You may be able to quickly and easily find images, music, and videos online. However, ownership and copyright will limit if, how, and when they can be used for your assignments. Creative Commons Resources make it easier to find media licensed for reuse.
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Creative Commons is a type of copyright that gives creators a way to share their work for free while retaining ownership. They offer six different licenses, and all a creator needs to do is attach one to his or her work. CC licensed materials are great for music, photos, sound effects, and more. You must be sure to follow the rules of the CC licenses, but they also give a lot more freedom than traditional copyright and are much easier to understand.
Please give credit when using Creative Commons material. The creators are letting you use their material for free, so it's the least you could do.
Want to learn more about Creative Commons, how it works, or how to cite it? Check out this useful infographic.
You can find Creative Commons Licensed content on a number of sites.
The two best sites to find images for this project are Flickr and Google Image Search. Both let you filter your searches by Creative Commons license.
On Flickr, first do a search, then click the "Any License" drop-down menu on top of your results. You can select different options for how to narrow your results. The video below demonstrates this.
On Google Image Search, do a search, then click "Search Tools" on top of the results. Click on the "Usage Rights" drop-down menu to select a license. The video below demonstrates this.
For audio, check out the Free Music Archive for music and Freesound for sound effects (need to sign up for a free account to download).