When in the market for stock footage, most producers go straight to the larger shops. But when looking for a specific shot of the first Canadian settlers, a wwii fighter plane or a giant octopus feeding its young, there are a slew of not-so-obvious places to search that collect exactly, and exclusively, just that.

Playback asked a random selection of Canadian private stock footage sources about their libraries and their most interesting and sought-after shots.

*Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario

33 Russell Street,

Toronto, Ont.,

M5S 2S1

Contact: Ken White

Tel.: (416) 595-6677

Website: www.arf.org

The Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario stocks shots of people engaging in the whole gamut of addictive behaviors. The collection contains scenes of people drinking, smoking drugs, snorting coke, partying and picking fights in night clubs.

Everything in the collection is shot on Beta and rates are negotiable.

The majority of the footage is used by arf for educational and training videos. Most outside requests are for psas.

*Archives of Ontario

77 Grenville Street,

Unit 300,

Toronto, Ont.

M5S 1B3

Contact: Mark Epp

Tel.: (416) 327-1551

Material found at the Archives of Ontario documents the different aspects of the province’s social, political and economic history. The archives don’t hold copyright to all their footage, but where they are in a position to give permission for usage there is no charge.

Footage related to tourism, economic development, agriculture and transportation makes up the majority of the collection. Other takes include 50 years worth of the Santa Claus Parade, dating back to 1927, Eaton’s ad campaigns from the 1960s, and footage of the Dion quintuplets, which was used last year by W5.

The sound and moving image section of the archives is accessible on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 8:15 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., by appointment only.

*Aviation Videos Limited

2214 Courtland Drive,

Burlington, Ont.,

L7R 1S4

Contact: Jim Lloyd

Tel: (905) 632-7261

E-mail: jlloyd@aviationvideos.com

Documentary filmmaker Jim Lloyd has around 40 hours and 150 titles of aviation footage he has collected over the years. A few railway videos pepper the collection, but the bulk of his library is on the history of Canadian aviation.

The collection includes wwii and post-war color footage shot in Canada, Europe, North Africa and Asia of Spitfire, Hurricane, Mosquito, P-36, B-25 and Mitchell aircraft to name a few.

Some of the more modern material includes takes from air shows and aviation museums, but the most requested shots are those of the Avro Car, a flying saucer-type craft built back in the 1950s for the u.s. Air Force.

The best way to access the footage is to call or e-mail describing what is needed. The basic rate is $500 a minute, and depending on how long the search process will take, around $50 an hour.

*The Canadian Museum of Civilization Archives

100 Laurier Street,

P.O. Box 3100, Station b,

Hull, Que.

J8X 4H2

Contact: Dennis Fletcher

Tel.: (819) 776-8466

E-mail:

dennis.fletcher@civilization.ca

The Canadian Museum of Civilization Archives houses five hours of early black-and-white silent films of Canada’s First Peoples, including Harlan Smith, Richard Finnie and George H. Wilkins shot in the 1920s. All the footage is on Betacam, but a film copy can be obtained through the public archives.

The museum archives boasts 100,000 photos from the early 1900s of various Canadian communities, around 50,000 audio tapes, plus 3,000 wax cylinders of First Peoples and Quebec folk songs from the ’20s and ’30s performed by such artists as Marius Barbeau, James Teit, Edward Sapir and Diamond Jenness.

While most who peruse museum archives are Canadian documentary makers looking for shots of native bands or Ph.D. students, Hollywood has come calling in the past. During production of the 1983 Disney feature film Never Cry Wolf, the producers went to the archives for audio tapes of the Inuit language.

Rates vary depending on what the material will be used for, and in most cases cover the cost of the dub. The first hour of research is free, $25 for each additional hour.

*Real Action Pictures

#100, 707-15 Avenue S.W.,

Calgary, Alta.,

T2R 0R8

Contact: Brad Kroeger

Tel.: (403) 244-7000

E-mail: info@rapfilms.com

Calgary-based Real Action Pictures has been making skiing and snowboarding movies for around 10 years and providing the television and commercial production industry with fast-paced, extreme shots.

The library stocks more than 300,000 feet of edgy sports including mountain biking, windsurfing and hang gliding in addition to scenic shots from around the world, indigenous people from exotic stops, lots of snow and an avalanche reel.

The clip getting the most play these days is a close-up shot of a man sliding down a class 3 avalanche in the mountains of France.

Aside from supplying stock footage, Real Action operates as a full-service production company.

Its Website (www.rapfilms

.com) offers film clips and gives searchers a sample of the collection. A reel costs around $200, and in some circumstances is deducted from the final licensing fee. Search fees are $25 an hour.

*Robert Bocking

Productions

75 Hucknall Road,

North York, Ont.,

M3J 1W1

Contact: Robert Bocking

Tel.: (416) 631-9845

E-mail:

105441.3040@compuser.com

Robert Bocking specializes in nature footage and has been collecting it for the past 40 years. His library primarily houses shots from North and Central America and includes birds, animals and scenery which have been used in documentaries for tvontario, cbc, bbc and in various commercials.

His most-used piece of material is footage of Canadian geese in slow-motion flight.

Bockings entire library is on a cd-rom, which he sends out for viewing.

*Wet Film Productions

3540 West 35th Avenue,

Vancouver, b.c.

V6N 2N5

Contact: Neil McDaniel

Tel.: (604) 263-9842

E-mail: neilmc@pro.net

Vancouver-based Wet Film Pro-

ductions specializes in underwater scenes and marine stock footage covering tropical oceans to cold-water destinations and is used mostly by documentary filmmakers. Its footage is shot on 16mm film, is available on tape, and includes killer whales, sharks, grey whales and shipwrecks.

Rates depend on the rights required but are generally around $50 to $75 per second, with a 10-second minimum, and unless the request calls for large amounts of footage, no search fee is applied.

Underwater dwellers getting the most attention these days are sharks and the giant Pacific octopus.

In addition, Wet Films’ Neil McDaniel says any kind of behavioral footage like shots of animals mating or feeding are getting a lot of play.

Wet Film specializes in supplying filmmakers with the necessary equipment for underwater cinematography and videography.