Do you still use stock footage in your projects?

I have seen stock footage used well when it actually supports the story..
when it feels randomly added just to fill space it can make an otherwise good video feel less natural.

Stock footage is still useful when it fits the project naturally.

yeah its usually the color grading and lighting that ruins it... even if the clip makes sense for the scene, if it looks totally different from your own footage it just pulls you right out.

Totally agree—when stock footage blends in seamlessly, it works, but using it just to fill a visual gap immediately ruins the whole vibe of the video.

Of course, it’s very much time saver

tbh camera movement is another big giveaway... if the whole video is handheld and you suddenly cut to a perfectly stable tripod shot it just looks off.

yes if it utilized, depending on the project's requirements

Yeah, definitely. I still use stock footage quite a lot, especially for performance creatives. I just don't treat it as something that's supposed to carry the whole video. It's more useful as B-roll to support the message, break up the talking head footage or visualize something that would be expensive to shoot yourself. For ads, I think the biggest mistake is choosing a stock clip just because it looks good. It needs to match the message, pacing and emotion of the scene. I also usually reframe, crop, speed-ramp or grade stock footage so it feels more integrated with the rest of the creative. A good stock clip that looks slightly different from everything around it can still make the whole ad feel cheap. So yes, stock is definitely not dead. It's just much more useful when it's treated as part of the creative rather than a replacement for the creative.