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Documentary Studies: Citing Sources

How to Cite Film, Video, and Online Media (MLA Style)

from: the Library, University of California at Berkeley

 

  • If you watched the film Casablanca on DVD and wish to cite it, use the citation format for DVD (not the film original).
  • If you watched Casablanca in a movie theater, use citation format for film.
  • If you are citing a documentary or program that you watched on DVD/videotape, but which was originally broadcast on television, use the citation format for DVD/videotape.

  • If you are citing a trailer for a theatrical movie that you watched on the internet, use the citation format for online resources.

In citing film and other media, use the citation form for the format in which you watched the work being cited. For example:

 
Examples:
Film:

Citizen Kane. Dir. Orson Welles. Perfs. Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten. RKO Radio Pictures, 1941.

 

DVD/Videorecording:

Breathless (À Bout de Souffle). Dir. Jean-Luc Godard. Perfs. Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Liliane David. 1960. DVD. Criterion Collection, 2007.

Frankenstein. Dir. James Whale. Perfs. Boris Karloff, Colin Clive, Mae Clark. 1931. DVD. Universal Pictures, 2006.

 

Online media:

Woody Allen: A Documentary. American Masters. Dir. and prod., Robert Weide. PBS. WNET, Channel 13. 10 Feb. 2012.

Film Citation

How to Cite Film, Video, and Online Media (APA Style)

from: Bow Valley College

Producer, P. P. (Producer), & Director, D. D. (Director). (Year of release). Title of film in sentence case and italics [Format]. Country of origin: Studio or Distributor.

OR

Producer, P. P. (Producer), & Director, D. D. (Director). (Year of release). Title of film in sentence case and italics [Format]. Retrieved from http://website.com

Formatted example:​

NOTE: If you access the film through a streaming video service or library database, replace country and distributor/studio company with a retrieval statement that has the URL (web address) OR name of the database, e.g.:

  • Retrieved from https://www.netflix.com/
  • Retrieved from Criterion on Demand database

Film Citation

How to Cite Film, Video, and Online Media (Chicago Style)

From EasyBib.com

 

How to Cite a Movie in Chicago/Turabian

Citing a motion picture or film in Chicago

Structure:

 

Note: If you cannot locate certain bibliographic data from the film’s cover, consult IMDB.com or a similar website.

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Example:

Submarine. Directed by Richard Ayoade. London: Film4 Productions, 2010.