Question 1

All about Shutterstock, media libraries, & credits

Accepted Answer

Note: Marketplace media from Shutterstock is available on our Professional plan and above. _If you wish to be able to access marketplace content, you can upgrade your account on our pricing page. _

About the Media Library

We have partnered with one of the world's best stock media providers: Shutterstock. We provide this media to use in Lumen5 at a fraction of the cost of purchasing it directly. Users on the free Community plan have access to the unlimited free library, Starter users enjoy access to the unlimited free library and the premium unlimited library, while users on the Professional plan have access to both of those libraries, plus the media marketplace. The marketplace operates on a credit system, and users on the Professional plan are allotted 25 credits/month to use on media in this library.

How can I identify which library media belongs to?

Our Standard media library will show "free" when you hover over the it:

If you're using Lumen5 on our Community plan, premium media files are marked by a diamond, and have the "Premium" wording, as using that content requires a paid plan:

If you have a paid plan with access to premium media, premium media files are still marked by a diamond, but will say "Free" instead:

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Question 2

How can I add multiple pictures or videos to a scene?

Accepted Answer

If you want to put more than 1 image or video on the same scene, you'll need to select a scene design that supports that! You can do that by clicking on "Swap design" on an existing scene, or clicking on the green + button on the canvas to create a new scene. You'll see the scene selection screen open, and you'll want to look for scenes under the "Collage" heading.

Most templates will have scene designs with spots for 2, 3, or 4 pieces of media. Once you've selected one of those, it's time to add your content!

You have 2 options to add media to your scenes:

You can drag and drop it into the correct spot on the canvas. Be sure to look for the green "drop zone" to be sure that you're applying your media to the right spot:

${frame}Click to apply

You can click on the media on your scene that you want to replace, and then click on a piece of media from the library to apply it:

${frame}Click to apply

To trim, crop, or adjust the brightness of one of the images or videos, just click on the one you'd like to edit! The media controls will appear at the top of the scene, much like the text editing controls do. The media that's being edited will be outlined in teal, like so:

Question 3

Commenting in Lumen5

Accepted Answer

How can I post a comment?

You can post a comment on a video scene inside the creator, or on a draft video if you have the link.

In the creator:

You can leave a comment on a video scene when clicking the icon on the left-hand side of the scene:

Once you've clicked there, you'll see a box pop-up that lets you add a comment:

Just type in your feedback, click Comment, and you're all set!

On a draft video preview:

You can also leave a comment on a draft video preview. To do this, you'll need a link to the draft video. You can find that by clicking on the Preview button in the top right corner, and copying the link from the pop-up window that appears:

This link will take you to the share page. Anyone with access to the preview link will be able to post a comment that video:

Please note that you can only post comments on draft videos. Once the video is published, it's no longer possible to make comments on it.

I don't have a Lumen5 account. Can I leave a comment?

Yes! If you don't have Lumen5 account

Question 4

"Something went wrong" with my video rendering

Accepted Answer

If you see the "something went wrong" message, it means that your video has unfortunately encountered an error during the rendering process and has been dropped from the queue.

Our team is notified whenever a rendering video encounters an error, so chances are that we're already investigating the problem as you're reading this message. Once we've fixed the problem, we'll put the video back into the rendering queue, and you'll receive your video as usual!

You can expect to see the video back in your dashboard, fully rendered and available for download, by 11am PST the day after you see this error (or the same day, if the error occurs before 10am PST).

We're constantly improving the system to reduce the likelihood of rendering problems, but in the meantime you can also try creating another video.

Question 5

Is my video commercial or editorial?

Accepted Answer

Click here to learn how to spot editorial content in our media library and your video.

Images, videos, GIFs, and audio tracks are sometimes only licensed for use in non-commercial, or editorial, videos.

That leads to the obvious question: is my video commercial or non-commercial? The best way to answer that is to ask yourself: "What is the purpose of my video?"

If you're creating videos to sell a product or service (an ad), it's a commercial video and you cannot use editorial-only media files.

On the other hand, if you're creating videos to report on a news story, to share a poem, to share an update, or to educate or inform, that is considered editorial usage and you can use editorial-only media files. As long as the video uses the media to present educational or factual information, that is a valid use under the editorial license. This is true even if you are a business.

NOTE: Simply adding a call-to-action or your company's branding to a video does not necessarily make it a commercial video.

Question 6

How to use icons

Accepted Answer

Icons are available on all paid plans. Click here to see our plans here.

Lumen5 has a collection of icons that can be used to enhance your videos. Icons are fantastic for representing ideas, concepts, and objects. They make for a nice break from stock media, adding variety to your videos.

To use icons, open the "Icons" tab on the left hand side. You can drag an icon to an existing scene, or between two existing scenes to create a new scene with the icon.

We have special scene designs to support icons. If you drag an icon to a scene that doesn't support icons, we'll automatically swap you to a design that supports icons.

To see all of our available icon scenes, click the big green new scene button, and then scroll down to the section called Icons. Here you can see and choose an icon scene design. Most of our templates have 2 - 4 icon scene designs available.

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