Malaʻe Productions maintains one of the largest private 4K and 8K Hawaii stock footage libraries in existence — scenic, landscape, flora, fauna, surf, volcanic and marine subjects gathered in the field since 2003. This is the archive that supplied stock video to National Geographic / PBS's Wild Hawaii: Land of Fire and Wild Hawaii: Secrets of the Deep, Discovery Channel's Sharkcano and Sharks of the Fire Goddess, PBS Nature's Sharks of Hawaii, stock video sourcing for PBS / IMAX's America's National Parks, and the exclusive footage of tiger sharks feeding on a whale carcass that Hawaii News Now covered.
The library exists because of where and how we work. Based on the Big Island of Hawaii since 2003, with every RED camera, Nauticam housing, DJI drone, motion-control rig, truck and boat we use living on the island, the crew has spent over two decades filming Hawaii's rarest wildlife, volcanic events, marine ecosystems and remote terrain — from midnight time lapses of active lava flows and the northern lights, to tiger sharks circling whale carcasses and newborn humpback calves taking their first breaths, to first-ever footage of newly discovered insects and rare birds on the brink of extinction. The footage a production would otherwise have to schedule, permit and wait for often already exists.
The subjects below are the ones the library is known for and each has its own page describing what is in the archive, how it is typically licensed and how to inquire. They are not the whole collection: scenic, landscape, flora, fauna, surf, volcanic and marine subjects run far beyond these five, so if you do not see what you need, ask — and if it exists in Hawaii and is not yet in the library, we can shoot it for you.
The library is described across this site as 4K and 8K, and the RED Digital Cinema systems we shoot on record in 8K. For any specific clip we confirm the resolution, frame rate and delivery format before quoting, rather than promising a specification a particular shot does not have.
Subjects in the library
- Lava stock footage — License Big Island lava stock footage: Kīlauea eruptions on RED 8K, aerial lava ocean entries, eruption time lapses and volcanic lightning. Inquiry to quote.
- Tiger sharks stock footage — License tiger shark stock footage from the Big Island, including the exclusive whale-carcass feeding frenzy covered by Hawaii News Now. Underwater and aerial.
- Humpback whales stock footage — License humpback whale stock footage from Hawaiian waters: humpbacks from the air, newborn calves taking their first breaths, underwater and aerial sequences.
- Nāpali Coast stock footage — License Nāpali Coast stock footage from Kauai: Part 107 aerial coverage of the sea cliffs and coastline plus motion-control time lapse shot on location.
- Mauna Kea stock footage — License Mauna Kea stock footage from the Big Island: summit sunrise, Milky Way arcs over the summit, night-sky and weather time lapse on motion control.
Typical licensing uses
Broadcast networks and documentary producers license sequences for natural history features and series; the credits on this site show the archive at work for National Geographic, PBS, Discovery and IMAX. Commercial and brand films license Hawaii signatures — lava, whales, sea cliffs, the summit above the clouds — without mounting a remote shoot. Editorial and news outlets license rare-event and established footage when Hawaii is in the headlines. Educational, museum and science producers license wildlife behavior and night-sky time lapse.
How licensing works
Licensing runs in four steps. First, an inquiry: send the Hawaii sequence you are after, the production it is for and how it will be used, through the form below or to sales@malaeproductions.com. Second, clip selection: we pull the candidate clips from the archive and send you a selection to review, with the resolution and format of each confirmed. Third, a quote: pricing follows the use — broadcast, documentary, commercial or editorial — along with territory, term and the number of clips, and we reply with availability and pricing, typically within one business day. Fourth, delivery: once the license is agreed, the selected clips are delivered at the resolution and format in the quote.
Every subject page carries the same form. Name the subject, the production and the use, and the clip selection, quote and delivery follow from there.
Stock footage questions
What formats and resolutions is the stock footage in?
The library is described across this site as 4K and 8K, and the RED Digital Cinema systems we shoot on record in 8K. For any specific clip we confirm resolution, frame rate and delivery format during clip selection, before the quote.
How much does licensing Hawaii stock footage cost?
Pricing follows the use — broadcast, documentary, commercial or editorial — along with territory, term and the number of clips, so there is no single rate card. Send the subject and the use and we reply with availability and pricing, typically within one business day.
What if the shot I need is not in the library?
Ask. The collection runs far beyond the five subjects with their own pages, and if it exists in Hawaii and is not yet in the archive, the crew and equipment to shoot it are already on the islands.
Who has licensed footage from the library before?
Stock video from the archive went into National Geographic / PBS's Wild Hawaii: Land of Fire and Wild Hawaii: Secrets of the Deep, Discovery Channel's Sharkcano and Sharks of the Fire Goddess, PBS Nature's Sharks of Hawaii and stock video sourcing for PBS / IMAX's America's National Parks, and Hawaii News Now covered the exclusive tiger shark feeding frenzy footage. Each has a page under Credits.
License Hawaii stock footage
Name the subject, the production and how the footage will be used. We reply with availability and pricing, typically within one business day.
Related
- Cinema — Malaʻe Productions has filmed Hawaii's natural world for broadcast since 2003 — as Directors of Photography and cinematographers on PBS Nature's Sharks of Hawaii, National Geographic's Wild Hawaii: Secrets of the Deep and Wild Hawaii: Land of Fire, and Discovery Channel's Sharkcano and Sharks of the Fire Goddess.
- Credits
- Photography — Editorial, commercial and documentary photography of Hawaii's landscapes, wildlife and underwater world, from the summit of Mauna Kea to the open Pacific.
- Contact — Tell us about your production, rental or stock footage needs anywhere in Hawaii. We reply with availability and pricing, typically within one business day.