Bucks Lake California-1938: An Empty Barren Landscape

$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.

Year1938
Decade1930s
LocationBucks Lake, California, United States
Duration6s
Price$149 USD
Collection1938 Bucks Lake California

$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.

An Empty Barren Landscape — Clip Details

Shot on 8mm film in 1938, this vintage home movie captures a desolate, barren landscape at Bucks Lake, California. The footage reveals a vast, rocky terrain under a pale blue sky, with a lone utility pole standing in the foreground. As the camera pans slowly across the scene, a distant metal structure appears on the horizon. The image exhibits classic Super 8 film characteristics—grainy texture, muted purple and blue color tones, and soft focus—evoking a sense of isolation and quiet nostalgia. This archival clip offers authentic period footage for historical documentaries, retro-themed projects, or atmospheric background visuals.

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: 6s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 127260871

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 1153 · 8mm · 5″ reel
Original reel label: bucks lake,lake tahoe,emerald bay,martins lodge
Reel-level year note: 1938
Reel-level location note: california
Date: 1938 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: Bucks Lake, 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: 1930s 8mm home-movie landscape footage for editors needing a stark rural California cutaway, transition, or atmospheric archival insert.
Period detail: The frames may show a 1938 Bucks Lake area hillside with a utility pole and distant metal structure, but no vehicles, people, signage, or buildings give stronger date clues.
Home-movie behavior: The slow, observational pan has the value of a traveler or family camera recording an empty roadside or lakeside terrain without staging or narration.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include rocky barren ground, a pale sky, utility poles, dark film-frame borders, a distant metal framework, and a small structure on the horizon.
Film character: The 8mm scan carries soft focus, visible grain, uneven exposure, purple-blue color shift, and contact-sheet frame edges as part of its physical-film texture.
Edit role: An editor could use this as a brief establishing insert, desolate transition, memory beat, or landscape cutaway between more specific Bucks Lake scenes.
Historical context: The clip gives visual context for rural Northern California terrain as recorded by a home-movie camera, without enough evidence to support claims about land use or events.
Research note: No people, logos, or audible music are indicated, but copyright status and any property or location permissions should still be reviewed for the intended use.
Research search match: Useful searches include 1930s California 8mm landscape, Bucks Lake home movie, barren rocky hillside, utility pole landscape, and vintage rural cutaway footage.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with adjacent footage from the same reel, then other 1938 Bucks Lake material, then broader rural California landscapes or empty terrain shots.

Still Frames From This Clip

1938 Bucks Lake area 8mm frame showing rocky empty terrain, pale sky, and a single utility pole within dark film-frame edges. — Rocky barren terrain with a utility pole on the horizon.

1938 Bucks Lake area frame of an empty rocky slope, distant utility pole, low horizon, and visible 8mm frame borders. — Empty rocky slope with a distant utility pole.

1938 Bucks Lake area frame showing barren rocky ground, a distant metal framework, and a utility pole against a pale sky. — Distant metal framework appears beyond barren ground.

1938 Bucks Lake area frame with rocky foreground, distant utility pole, metal framework, and a small horizon structure in soft 8mm color. — Rocky foreground with distant pole, framework, and small structure.

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