Use stock footage – Legal issues to think about
It is easy to download video or music content from the internet and use this without any consideration for the effort put into making this content in the first place. Have you ever downloaded and used anything you found on the internet that wasn’t really yours to use? I am sure I have, and I bet you have too.
Using video or music content without permission bears some risk – especially when your work has some level of success. Today, this risk is not so much worthwhile as a lot of content is becoming less expensive to use royalty free. In many cases you could also find completely free content to use, like what is offered under Creative Commons licenses. Using stock footage is no exeption to this and there are some legal aspects of buying and using stock footage it is worth considering, and I will try to give you a brief heads up on it.
First and foremost, you need to secure the right to use the footage itself. This usually involves buying a license to use it from whoever made the footage in the first place – they own the rights simply because it is the work of their hands. Such licenses to use footage could be royalty free, royalty ready or rights managed.
Royalty free licenses usually implies that you pay only once to use the footage for the intended purpose and no more payments are required, whereas rights managed licenses means that you pay a price depending on what you are to use it for, in what geographic regions you intend to use it, on what media you intend to show / display / broadcast / distribute your production, for how long you need to use it and, finally, if you require to use it exclusively or if it is ok that others use the same footage.
In general, royalty free licenses are easier to handle and cheaper, whereas rights managed licenses are more difficult to handle and more expensive. Royalty ready licenses are somewhere in between, only prices are prefixed to set levels according to areas of use.
Secondly, you also need to consider your intended use for the footage. The reason for this is that people have a right to their own person and privacy, and you can not freely use footage of them without their consent and agreement. You may not freely use a video clip that depicts an arbitrary person from the street in your advertising campaign, for instance (commercial use). This is one of the reasons why professional actors are commonly used. However, if you were making a relevant documentary or a newsworthy piece, and the footage was taken in a public place, then you are on safer grounds as the work may be considered of public interest and as an expression of freedom (editorial use). This does not only apply to people, it also applies to artwork, logos, trademarks, copyrights music.
One way around this is to use footage where model or property releases have been signed, as would most often be the case when actors are involved, and to look if the video clip has been cleared for commercial or editorial use. Most of the generic stock video footage out there does not depict anything that would violate such rights and may therefore be used commercially so long as you pay the license fee. In most cases it is easy, but if you are unsure in a particular case, then just ask your supplier of stock footage if you can use the footage as you intended. It is not so much a jungle as it is a pathway. Good luck in your endevours!
Examples of agreements: Use stock footage right (legal)