Guides: Film & Media in the School of Creative Arts: How to find audio-visual material

Film, TV, Radio, Sound

In addition to your own subscriptions to streaming services you can access films, TV, radio and sounds through the Library website.

BoB National (Box of Broadcasts)

Shared off-air recording and media archive service. Programmes can only be viewed in the UK.

You will need to register with the site before you can access the content.
- Database help guide
British Library Sounds
The British Library is home to the UK's national sound archive, one of the largest collections of sound recordings in the world. With over 6.5 million items of speech, music and wildlife, this includes audio from the advent of recording to the present day.
Kanopy

Kanopy is a video streaming solution offering access to specific subscribed videos.

The videos which we currently subscribe to are available via the Kanopy homepage. It is possible to browse the entire Kanopy database and make suggestions to the Library about further potential purchases. Please note, these requests will only be considered if they would be beneficial to an entire module group.
Radio at BUFVC

Access to the Felicity Wells Memorial Archive, a database of around 1,120 sound recordings generated by the ILR Programme Sharing Scheme. The scheme enabled features, drama, music and news producers working in commercial radio around Britain to offer material - including a significant body of speech-based programming produced locally - to other stations.

Log in using your Student ID and password.
TRILT

Access to UK television and radio data, including programme listings for more than 300 TV and radio channels from 1995 onwards. The data is available at least 10 days before transmission. Selected records are enhanced with extra information, including production credits.

Free resources

BBC Archives
Curated extracts from the BBC's huge content archive including collections of radio and TV programmes, documents and photographs from as far back as the 1930
BUFVC Learning on Screen
Search for moving image content, artefacts and sound collections from across the UK
Creative Commons Search
Find content you can share, use and remix
Internet Archive
A non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more
Openculture - free films
Watch 4,000+ movies free online. Includes classics, indies, film noir, documentaries and other films, created by some of our greatest actors, actresses and directors. The collection is divided into the following categories: Comedy & Drama; Film Noir, Horror & Hitchcock; Westerns (many with John Wayne); Martial Arts Movies; Silent Films; Documentaries, and Animation.
Prelinger Archives
View thousands of films from the Prelinger Archives
Royalty free music from Incompetech
If you need free music for your YouTube videos
If you need music for your film or video game...
If you need music for your presentation or commercial...
Wikimedia Commons
A collection of freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute

Netflix

Some Netflix original educational documentaries are available for one-time educational screenings.

To find out which titles are available for educational screenings, visit media.netflix.com and search for the title or browse recent and upcoming releases.

Titles that are available for educational screening will display either the following Grant of Permission or an Educational Screenings Permission (ESP) on their details page. If a documentary can be screened for educational purposes, you will find the relevant information in the synopsis, as shown in this example: https://media.netflix.com/en/only-on-netflix/81001496

Whether a specific title is eligible for screening varies, so it is important to check each title individually.

Grant of Permission for Educational Screenings will permit one-time educational screenings of any of the titles noted with this information, on the following terms:

The film or series may only be accessed via the Netflix service, by a Netflix account holder. The university does not subscribe to Netflix
A one-time screening means that you are not allowed to hold screenings multiple times in a single day or week. However, if you are an educator who wants to show these films or series once each semester over several semesters, that is allowed.

Librarian Yogi - Netflix Original Documentaries
Additional US Librarian blog with updated Netflix list of documentaries.

Types of sources

Audio visual information can include primary and secondary sources.

Primary Sources

Primary sources are original, first hand accounts or direct evidence concerning a topic. In film and media studies, these can include:

Films, TV Shows music: The actual movies, television episodes, web series or songs you are analysing.
Scripts, Screenplays and Scores: The original written texts of films TV shows or music score.
Interviews: Conversations with directors, actors, writers, or other industry professionals.
Behind-the-Scenes Footage: Raw footage from the production process.
Reviews and Critiques: Contemporary reviews written at the time of the film’s release.
Personal Letters and Diaries: Correspondence or journals from filmmakers or actors.

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources interpret, analyse, or critique primary sources. They provide second hand accounts and are often used to support your analysis. Examples include:

Academic Articles and Books: Scholarly works that analyse films, genres, directors, or media trends.
Documentaries: Films that explore the making of a movie or the impact of a media phenomenon.
Biographies: Books or articles about the lives of filmmakers, actors, or other industry figures.
Critical Essays: Articles that provide in-depth analysis of films or media topics.
Histories: Works that place films or media within a broader historical context.

YouTube

Most full films, documentaries, TV episodes and news programmes on YouTube are not legal uploads as it's very rare for these to be uploaded in their entirety by their rights holders.

Find out more on Learning on Screen below:

Learning on screen article