Crediting yourself..without looking arrogant

Steve House said:
Check out the credit on the classic short "Bambi Meets Godzilla" by Marv Newland.
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I AGREE
 
This is a good subject... I've only worked on a couple shorts, doing everything but the acting (a recipe for disaster as it is). Speaking as a beginner, I can definitely see how some overcompensation might happen. Hell, I'm probably guilty of it right now. Let me know if you guys think what I used is too much: "Written, Directed, Shot & Edited by..."

I mean shoot, seems wordy until you start thinking of everything you left out of that description. I forget the line that someone above attributed to RR, something like "wrote and cut by", but that seems like selling himself short. So what is the balance between arrogance and selling yourself short?

Which is all just a long way of saying, I don't know, but would like to hear what others had to say.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, maybe it doesn't make sense to credit yourself for shooting it unless you're incredibly confident as a cinematographer. I'm kind of a hack when I got a camera in my hand, so it might be better if I left that bit out.
 
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If I produced, wrote, directed and did a bunch of other stuff, I'd take those three credits and leave the other stuff off.
 
FilmBoy77 said:
i know a girl who listed out every position and had her name credited there like:

directed by: me
written by: me
lighting by: me
script revisions by: me
editing supervision by: me

lmao.....she had about 11 or 12 positions listed, probably the tackiest thing i've seen in a while.
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thats so vain and crass lmao... to each their own tho. i never credit myself in my own works, i use the same pseudonym for maybe director or cinematographer or leave that position out entirely, especially if im doing double duty on it. often i write/direct, or direct/film/light or just manage the set/lighting; i never credit myself. the times ive worked for others or consulted, i usually get credited.

our recent projects i usually have someone go around on sets and shoots with another little HD camera and shoot everyone while they are doing their job, then we just put their name on their shirt briefly (we all wear black logo'd shirts) so its a much more personal and REAL way of giving credit to those who did it; a face to a name and a look at what it took to get it; a kind of 'behind the scenes', with a little voice-over of 'thanks for watching' or some such comment from everyone. i try to remain the 'random background guy'. plus it makes the ending credits watcheable, as opposed to the dull rolling black and white status quo credits. friends family and co-workers LOVE it.
 
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The great German director Fassbinder used a fake name as editor instead of crediting himself.
I'm sure many other examples can be found of famous filmakers doing this also. Certain projects like "Ronin" David Mamet didn't use his own name but is credited on his imdb.
 
The Coen brothers use Roderick Jaynes as the editor when it is really themselves. When Roderick got nominated for Best Editing on Fargo, the story came out.

Michael
 
In "Diary of a Tired Black Man", which I just watched recently on Showtime, the creator credited himself for everything he did.

I am wrapping up post-production on a documentary I did almost entirely by myself. It was a lot of long hours and hard work. Although it may seem arrogant to some people, you have to pat yourself on the back for taking the time to do it. So think about that before you worry about what people might think.

Although to be honest I am still debating on listing everything I did in the credits. Perhaps I'll just use the biggest ones:

Produced, directed, shot, researched, animated and edited by...

Is that too arrogant sounding? I mean jeez guys this is called Independent Film after all, right?
 
adamr316 said:
this is called Independent Film after all, right?
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yeah, but i think that a lot of those titles came about because of the division-of-labor approach to filmmaking. honestly, if you did "everything" yourself, why not just say "produced by" or "filmed by" or "presented by".

if you shot something on a camera with a mic on it, would you say "sound by"?

would you credit yourself for pulling focus?

just my thought.
 
Fahad said:
yeah, but i think that a lot of those titles came about because of the division-of-labor approach to filmmaking. honestly, if you did "everything" yourself, why not just say "produced by" or "filmed by" or "presented by".

if you shot something on a camera with a mic on it, would you say "sound by"?

would you credit yourself for pulling focus?

just my thought.
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I think in the end I will just say Created by. Looking at the list of hats I wore it would be as ridiculous as that Bambi meets Godzilla list.
 
just a thought... "created by" credits are generally only found in television shows. if you want one all-encompassing credit that covers everything you did to make this documentary, why not use "a film by..."?
 
So the general consensus here, and correct me if I'm wrong, seems to be that audiences and people involved in filmmaking will recognize that if no specific credit goes to particular duties (grip, lighting, art design, etc), all credit gets kicked up to the person who has director by their name or 'A film by' or 'Created by'.

I mentioned before that I was new at all this, that I wondered the same thing as the OP... gave it some thought and decided to downsize from 'Written, directed, shot and edited by' to 'Written and directed by'... seems like that says enough for a short.
 
i may be alone on this, but "a film by...." or "a [insert name] film" is all i really need. i really dont care if the audience knows i wore 15 hats or 6 hats during the production. i'd just want a great film and for it not to look like i did it all by myself. otherwise you end up coming off like Hey Mon Airlines
 
You look like a schmuck (or Vincent Gallo) when you're credited for 10 different things. In what way would multiple credits ever help you professionally? Sure, many of us do multiple things on films, but that's because we have to more often than not - not because we want to.

If you have a huge ego, then you might need multiple credits. Otherwise it makes NO sense and you should just call yourself "producer" (beyond writer and/or director) and leave it at that.

If you're asked by a professional what you do and you start spitting out direct, write, shoot, edit, production design, sound, etc., they almost always think - "Oh. You're a PA."

If you're smart, you'll never allow yourself to be credited for more than a few things. One thing to watch out for are overzealous filmmakers who might credit you for many multiple things on IMDb without even asking you.

In regard to a film, if you're the producer, then it would be assumed that you produced the film, so why would you want people to know you also did makeup, etc?

.
 
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