Category: Uncategorized

Most music has copyright, which means the musician owns can decide who is allowed to copy, share, or perform the music. So don’t use copyrighted music without permission- if you do you are breaking the law! We can use the music in the school because it is for educational purposes; this is covered under “fair use” law.

Read more about copyright here or here if you are curious. Or watch this video.

IF you want to share your video, or make more videos, use one of these kinds of music:

1. Music you make
2. Music that comes with the stop motion app or in a filmmaking app (music in Capcut or iMovie)
3. Public domain music has no copyright and can generally be used freely.
4. Music with Creative Commons license- lets users share. You must say who made it.

Find music you can use from one of these sites:

• ccMixter: Offers a variety of music tracks under a Creative Commons license.
• Free Music Archive: FMA has music tracks under Creative Commons licenses and public domain. Music can be searched by mood, genre, tempo, and length.
• Bensound: Tracks on this site may be downloaded and used for free with credit to the creator and no remixes. (click the free button)
• Pixabay: free music

ANIMATION APPS

• STOP MOTION STUDIO is the free App we used for stopping motion animation.
  • It works on both IOS and Android devices, and also on Chromebooks, Mac, and other devices.
  • The phone app has both a FREE version (blue icon) and a PAID version called Stop Motion Studio Pro (pink icon). The paid version has more features than the free version. But the free version is pretty good. For instance, the paid version has more text and audio functions. The paid version is $4.99.
  • You can read about it at https://www.cateater.com/
  • On the website, you can see manuals and FAQS.
• ANIMATIC is a great APP to make animation with drawing (instead of photography)

It works on both IOS and Android devices. https://animatic.io/

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USING MUSIC IN YOUR MOVIES

FILMMAKING APPS & RESOURCES:

• iMovie is an app filmmaking and basic editing. iMovie is free on iPads, iPhones, and Mac laptops. iMovie is often updated. iMovie guides are online: https://support.apple.com/imovie. Scroll down to “Get help with iMovie.” Then click on which device you are using –iPad, iPhone, or Mac(desktop)
• Capcut is great too for editing
• https://vimeo.com/user6318924/videos is Magic Box Productions’ Vimeo channel with most of our film and video work with schools.

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NYC FILM AND MOVIE RESOURCES

• The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens is a special film & movie museum! Free general admission every Thursday, 2:00–6:00 p.m
• Free Summer Movies in parks citywide (NYC Parks)

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FREE FILMMAKING CLASSES FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS:

• Reel Works Teen Filmmaking: A nonprofit that offers free after-school filmmaking labs where teens learn storytelling, production, editing, and work with professional filmmaker mentors to make real films.
• DCTV:Youth Media & Documentary Training: Offers free media arts training for teens and young adults ages ~13–24, teaching documentary storytelling, production skills, and professional equipment use. DCTV also gives mentorship, college counseling, and exhibition opportunities for youth work.
• The AFF Media Production Lab is a free 3-month Workforce Development/Career Exploration program featuring Master Classes, Lectures, Workshops, and Media Production Experiences, intended to empower NYC Residents between the ages of 18 and 28, providing them with essential skills, hands-on experience, and valuable connections, so they can pursue industry careers in film/tv/digital media production.
• BRIC Youth Filmmaking Bootcamp: A free spring bootcamp for high school students that teaches pre-production, shooting, and editing skills, with hands-on studio experience in NYC.

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FILM FESTIVALS YOU CAN SUBMIT TO:

• Ny student film fest  
• BRIC Youth Media Fellowship 2025
• Go to Film Freeway and search “High School” or “Young” or your interests…