CD FILM FESTIVAL COPYRIGHT RULES

COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL

Students may not use copyrighted material in projects that will leave the walls of the school unless express written permission is granted by the copyright holder. This applies to media like music, movies, and photos. Many think that if a video is available on sites like YouTube or if a photo can be found using Google image search that they are copyright free. This is not the case. Copyright must be respected regardless of availability on the web.

THE PUBLICAN DOMAIN

All federal government works and many older works are considered in the Public Domain. "As a general rule, most works enter the public domain because of old age. This includes any work published in the United States before 1923 or works published before 1964 for which copyrights were not renewed." ("Stanford University Libraries") Works in the Public domain and may be used freely. Be careful, though. Some songs, like "The William Tell Overture," written in 1838, are in the Public Domain, but specific, more recent recordings of that song can be copyrighted by the orchestra that performed it.

WHAT CAN I USE?

There are still many ways for students and teachers to obtain copyright friendly multimedia for projects:

Make it yourself - Any photos you take, illustrations you create, songs you compose and perform, and video footage you shoot yourself belongs to you. You are automatically the copyright owner of your work, therefore you get to decide how it will be used.
Public Domain - As mentioned, any creative works in the public domain may be freely used.
Written Permission - If express written permission is granted by the copyright holder, you may use their work.
Creative Commons - Many people want to share their work and want it to be remixed and reused. Creative Commons offers alternatives to traditional copyright licenses. If a copyright holder has a Creative Commons license that allows reuse, you may use their work as long as you follow their requirements for using it. Check out our Creative Commons page for more information. Some sites that help students and teachers find such copyright friendly works include include: soundzabound (music), pics4learning (kid-safe photos), and flickrstorm(photos).
Multimedia Software - Many software programs, like iMovie, GarageBand, PhotoStory, or Windows Movie Maker contain jingles, sound effects, and instrument clips that you are free to use in projects as long as you own a license to the software.

Sources:

"The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education." Center for Social Media. Center for Social Media, n.d. Web. 25 Feb 2013. <http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/fair-use/related-materials/codes/code-best-practices-fair-use-media-literacy-education>.
"Stanford Copyright & Fair Use." Stanford University Libraries. Stanford University, n.d. Web. 25 Feb 2013. <http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter8/index.html>.
United States. Copyright Office. Copyright Law of the United States of America. Washington, DC: U.S. Copyright Office, Print. <http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html>.
Starr, Linda. "The Educator's Guide to Copyright and Fair Use." Education World. Education World, Inc, 25 May 2010. Web. 10 Mar 2014. <http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr280.shtml>.