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Hello,

Im just about to wrap up a short horror film that I did myself. Directed, edited, scored, sound design...everything.

 

My wife acted.

 

I guess my question is, how do I end this thing credit wise?

 

Will a simple By Justin Oakley do?

 

Directed by...?

 

Im not exactly a narcissistic person but I would like to make it very clear that this was all done 100% solo. But without rolling credits...obviously. Because thats just pointless.

 

is there an interesting way to do this?

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I've been wondering the same thing. I hope to make a movie, but I want to write, direct and shoot it also. Or maybe write and photograph it, and get someone else to direct. I thought maybe put "A film by ... (me)" at the start. With actor's names etc. Then fade in. At the end, apart from full credits with all involved, processing, film, colour etc, just have a single credit "Written, photographed and directed by". That way doesn't look like you're trying to sell tickets on yourself. There's nothing narcissistic about - it's just practical. People want to know who did what. Who made the thing.

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So after some extensive googling, I saw somebody comment on a similar question.

 

I guess the general rule is

 

A short film by...

 

Thats what Im going to end up doing. And just hope that the audience realizes, and can appreciate, that I filmed, cut, graded, and did all of the sound design by myself haha.

 

Just figuring it out as I go...

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At the other end theres nothing worse then filmmakers that give themselves separate full screen credits for each separate job role they have done. It starts to look a bit pretentious.

 

I think if you have 2 or 3 HOD roles then they look fine in a line e.g Written, Directed and Edited by...

 

Otherwise a "Made by"

 

Or how about credit everyone else first and give yourself an "Everything else done by..."

 

One of my favourite credits is "Thing Doer"

 

Thats one of the reasons the Coens use Roderick Jaynes to edit - its starts too look way to self important if your listing everything.

 

I cover lots of roles on my films - but if I have the credit for writer and director - they are the important ones. I'm not going to list all the random other things I've done on the film as it would include "Casting, Van Driver, Painter, Costumer, Casting, PM, Focus puller, Colourist, foley, dubbing mixer........ ' gets silly fast.

 

You could make up names for your imaginary crew to make the film seem like a bigger deal. It no different to pretending to be several staff members in your prod co - so it doesn't look like its just you and a laptop. You should see my fake offices...actually you can't since they are being renovated..

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At the other end theres nothing worse then filmmakers that give themselves separate full screen credits for each separate job role they have done. It starts to look a bit pretentious.

 

Would Robert Rodriguez please come to the white courtesy phone...

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At the other end theres nothing worse then filmmakers that give themselves separate full screen credits for each separate job role they have done. It starts to look a bit pretentious.

 

I think if you have 2 or 3 HOD roles then they look fine in a line e.g Written, Directed and Edited by...

 

Otherwise a "Made by"

 

Or how about credit everyone else first and give yourself an "Everything else done by..."

 

One of my favourite credits is "Thing Doer"

 

Thats one of the reasons the Coens use Roderick Jaynes to edit - its starts too look way to self important if your listing everything.

 

I cover lots of roles on my films - but if I have the credit for writer and director - they are the important ones. I'm not going to list all the random other things I've done on the film as it would include "Casting, Van Driver, Painter, Costumer, Casting, PM, Focus puller, Colourist, foley, dubbing mixer........ ' gets silly fast.

 

You could make up names for your imaginary crew to make the film seem like a bigger deal. It no different to pretending to be several staff members in your prod co - so it doesn't look like its just you and a laptop. You should see my fake offices...actually you can't since they are being renovated..

Yeah creating a bunch of credits just for the sake of credits is dumb as hell. Its literally only me...and my wife

 

Im just going with A short film by...

 

And a With (my wifes name)

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At the other end theres nothing worse then filmmakers that give themselves separate full screen credits for each separate job role they have done. It starts to look a bit pretentious.

 

Yeah, er...um...I hate those guys. :D

 

R,

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There's a fine line between the pretentiousness of taking credit for senior roles in several departments, and the pretentiousness of padding the credits with made-up names in order to make a low-rent production look higher-rent.

 

I'm not sure what the best approach is.

 

P

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It was a running joke in art school that some 3 minute films would have close to 2-3 minutes of credits. And they were typically all made by one, maybe two people.

 

I always preferred a simple "A film by..." at the end. really not much need for more than that, unless some folks helped you. If they did multiple things, then "thanks to..." for anyone who helped is probably sufficient.

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It was a running joke in art school that some 3 minute films would have close to 2-3 minutes of credits. And they were typically all made by one, maybe two people.

 

Often exaggerated by the painfully slow crawl of the text roller.

 

Justin,

 

How about: "A film by Mr and Mrs Oakley" ?

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