Focal provide new Footage Finder reseach tool

Focal International, the trade organisation of the commercial film and video library industry, have created a new web site to help programme makers and others seeking content to interact more with the member film, video and photographic libraries and the research community.
The not-for-profit organisation have always offered telephone support for producers and others, but now a special facility on the new site, at www.focalint.org allows those looking for imagery to fill a special electronic form describing roughly what they are looking for, what kind of programme or product is being produced, and what rights are required.
Presently 33 libraries in Europe and North America receive the results by email as soon as the 'send' button is pressed.
John Flewin, footage consultant says that the research facility, Footage Finder, handles at least two or three requests and as many as 10 requests a day.
"Researching many and varied collections for one specific shot used to be a complicated and time-consuming business. But now, via the FOCAL site, it is simplicity itself," said Mr Flewin.
He added: "The lay-out of the form… may save a producer time and money, for rights cleared early on are normally simpler and less expensive than those cleared in a publishing process."
The FOCAL site also gives producers an easy route to finding the right freelance researcher to work on a specific programme, with a Researcher Finder form. FOCAL has more than 100 researcher members who work on a worldwide basis, many of them specialists in specific programming areas.
Footage Finder also offers links to the on-line text-driven databases of its member libraries through web interfaces.
(GMcG)