Use stock footage when you need real, ordinary reality quickly and with clear licence terms: a street, an office, a harbour at dawn. Generate footage when you need something specific that stock libraries do not hold, such as a branded setting, an impossible camera move or a stylised world. Many projects end up mixing both, and the choice is less about technology than about what you need to control and what you need to be able to defend later.
What each option is good at
| Question | Stock footage | AI-generated footage |
|---|---|---|
| Uniqueness | Other buyers can licence the same clip | Can be unique to your brief, though results vary |
| Licensing clarity | Written licence terms per library | Depends on the tool’s terms and your own review |
| Realism | Real cameras, real physics | Improving, but errors in hands, text and motion still occur |
| Control | You choose from what exists | You steer, but outputs are not fully predictable |
| Revisions | Swap the clip | Regenerate, which may change other details |
Licensing: read the actual terms
Stock licences are explicit about what is allowed. As one example, the Pexels licence allows free use and modification without attribution, but prohibits implying endorsement by the people or brands shown, showing identifiable people in a bad light, and using the content as part of a trademark or business name. Paid libraries have their own rules, often distinguishing editorial from commercial use, so check each clip.
For generated footage the questions differ. Whether the output attracts copyright in Australia is unsettled: commentary based on High Court authority suggests purely AI-generated output likely has no copyright protection, while the amount of human input that would be enough is untested, according to the International Bar Association. In practice that means you may struggle to stop others copying a clip you generated. This is general information, not legal advice; take advice before relying on generated footage for a long-lived brand asset.
Disclosure
If generated or altered footage looks realistic, platforms may require a label. YouTube, for example, asks creators to disclose realistic content that shows a scene that did not occur or makes a real person appear to do something they did not, while clearly non-realistic content such as full animation does not need disclosure (YouTube Help). Stock does not avoid this: a composited stock clip that changes a real event can still need a label.
A short decision framework
- Is the shot generic and real? Choose stock. Crowds, weather and landscapes are cheaper to licence than to fake convincingly.
- Must it show your product, people or premises accurately? Film it. Neither stock nor generated footage can show your actual item.
- Is it a concept, metaphor or fantasy setting? Consider generation, with human review of every frame.
- Will it carry the campaign for years? Prefer sources where you hold clear, documented rights, and keep records of prompts, tool versions and licence terms.
- Do you need many variants? Generation can help, but budget time for checking consistency.
Practical hybrid workflow
Start from a storyboard (see how to storyboard a commercial) and mark each shot as film, stock or generate. Use stock for establishing shots, generated or filmed material for hero moments, and grade everything together so the cut feels like one piece. For the wider trade-offs, read AI commercial production vs traditional filming and the real limitations of AI-generated video.
Limits of this comparison
Tools, library licences and platform policies change. Verify current terms before you commit, and do not assume a clip is safe because it is free or because a tool produced it.
Where Radiance Impact fits
Radiance Impact’s Studio produces AI commercials, brand films and post-production, and can help plan which shots to film, licence or generate. If you are weighing options for a project, get in touch.
Sources
- Pexels License, Pexels
- Disclosing use of altered or synthetic content, YouTube Help
- AI and copyright in Australia: from consultation to commitment, International Bar Association
