Slo-mo stockpile.

ENERGY FILM HAS A HUGE LIBRARY OF TIME-LAPSE PHOTOGRAPHY, STOCK FOOTAGE

When 20th Century Fox wanted to show aliens blowing up cities around the world for its blockbuster movie "Independence Day," the production team turned to Louis Schwartzberg's Energy Film Library in Studio City for stock film of the cities.

Merrill Lynch went to Schwartzberg for surreal landscapes for its trademark bull to wander through in commercials, and Warner Bros. asked for footage of covered bridges to use in the "Bridges of Madison County" trailer.

Created in 1974 by Schwartzberg - a cinematographer on the acclaimed film "Koyaanisqatsi" - and his wife Jan Ross, Energy Film Library has grown to be one of the leading collections of contemporary stock film, and is used extensively throughout the world in advertisements, television shows, movies and even music videos.

The content range in Energy's library is exhaustive, including everything from clouds rushing over farmland to firework displays over the Statue of Liberty.

"We create and offer a visual vocabulary," said Schwartzberg. "You don't need to reinvent the wheel every time - that's why we're here. We work incredibly hard to provide the high-quality content that allows others to create their own content."

The McCann-Erikson advertising agency is among Energy's clients.

"Sometimes when we put together an advertisement, we get the reels in, develop a demo tape for our client, and ask them what they think of it without spending a ton of money to go out and shoot something ourselves," said Melinda Estey, a senior producer at McCann-Erikson's San Francisco's office. "It helps the project move along."

Ross said the company has had steadily rising revenues since its inception and posted a 35 percent gain in revenue this year.

Getty Communications, a London-based company that bought Energy earlier this year, declined to release its subsidiary's annual revenue figures or growth projections.

The company has grown from a two-person operation working solely with Schwartzberg's material to 75 full-time employees with offices in Los Angeles, New York and Toronto - along with over 6,000 feet of film in its library.

"We have every subject imaginable - and that's really not an overstatement," said Sue Kincade, Energy's advertising coordinator.

Energy is the brainchild of 47-year-old Schwartzberg, an Emmy-nominated cinematographer who started filming time-lapse images after graduating from UCLA with a master's degree in film in 1972.

"I started with time-lapse photography for two reasons: a true sense of wonder in nature - the camera lets you see a world invisible to the eye - and also because it requires only one frame every five minutes, which was the kind of film work that I could afford," Schwartzberg said.

As he shopped around his own films in the mid-1970s, people were more interested in the time-lapse segments he was capturing than the full projects and asked if the segments were for sale.

"There wasn't much competition when I started," Schwartzberg said. "And absolutely no one was putting time-lapse footage on 35-millimeter film. Most of that kind of cinematography was going to documentaries, which has the rougher look of 16-millimeter film."

In the early '80s, Energy began to represent the work of other directors. Currently, in addition to a five-member staff film crew that works with Schwartzberg, Energy also has contracts with cinematographers to keep building the film library.

"We have dozens of filmers in various countries working to capture the current world," Schwartzberg said. "Cityscapes change constantly, as do lifestyle and fashion trends, and we capture that to continue to be really valuable to our clients."

In 1990, the company went global, with 12 affiliate sales offices around world. The offices work primarily with digitized copies of Energy's footage, because master films are stored in Studio City.

Last June, Getty Communications - whose founder and chairman, Mark Getty, is John Paul Getty's grandson - purchased the library as part of its drive to become the world's largest supplier of photography and film images to the media.

Under the purchase, the Energy management remains intact, with Ross still chief executive and Schwartzberg executive creative director.

"The merger has our competition - which really only is Kodak's Image Bank - guessing," said Ross. "We now have room to leverage Getty's customer list, and we will continue to work on a highly edited core collection that will let clients access only the best footage."

Officials with Kodak's Image Bank did not return calls for comment.

The standard cost of Energy's licensed images is $2,000 for 10 seconds of film - a fairly modest price for what could otherwise be an expensive endeavor.

"If a commercial director sets up his own shoot for those 10 seconds, the cost can easily escalate to $30,000 or so," Schwartzberg said.

Chris Reisner, post-production coordinator at Amadea Films, which produces TV show "Walker, Texas Ranger," uses footage from Energy throughout the season.

"We discover what scenes we still need only after production is over," Reisner said. "At that point, we use stock film rather than set up another crew to finish the work. We save thousands of dollars that way."

Another benefit is that the companies using the film can eliminate the uncertainty of shoot schedules, and can pre-screen and approve the images they want.

"You can't shoot a rainbow on demand," Schwartzberg joked.

Salmon and Skylines

Here's sampling of the thousands of subjects Energy Film Library has on file:

Tornadoes Australian rugby Lightning storms Spawning salmon City skylines Time-lapse traffic Flowers' life cycles Chinese street scenes Firefighters in action Aerial stunts Snowboarders Glaciers Microscopic bugs African tribal rituals