The other day I went to a great informal workshop by Elisabeth Haviland James and John Biewen at the Southern Documentary Fund about finding and using archival footage in documentary work.
They shared this Indiewire article as a quick guide for finding and using archival footage. Here are the top three tidbits I took away from their talk:
1) Hire a professional archive researcher (if you can afford one).
- They have relationships with the archives.
- They know which archives have what type of material.
- They can find the material you’re looking for (and more) much faster than you can. Time is money.
- They often get lower licensing rates than you would.
- If you only need a small amount of footage (one scene, for instance), or if you can’t afford to hire an archivist for the whole project, sometimes you can pay for a short consultation (two hours or so). Come with exactly what you’re looking for and ask, “Where do I find this, this, and this…”
2) University libraries are underused sources for archival footage. A few that are particularly good sources: UCLA, Vanderbilt, Duke, UNC, University of South Carolina.
3) Be organized, be thorough, and be ahead of your deadlines.