Public Domain Video is out there in plentiful supply if you’re willing to have a poke around, which is a godsend for those looking to source moving image content free of copyright restrictions.
The emerging medium of the video mashup - remixes that recontextualize and repurpose video content - can be a powerful way to communicate your message. Here is a list of archives jam-packed with weird and wonderful content you can snip away at and mash together as you see fit. I’ve been scouring the web to find 100% copyright free material for a forthcoming mashup based project I’m working on. Stay tuned.
- iMovies - A blog that features extensive search and syndication options, along with a healthy catalogue of free-to-download public domain movies across a range of genres, featuring classics, cartoons and shorts. You can download or stream the videos. http://imovies.blogspot.com/
- Openflv - Openflv features a good selection of b-movie trashola fare which you can stream or download for the most part via the services it aggregates (such as Google video). This is a great place to get hold of such timeless classics as Reefer Madness and the 1968 delight Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. http://openflv.com/tag?t=Public+Domain
- Internet Archive - Internet Archive is the lodestone of public domain video, and there is a huge selection of video to download or stream in multiple formats across a range of genres, from advertising and ephemera to features and old TV shows. This is a treasure trove for the would-be mash-up-meister. http://www.archive.org/details/movies
- Wikimedia Commons - Wikimedia Commons features plentiful public domain video content, a lot of it from amateur sources. You’ll need to be patient though, the organization of the content leaves something to be desired. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Video
- NARA National Archives - The national archive, hosted at Google, have a nice collection of historical movies, including lots of great NASA footage for all of those wonder-space scenes you might want to create. http://video.google.com/nara.html
- PDComedy - If you’re looking for comedy footage in the public domain - think everything from unintentionally humorous kitsch to cartoons and I Love Lucy - this should definitely be on your list. http://www.pdcomedy.com/
- Stage6 - Stage6, the video sharing platform for high-quality DivX recordings, has a nice selection of public domain videos to explore. The quality is among the best you’ll find, although you may need to install DivX on your PC first to watch the movies. Buster Keaton, Betty Boop and Charlie Chaplin prevail. http://stage6.divx.com/videos/tag:public+domain/order:length
- Public Domain Torrent - If you’re familiar with BitTorrent technology, this site has nearly a thousand movies in various formats for you to download without wondering if the MPAA are going to come to your house and flog you with a law suit. Well worth a look. http://www.publicdomaintorrents.com/
- EMOL - EMOL has great selection of public domain video free to download across a vast range of genres. The highlight for me has to be David Hasselhoff’s delightful music video “Jump in my car” (yes, featuring the inimicable KIT). http://emol.org/movies/freemovielist.html
There are a lot more sources out there, especially if you are willing to stray into Creative Commons waters - but bear in mind that the popular Non-Commercial license won’t won’t allow you to use the footage in any commercial work - if you want to promote your business, sell your video, or even run it along web-based advertising, you are stepping into murky waters.
If you know of any more public domain sources I would love to hear about them in the comments - especially those featuring public service announcements and vintage computing.
7 Comments
Daniel,
Sorry, I’m not sure I understood your comment, or what o.us is. Apologies if I am being dumb, and thanks for stopping by!
Do you know any sites that have current modern footage that allow you to use it royalty free?
The WikiMedia Commons resource is mostly contemporary, if erring on the side of home recordings and amateur footage.
You will find some later stuff in the Internet Archive too, and the best way to track it down is by using their advanced search. This will let you put in both the license and the date range you want to check within, so helps weed out the right kind of content.
That aside, a good bet is to use the Creative Commons search, and make sure that you tick the boxes that say that you want to use the work commercially (if that’s the case) and/or to be allowed to modify, adapt and build upon.
Blip.TV, OurMedia and I think Revver also offer CC licensing to their members, so you should be able to track down usable footage using advanced search there.
Hope that’s some help. It would be nice to see a stock video site putting clips out for nothing. The cheapest I have found for stock video (which largely still goes for crazy money per clip) is istockphoto and in my more ostentatious moments I have been known to pick up a clip or two there on the cheap.
For the VJ crowd Channel 4 made a nice site which has relatively lax licensing, but isn’t quite public domain. Check out PIXnMIX Candy Jar if you’re looking for user-generated vidloops.
Maybe a collective is called for, scattered around the globe, to contribute stock clips via a wiki. If anyone needs neon scenes, snow or Northern Japan footage, you know who to call. I’ll trade you for some Euro-cafes or sprawling American panoramas
Anyone else know of any good ways to find contemporary remix footage on the web?
Found this one just now - free samples from a stock footage firm: http://www.footagefirm.com/freeclips.asp
You don’t understand what o.us poetry is because it’s comment spam. Spammers leave a comment and link to their spammy web site and hope that people like you leave it on your site so it will increase their Google page rank. Delete it now.
Thanks “Delete Comment Spam”, I will kill said comment now. doh.
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[...] Public Domain Films For All Your MashUp Needs | Michael Pick Public Domain Video is out there in plentiful supply if you’re willing to have a poke around, which is a godsend for those looking to source moving image content free of copyright restrictions. (tags: video publicdomain) [...]