California USA-1952: Desert Lake Surrounded by Mountains from Vehicle

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use. $149 flat from Stockfilm. Royalty-free worldwide license for commercial and editorial use, delivered as the restored 4K master.

Year1952
Decade1950s
LocationCalifornia, United States
Duration5s
Price$149 USD

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use

$149 USD flat · royalty-free worldwide · 4K restored master (MP4)

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Stockfilm licenses the rights identified in the applicable agreement. Additional use-specific review may be required. See the Licensing Guide and Archive Integrity.

Desert Lake Surrounded by Mountains from Vehicle — Clip Details

Shot on 8mm film in 1952, this vintage home movie captures a sweeping desert landscape in California, viewed from a moving vehicle. A large body of water stretches across the middle ground, surrounded by distant mountains under a hazy sky. The foreground features arid terrain with sparse vegetation and small mounds of earth, while the film's characteristic grain and color fade lend a nostalgic, archival quality. The perspective shifts slightly across the five frames, suggesting travel along a remote road, with power lines occasionally visible against the horizon. This authentic slice of mid-century Americana evokes a sense of exploration and quiet isolation.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: commercial and editorial use
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 5s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 123339262

Rights & Clearance

$149 · Commercial Direct license: commercial and editorial use. $149 flat from Stockfilm. Royalty-free worldwide license for commercial and editorial use, delivered as the restored 4K master.

No recognizable people, logos, or music are flagged. Lower-risk for commercial use, subject to your own review.

People visible: No
Logos / trademarks: No
Audible music: No

Flags come from automated catalog metadata, not a legal opinion. The source is an original 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie reel. For high-stakes commercial use, request a full rights review.

Source & Documentation

Source reel: Reel 1234 · 8mm · 5″ reel
Original reel label: miss universe
Reel-level year note: 1952
Reel-level location note: california
Date: 1952 Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Date evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level note shows the same year, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Location: California, United States Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Location evidence: Catalog estimate. A reel-level location note is linked, but the clip-to-reel link is itself a catalog match, so this is not counted as independent confirmation.
Licensing route: Direct license available from Stockfilm

Confidence labels are defined on Archive Integrity. Fields without a recorded value are shown as not recorded rather than assumed.

View source reel context Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: 1950s California 8mm footage for productions needing a brief desert-road view of water, distant mountains, and open western landscape.
Period detail: The scene may show mid-century travel footage, with muted color 8mm stock, roadside perspective, sparse desert ground, and occasional utility lines as era clues.
Home-movie behavior: The value is the unstaged passenger-view movement across a remote landscape, preserving how a traveler noticed water and mountains during a road trip.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include arid foreground, low desert shrubs, pale mounds, a broad blue body of water, distant mountain ridges, hazy sky, and film-frame borders.
Film character: Soft focus, faded color, light grain, gate edges, and slight handheld or vehicle motion give the clip a clearly physical 8mm home-movie texture.
Edit role: An editor could use this as a travel insert, geographic transition, quiet cutaway, or memory beat for mid-century western road-trip material.
Historical context: The footage places a 1952 home-movie camera in a dry California landscape where open road travel meets water, mountains, and sparse settlement signs.
Research note: No people, logos, or identifiable private property are visible, but copyright status and location identification should still be reviewed separately.
Research search match: Useful searches include 1950s California desert lake 8mm, vintage road trip mountains and water, home movie western landscape, and mid-century travel cutaway.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with nearby shots from the same reel, then other 1952 California travel views, then broader desert, lake, mountain, or road-trip footage.

Still Frames From This Clip

1952 California 8mm frame showing arid roadside terrain, a broad body of water, and distant mountain ridges beyond the shore. — Arid ground and low brush frame a distant body of water and mountains.

1952 California home-movie view of a desert basin, blue water, pale shoreline, and layered mountains seen from a moving vehicle. — A broad blue waterline separates the dry foreground from distant ridges.

Faded 8mm California travel frame with scrubby desert foreground, pale mounds, water, and soft mountain shapes in the distance. — Pale desert mounds sit below a hazy band of water and mountains.

1952 California 8mm frame showing roadside desert terrain, a faint utility line, blue water, and mountains fading into haze. — Roadside desert terrain passes a body of water backed by hazy mountains.

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