Are you a student or indie videographer who is working on a project? Are you a teacher who wants to create informative media for your lessons? Do you work for a non-profit group and want to assemble interesting media packages for a conference? Are you working with a limited budget and wish to find worthwhile media resources for your projects?
Then you want to make use of public domain video clips. There are many reasons why you would want to plumb public domain footage whether for business presentations, educational purposes, artistic endeavors, or even personal work.
Before you delve into media commons, you should have an idea of what public domain videos you’re searching for. Cobble together at least a rudimentary outline or list of key topics, people, and events. On the other hand, some prefer to sort through a media resource and come upon topics. Typically if you do have an outline in mind, it will help tighten your focus and make your process more efficient.
In a nutshell, you are looking for public domain videos that are available at no cost, and without having to ask for permission. Typically these could be produced by a government, or the creator of the footage has waived rights to its use and stated that it is for the public domain, or it is seventy years after the death of the copyright holder. Thus be careful about where you find material, and really make sure that this material IS in the public domain. Read the fine print!
A preliminary way to locate such video resources is to type into a search engine “Find free public domain footage” or “Websites with no-cost public domain video clips.” You will find articles and listicles pertaining to this. Still, vet each actual site so that you know if it is legitimate.
A few of the most popular websites for free public domain clips are the following:
- You’ll feel like a kid in the candy store with https://archive.org, but it can also seem intimidating with all its possibilities. Search purposefully here. Especially worthwhile are the Prelinger Archives found here.
- Pond5.com has lots of free options (also some that have cost). Browse through the site for your topics.
- https://coverr.co has a lot of generic as well as specific videos to peruse.
- The United States National Archives has a lot of wonderful material for use, and the explanations about how to use them are very good. Go to About the National Archives Catalog | National Archives and look.
Perhaps I am a teacher, working on a set of high school social studies lessons about democracy. By using the Prelinger Archives, I can type in my keyword “democracy” and see various black-and-white options, created by US government agencies. Then I need to view and determine what would be germane to my target audience. My students would (hopefully) appreciate the vintage quality.
Or perhaps I am working on a presentation about African Americans in the 20th Century, for a non-profit organization. I can visit the Library of Congress (www.loc.gov) “National Screening Room of Free Motion Pictures Now Online” and look through the “All-American News” newsreels of the 1940s.
Take the time to view the materials that interest you, and make sure that they are appropriate for your needs. (Unintended surprises while screening to your audience may not be appreciated.) Even though these are free, you want to be a wise consumer of these materials.