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Film Studies

This guide is intended to support research for film and media studies

General Information on Film Citation

Creating Citations in Film Studies

For general citation formatting the following two online sites offer useful templates:

Citing Films

Film citations should include as much of the following information as you can find: title, director, distributor, year of release, and the format or medium on which you watched the film. For videos from websites such as YouTube, Instagram, Twitter or Vimeo, credit the person who posted the content. If a real name is provided, use it. If the real name of the person who posted the content is not known, use their user name.

Some examples from MLA Style Center

A Movie Viewed in Person
Opening Night. Directed by John Cassavetes, Faces Distribution, 1977. 

A Movie Viewed Online
Richardson, Tony, director. Sanctuary. Screenplay by James Poe, Twentieth Century Fox, 1961. YouTube, uploaded by LostCinemaChannel, 17 July 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMnzFM_Sq8s.

A Television Show Viewed on Physical Media
“Hush.” 1999. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Fourth Season, created by Joss Whedon, episode 10, Mutant Enemy / Twentieth Century Fox, 2003, disc 3. DVD.

Writing About Art