It’s morning again in America.” This CBC News story in British Columbia quotes a Vancouver-based videographer who said he shot the video and posted it on a website sharing stock video.
Presidential candidate Ted Cruz’s campaign said it didn’t know a woman in one of its video ads had previously appeared in erotic films. We imagine much of the public can understand how that situation slipped through the cracks, although we earlier in a post pointed out the lessons organizations can learn from that case. However, how can a video ad reach the public without someone vetting the shots (In this case, the opening shot!) and asking, “What city is that?”
Or asking, “Is that the United States?”
Or did the narrator intend to relay, “It’s morning again in North America.”?