California-1955: Couple Water Skiing on Lake at Dusk

$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.

Year1955
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.

Couple Water Skiing on Lake at Dusk — Clip Details

A vintage 8mm home movie from 1955 captures a couple water skiing on a lake in California under a deep blue, twilight sky. The grainy, monochromatic footage shows a person being pulled by a motorboat, creating white wakes on the dark water. A distant shoreline and a small island are visible in the background, with a buoy floating in the foreground. The scene evokes a nostalgic, retro atmosphere of mid-century leisure, shot on classic 8mm film with characteristic grain and color cast.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Shot details: Night
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: commercial and editorial use
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 5s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 125290217

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.

Editorial use is the safest path. For commercial use, a clearance review is recommended for the flags below.

People visible: Yes
Minors 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 1449 · 8mm · 6″ reel
Original reel label: david,alex
Reel-level year note: 1953-1955-1956
Reel-level location note: palm springs california
Date: 1955 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

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Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: Useful for 1950s California leisure, boating, water-skiing, and lakeside recreation sequences in documentary, museum, education, or editorial productions.
Period detail: The clip may show mid-century recreational boating and water skiing, with visual clues limited to small motorboats, lake water, distant shore, and 8mm color home-movie texture.
Home-movie behavior: The value is in the unstaged home-movie view of people water skiing at a distance, recorded from shore or another boat rather than from a formal sports setup.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include dark lake water, white boat wakes, distant skiers, small motorboats, a buoy, low shoreline, hills, and a deep blue dusk sky.
Film character: The 8mm scan has heavy grain, blue color cast, soft focus, low-light exposure, and slight framing instability that read as physical home-movie texture.
Edit role: An editor could use this as a brief insert, transition, memory beat, or atmospheric cutaway for mid-century California outdoor leisure.
Historical context: The footage suggests informal postwar-era lake recreation in California, but the frames do not identify the specific lake, community, or participants.
Research note: People are visible at a distance, so likeness review may still be needed; no logos, private property, or minors are apparent from the provided frames.
Research search match: Likely matches searches for 1950s California lake water skiing, vintage 8mm boating footage, dusk lake recreation, and home-movie water sports.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with the same reel, then other 1955 California lake or boating clips, then broader vintage water-skiing and mid-century leisure footage.

Still Frames From This Clip

1955 California 8mm frame showing a distant water skier and small motorboat crossing dark lake water at dusk. — A distant skier and boat move across the lake, leaving a pale wake beneath the blue evening sky.

A distant skier trails near a small motorboat on a California lake in grainy 1955 home-movie footage. — The boat and skier continue across the frame, visible mainly by their bright wake on the dark water.

Grainy 1955 California lake view with a buoy in the foreground, distant boats, and hills along the shore. — A buoy sits in the foreground while distant boats and shoreline appear beneath the dusky blue sky.

1955 California 8mm frame with a lake buoy, distant motorboats, low hills, and deep blue twilight exposure. — The final frame widens to the lake surface, buoy, distant boats, and hilly shoreline.

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