Video Credit Guidelines

by Julia Maserjian

Video Credits – Guidelines
Just as you would give attributions when creating a bibliography, footnotes, or works referenced for a paper, you should provide credits at the end of your video.

Your professor may want full citations handed in for your film’s referenced scholarship, images, footage, etc., but for the actual video the following is what we suggest:

Here are examples of commonly used credits for non-fiction films:

Director –A director is the person whose vision of the script is realized. The director also manages the crew and actors.

Producer – A producer raises money for the film, hires director, oversees administrative elements of production and post-production, manages rights, and markets the final product.

Writer – Writes the script.

Editor – An editor works with the director to realize his or her creative vision by assembling shots, sequences, and scenes to create a cohesive story.

Cinematographer or Director of Photography – The cinematographer is in charge of the camerawork. Along with the director, the cinematographer helps create the visual mood of the story.

Sound Director/Designer – The sound designer manages soundtrack for the production to include adjusting/mixing sound and creating or adding sound effects.

Location Sound - Is produced by the person recording sound on the the set.

Researchers or Consultants – Individuals who helped with research or because of their expertise advised on the film’s content.

Narrator – Voice over talent that reads the script for recording.

Cast – The cast is comprised of actors or characters who appear (e.g. reenactors).

Funding and Sponsors – If your production relied on grants and/or donations to complete the project.

Moving and Still Images – many non-fiction films use still and moving images from archives to give films historical context or to illustrate a point through found footage and photos from resources like Creative Commons.

Music - For music you can list the name of the song followed by (not all categories may be applicable):

"Song Name"

Written by:

Performed by:

Courtesy of:

Under license from:

Special Thanks – For those who do not fall into any of the above roles. It is a good opportunity to thank folks who helped in some way along the way. Many people include their interview subject here.

Production date – you can use a © and year or a Creative Commons license for your production.

Example of Video Credits:

Podcasts:
Reading portions of articles, books or poems - Verbal credit should give either before or after reading, giving proper attribution to the author.

Actualities from other forms of media, Radio,TV, Internet- Verbal credit should give either before or after the clip, giving proper attribution to the source.

Music - Podcasts often are embedded in websites. If you’ve used background music, it is a good place to include attribution for the score.