Let’s say you are doing a tribute video to celebrate your parent’s anniversary. 

You’ve got pictures, a bit of home video or film and some appropriate music. But you’d like to add some production elements that enhance the story. 

That’s where public domain footage comes in. You could add news footage, scenes from old tv shows, even musical performances. It’s all in a place called The Internet Archive.

For a family history we did for a client, we interviewed the parents and learned their backgrounds– he had been in the the second world war; she was an accomplished office manager. Searching the Internet Archive, we found appropriate footage– newsreel footage of the second world war with narration, and generic 1940’s office scenes that we mixed with pictures of Mom at work. Not only does public domain footage help flesh out your video, it makes it more interesting to less involved (non-relatives) viewers. 

The footage can be downloaded in several formats that should work with your editing system… make sure your downloading the highest resolution for the biggest impact. 

Give it a try!