The lectorial focused on the use of found footage and public domain footage. I have experience sourcing music and footage for various projects over the years. I am aware of copyright, as through my job, ATOM Awards Officer, I often had to verify the music and footage used in productions submitted to the awards (especially for entries from secondary schools). There are many sites out there for free source music, sometimes if the music is public domain, no attribution is required. However the most common type of licence is creative commons. Creative commons licences mean that you can edit, remix, insert the music into your productions, provided that you attribute the song in your credits. This is extremely useful for filmmakers, because it means that they do not have to pay heavy licences fees for music, and high production standards can be maintained. To check the licence, there is usually a link on the website where you sourced the music from. Just be careful when using music for commercial purposes as many licences restrict this use. If you see a license and ‘NC’ in it, it usually means “Non-commercial”.
Here are some sites that are useful for sourcing music, photos, footage and sound effects:
- Archive: Public domain footage and music available.
- Footage Create: Royalty free music and sound effects.
- Free Media Goo: Royalty free photos, no attribution required.
- Free Music Archive: A huge resource for creative commons music.
- Free Sound: Great for sourcing sound effects and music.
- Free Play Music: Music available for a small fee depending on the usage.
- Image After: Use photos with attribution.
- Incompetech: Kevin McLeod produces lots of music that is accessible by filmmakers for their projects. Some of his music does require a fee.
- Moby Gratis: Requires you to create an account and seek approval, however it gives you access to some great music from Moby.
- Open Video Project: Good source of footage.
- Open Photo: Use photos with attribution.
- Vids Play: Free footage, however at 29 or 30 fps.
- XStock Video: Great source of footage, some is paid, however the majority is free.
- WikiCommons: Great place for creative commons and public domain images.
