Credit Policies
At FSUFILM, we adhere to a professional standard for the presentation of credits and titles in all student films. Film credits serve the sole purpose of recognizing those who contributed directly to the production and are not a space for personal messages, jokes, or informal content. All credits must be accurate, appropriately formatted, and aligned with industry standards to maintain the integrity of the work and the professionalism of our filmmakers.
It is the responsibility of the director to make the credits for the film they directed. These credits must be delivered and cut into the Media Composer project by picture lock.
Every show must adhere to the following rules. No exceptions.
- There can be no visual changes made to the FSUFILM leader.
- There can be no possessive credits (“A Film by Me”) or production company credits. Only FSU makes these films.
- Students must use their real names and are not permitted to take their name off a film.
- Whenever possible, students who do more than one job should have their name listed once with all jobs in one place.
- Only ATL crew, actors, and the title may have single cards. Everyone else should be in groups, listed efficiently to be legible but not lengthy.
- There can be no dedicating the film to someone.
- A “Special Thanks” section may be added to thank individuals or businesses that helped support the production, but aren’t credited elsewhere. A few rules:
- The list should include only formal names and/or business names. No other language is permitted.
- Use real names—not nicknames or terms like Mom & Dad.
- If you wish to thank faculty or staff members, rather than singling out individuals, use the more inclusive: “College of Motion Picture Arts Faculty and Staff.”
- For production cycles that ran a Spark fundraising campaign, include a general thank you to “Spark Donors” in every film. You may additionally thank individual donors, if you have a special relationship with them and would like for them to be able to see their name on screen.
- Thanking a deity of any sort is not permitted. The State does not hold a religious affiliation, so FSU cannot thank any God or Gods.
CONTENT vs. CREDITS
For FSUFILM productions, title and credits are limited to a maximum of 60 seconds. This can be divided between Lead Titles and End Credits but combined together their length is not to exceed 60 seconds. This allotted time includes the Logo card and the Copyright card at the end of the credits, each of which must run for two seconds each.
Titles and credits that run over picture or audio that is not “advancing the narrative” will count toward your 60 seconds for titles and credits. Titles and credits that run over picture or audio that is “advancing the narrative” will count toward your Content time.
Remember that the primary purpose of credits is to credit that people which contributed to the creation of the film. Content time is for story, credit time is for credit. Any questions will be left to the discretion of the directing and editing faculty.
DELIVERY SPECS
All Credits and Titles should be made in After Effects and delivered as either a DPX sequence or a PNG sequence. A DPX sequence should be used if the titles are going over black and a PNG sequence should be used if the titles need to go over picture since it holds an alpha channel. Either image sequence should be exported for 1920×1080 at 24fps. Make sure to name the image sequence appropriately (Example: 01M2_Credits_v1).
SEQUENCING OF CREDITS
While every production’s titles and credits are slightly different, the general order goes:
- FSUFILM Leader
- Lead Titles
- Content (Story)
- End Credits
- Logos
- Copyright
A production can choose whether or not to include any Lead Titles at the start of the film. That decision will impact the order of the end credits, as outlined below.
ORDER FOR LEAD TITLES
If lead titles appear at the head of the film, they must appear in this order:
- FSUFILM Leader
- Above-Title Cast
- Title
- Supporting Cast
- Original Score by
- Production Designer
- Sound Designer
- Editor
- Director of Photography
- Producer
- Writer
- Director
Order for End Credits
The order for end credits, if not shown in the lead titles, are:
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
- Director of Photography
- Editor
- Sound Designer
- Production Designer
- Original Score by
The remaining end credits appear in the following order:
- Cast
- Stunt Performers
- UPM
- First Assistant Director
- Second Assistant Director
- 2nd Second Assistant Director
- Second Unit Director
- Set Decorator
- Art Director
- Art PA
- Camera Operator
- First Assistant Camera
- Second Assistant Camera
- Loaders
- Still Photographer
- Sound Mixer
- Boom Operator
- Cableman
- Gaffer
- Best Boy Electric
- Third Electric
- Key Grip
- Best Boy Grip
- Grips
- Dolly Grip
- Script Supervisor
- Production Coordinator
- Location Managers
- Local Casting
- Casting Associates
- Assistants to Actors/Producers/Directors
- Production Assistants
- Publicist
- Make-up Artist
- Hair Stylist
- Costume Designer
- Property Master
- Assistant Property
- Set Design
- Leadmen
- Special Effects Supervisor
- Special Effects Assistants
- Construction Coordinator
- Construction Foreman
- Painters
- Craft Service
- First Aid
- Transportation Coordinators
- Transportation Captains
- Drivers
- Assistant Editors
- Sound Editors
- ADR Editor
- Music Editor
- Re-Recording mixer
- Visual Effects Producer
- Visual Effects Supervisor
- Visual Effects Coordinators
- Modeling Artists
- Rigging Artists
- Texturing Artists
- Animators
- Layout Artists
- Lighting Artists
- Simulation Artists
- Matchmove Artists
- Compositors
- Rotoscope Artists
- Technical Support
- Virtual Production Supervisor
- Virtual Production VAD
- Virtual Production Operators
- Title Design
- Color Timer
- Music Rights
- Special Thanks
- Cameras By
- Color By
- Dolby
- Disclaimer
- FSU Copyright