Obtaining permission or relying on fair dealing is not always an option. When possible, you should consider using works that are:
Creative Commons (CC) licences enable creators to indicate upfront that they allow people to copy, reuse and redistribute their works. A creator may choose one of the seven licences available that meets their needs. When you find a CC licenced OER, it is important to check its licence type to see what you can and cannot do with it. As long as the licence does not have a No-Derivative (ND) restriction, you may adapt the material.
The public domain licence permits the work to be used without any restrictions. The CC BY licence permits the work to be used freely as long as attribution is provided. The other licences have different combinations of conditions. The conditions are described below.
Attribution - Provide attribution to the creator and source
Share Alike - Distribute the adapted work under the same Creative Commons licence if you modify or build upon it
Non-Commercial - Use the work only for non-commercial purposes
No Derivative Works - The work cannot be changed or modified
Public domain films are not under copyright protection and can be copied, used and incorporated into other works.
Below is a selected list of websites with information on public domain films. You can find similar websites by doing a Google search. In some cases, the films (e.g. Internet Archive) can be freely watched and downloaded online. But in other cases, they are commercial sites that charge a fee for sending you a copy and/or restoring an old film to a usable format. The reliability of public domain information varies on these sites so it is recommended that you do some research to verify the copyright status if you want to adapt and/or incorporate a film clip into your own work.
In Google Images, there is a "usage rights" filter to find images that can be copied and reused. Many of these images are licensed under Creative Commons or in the public domain. However, this search filter is not foulproof; some "All Rights Reserved" images may slip through in the results. Be sure to go to the image's source page to check the Terms of Use or licence type to ensure it permits your use.
Please refer to the section on General Photography, Creative Common & Public Domain of the Finding Images Guide.
