LibGuides: Video Resources Guide: Video from the web

Selected video websites

AmericanRhetoric.com presents a wealth of filmed speeches and other resources deemed to be in the public interest, in the spirit of fair use.

Annenberg Media offers a growing wealth of free video-on-demand via the internet, in order to enhance the quality of teaching in American schools. Free registration is required for use.

AP Videos / AP Archive - across two YouTube channels, the Associated Press offers recent videos of interest on a wide array of current topics, including Breaking News, and an archive curated into such topics as "Iconic Moments in History;" "Accidents and Natural Disasters," etc. AP Archive’s website is http://www.aparchive.com/.

British Movietone, residing on YouTube, BMt is possibly the world’s greatest newsreel archive, offering a superb array of newsreels originating between 1895 and 1986.

Brave New Films is a nonprofit production company headed by Robert Greenwald, dedicated to airing social justice issues in a way that inspires, empowers, motivates and teaches civic participation. By registering and offering feedback, educators are able to use the films and facilitation guides at no cost (go to the Educators tab and choose “How it Works”).

CultureUnplugged.com is an outstanding source for curated, streamable mid-length and full-length film documentaries, with an exhaustive subject menu, for example Race/Gender/Identity films.

Directors Cut Films on Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/user11574205) - associated with Directors Cut Films, this site offers a wealth of hard-to-find video on a wide array of topics, playable in entirety, without cost.

Folkstreams.net offers a catalog of unique films on a wide array of topics, including music, dance and numerous other subject areas. To view those possibilities, select the "Subject" link from the left-hand menu. Use your browser’s “Find” mechanism to search for topic words. Rights note: films in Folkstreams are marked "Home streaming only." While brief excerpts in class might be considered fair use, more extensive group viewing should be permissioned via contact links available on each film page.

FORA.tv / FORA.tv via YouTube offers an online library of symposia on a wide array of topics, emanating from sources like the Frick Collection, The Atlantic, and higher education institutions.

Forum Network (WGBH Forum) is a public media service of WGBH that offers hundreds of video and audio lectures from the world's foremost scholars, authors, artists, scientists, policymakers, and community leaders, about the vital issues of our time, made available to the public for free. An archive is available via The Internet Archive. More videos are searchable on YouTube’s WGBH Forum (https://www.youtube.com/user/WGBHForum) by clicking on the magnifying glass icon.

Internet Archive offers permanent online access to moving image collections in digital format, including Arts & Music, Cultural and Academic Films, News & Public Affairs, Television, and Movies. The “Cultural” category is full of material suitable for research and teaching. The Movies section includes classic films, TV shows and commercials. From the Ephemeral Films page, the Prelinger Archives offers over 60,000 unique films (including advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur films). FedFlix, a joint effort of the US government and PublicResource.org, offers the best government films, from training films to history, available for re-use.

Netflix Educational - Netflix's YouTube channel offers a range of full-length documentaries, at least during the COVID crisis. Available are the Our Planet Series; films such as "13th," and so on. See Netflix's permission for educational streaming of documentaries.

PBS Video offers an array of free online programming via a “Shows” link (Frontline, Wide Angle…) and A-Z and Genre lists. Program pages link to websites with valuable supplementary materials. And don’t miss PBS’ yearly indie film festival! For more exceptional public media video content, see American Experience; Nova; POV (especially POV feature film); blackpublicmedia.org, www.pbslearningmedia.org - especially Ken Burns in the Classroom and Forum Network, above, in addition to the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, which offers a subject browse. Some of this content comes from WGBH Open Vault, which may also be of interest.

TED Talks public service-oriented site offers a wealth of thought-provoking video on a wide array of topics. Video may be accessed directly from TED or from other outlets such as YouTube and NPR's TED Radio Hour broadcasts. About TED; Usage policy

Videolectures.net is a free and open access educational video repository with lectures given by distinguished scholars and scientists at worldwide conferences, summer schools, workshops and events from many fields. All contributions are systematically selected (usually peer-reviewed) and classified taking into account users' comments. Scope includes Business, Psychology, Health Sciences, Computer Science/Technology and Engineering in addition to sciences such as Biology and Chemistry and Arts such as Music.

Vimeo is a burgeoning video repository that offers a wealth of tools and resources. Try sampling material from hand-curated Staff Picks.

YouTube.com, familiar to most people, holds an ever-increasing array of quality video such as PBS programs. A series worth noting is "Great Books." First produced on VHS video, only some of the Great Books titles were produced on DVD. Happily many can be found by searching "great books" on YouTube.