In class, we talked about copyright and fair use. Every piece of media is, by default, copyright its owner, whether or not it’s labeled. Under the most restrictive form of copyright, you can’t legally re-use a work, except with the written permission of the owner. Nevertheless, there are a number of means by which you can re-use media.
Some works have no copyright
Certain types of media, such as government-produced documents and anything produced prior to 1928, are in the public domain, meaning there are no restrictions on their use or reuse. Read more about works in the public domain. A flowchart to help you decide.
Some works have a less-restrictive license
Many authors choose to publish their work with less-restrictive licenses, such as Creative Commons (CC) licenses. There are different types of CC licenses: some, for example, allow other users to do whatever they want with the work, as long as they credit the author, while others allow use only for non-commercial purposes. Using CC-licensed media is a great option, and you can search for CC-licensed media here.
Sometimes you can use a work even if it’s under copyright
Even if the media you’d like to use has a restrictive copyright, you may be entitled to use it under a legal doctrine called fair use. Fair use allows you to reproduce portions of a copyrighted work, as long as you’re using it for the purpose of education or critique, and as long as it isn’t used in such a way that it eliminates a market for the original.
Fair use can be intimidating because there are no hard-and-fast guidelines, but experts often advise us to “use it or lose it”: if we’re not brave enough to make use of the doctrine, it might as well not exist! To evaluate whether your purpose qualifies as fair use, see this checklist. Documentary filmmakers have their own code of best practices for fair use.