Small Guage Stock Footage

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Fri Sep 13, 2002 7:57 pm

:?: Does anyone know where I can find and purchase vintage home movies? I'm looking for a variety of stock shots from specific places and times, e.g. Shanghai harbour 1940s, Chinatown S.F. and Oakland suburbs in the 1950s, Tianamen Square 1970s, etc.

steve

Post by **jessh** » Fri Sep 13, 2002 8:18 pm

ebay.com is probably yout best bet, any plans to digitize what you get? I know there has been some talk of it before and I think it would be really cool to setup a website where you can download very high quality digital copies of old films such as home movies for whatever uses you may have.

~Jess

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Fri Sep 13, 2002 8:24 pm

Ebay has a mixed bag of home movies, but not what I need right now. I check periodically. I would either purchase the films themselves or transfer the film to BetaSP and purchase the rights to license the film for all media in perpetuity.

Post by **tfunch24** » Sun Sep 15, 2002 8:22 pm

If you buy somebody's old home movies off of Ebay or in an old junk shop, is it in the public domain? A stupid question, but once somebody sells their old footage, don't they give up their rights to it?

Tom

shoot1st · Post by **shoot1st** » Sun Sep 15, 2002 10:53 pm

I don't know about other countries, but under European copyright law the actual photographer would own all exploitation rights to the images for life plus 70 years (even though the film may be owned by someone else).
In the USA, of course, they have things like "personality" rights and privacy laws, which may preclude the commercial exploitation of images of actual people, living or dead.
It's a bit of a minefield, so it's probably better to get a signed "release" from the owner (photographer?) of the film at the time of sale.

tfunch24 being lazy · Sun Sep 15, 2002 11:35 pm

That's what I suspected. Of course, in the case of eBay, getting a signed release would be nearly impossible, so much so that it would not be worth the effort.

Tom

steve · Post by **steve** » Mon Sep 16, 2002 3:08 pm

A signed release isn't necessary for the film by itself. If I sent the seller an e-mail asking for rightsto all media and they replied "ok" that would be sufficient. If I had to pay for the rights, then i would need a signed release form. But I don't think it would be difficult to get someone to sign a release if there's $ involved.

steve

mike · Post by **mike** » Tue Sep 17, 2002 8:29 am

I'm doing a project on new orleans using old home movies. I found some films at resale shops and flea markets, others on ebay.
I held off the project because of the copywrite law. It actually expired for things like home movies in 2001.
Try a tv station for the s.f footage. I have a 50' 8mm reel of cable cars of s.f done in the 50s or 60s.