Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Film

The following is a style guide for those who edit Film-related articles under Wikipedia:WikiProject Films. This is only a guide, and may change depending on Wikipolicy or participant consensus. For other guidelines:

See also: Help:Contents/Editing Wikipedia § Manual of Style

Naming conventions

Main page: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (films)

• If a non-film article already exists with the name of the film that you are trying to create an article for, disambiguate and use (film) in the title: Film Title (film).
• If a film article already exists with the name of the film that you are trying to create an article for, use (YEAR film) in the title: Film Title (YEAR film). Rename the already existing article's title and change it to Film Title (YEAR film) also.

Previously, both Film Title (film) and Film Title (movie) were accepted as film article names; however, this has since changed due to a talk page consensus in early July 2005. The correct title format is Film Title (film).

Infobox

The Terminator
Directed by	James Cameron
Written by	James Cameron Gale Anne Hurd
Produced by	Gale Anne Hurd
Starring	Arnold Schwarzenegger Michael Biehn Linda Hamilton
Cinematography	Adam Greenberg
Edited by	Mark Goldblatt
Music by	Joe Dolce Brad Fiedel Tane McClure
Distributed by	Orion Pictures Corporation
Release dates	United States: October 26 1984 Australia: December 20 1984 United Kingdom: January 11 1985
Running time	108 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$6,400,000
Box office	$78,000,000

The table to the right is the Infobox Film template for The Terminator. Note that the image has been removed, as Wikipedia fair use policy prohibits the use of fair use images outside the article namespace. Clicking edit on the right will enable you to view and copy the source text to use on film articles. If you have any questions or problems with this table, you can discuss them at Template talk:Infobox Film.

The parameters for the infobox can be found at Template:Infobox Film.

Image

The image presented in the table should ideally be a promotional style-A or teaser one-sheet (27" x 41") poster for the film. Failing that, a DVD or a video tape cover may be used. Posters can be found at various sites, including the Internet Movie Poster Awards ([1]) and the Internet Movie Database ([2], while DVD and video covers are available at Amazon.com ([3]) and Amazon.co.uk ([4]). A screenshot of the film's title card is also acceptable. For films that have multiple posters, limit the infobox poster to either the teaser (first run) or style-A (occasionally second run) version. If necessary, place earlier posters elsewhere in the article that would otherwise be replaced.

Once you have found a suitable image:

• Save it to your hard drive as a JPEG or PNG file. See preparing images for upload.
• Per fair use requirements, one of the image's dimensions shouldn't be larger then 300px. (ex. Image:Helicopterfight.jpg (400x211) or Image:Forrest gump.jpg (248x361)). You should be able to decrease the size of the image on most image-editing software programs.
• Upload it to the wiki at Special:Upload. See uploading images.
• On the file's description page, add a short description of the image (e.g. "A promotional film poster for The Terminator."), a source of where you found the image, the copyright holder (Warner Brothers, New Line Cinema, etc.), and an image copyright tag:
  • {{Non-free poster}} for posters,
  • {{Non-free DVD cover}} for DVD covers,
  • {{Non-free video cover}} for video tape covers,
  • {{Non-free film screenshot}} for screenshots.
• A fair use rationale must be included or the image will be deleted. The rationale should state why the image should be included on the article. For movie posters, DVD covers, or VHS covers, you can use {{filmrationale}}, which includes a basic fair use rationale. For screenshots and other copyrighted images, a more detailed fair use rationale must be given.
• On the image line of the template, insert the image's filename. A short description can be included in the field image caption. The image size in the infobox is currently set to 200 pixels.

image = Terminator.jpg

caption = A promotional film poster for ''The Terminator''.]]

Example images that meet the criteria

• Movie posters - Image:Forrest gump.jpg, Image:Avpredatorr.jpg
• DVD covers - Image:Kingsgoforthdvd.jpg
• Screenshots - Image:Evanark.jpg, Image:Sunshine spacesuit.jpg
• Other images - Image:FromRealToReal.jpg, Image:Bennett42.JPG, Image:Jasonf.jpg

Details

For a full guidelines on filling the infobox, see Template:Infobox_Film

Cast and crew credits for most films are available at the Internet Movie Database, as is distribution, release date, language, runtime and budget information.

When scant information on the film is available, it is not essential to complete all fields in the infobox, or to insert an infobox on every film article.

Release dates

The film infobox is too small to reproduce the long lists of release dates provided by the Internet Movie Database. Release dates should therefore be restricted to the following:

• The film's earliest release, whether it was at a film festival or a public release.
• Its first release dates in majority English-speaking countries only (because this is the English Wikipedia); e.g., United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc. In some cases, it may be necessary to distinguish between limited releases and later wide releases.
• Release dates in the country or countries that produced the film.
• In some cases, release dates in countries that are the subject of the film (e.g. Munich is not an Israeli film, but it is not trivial to know when it was released there).

Do not include the following in infoboxes. If desirable, they can instead be included in a separate section in the main body of the article (example):

• Release dates for every country in the world
• Screenings at film festivals (except for the film's very first screening; see above), as these are only seen by a small number of people

Some users like to use flag icons instead of country names. However, this should be avoided, as flags are less recognizable than country names. See Wikipedia:Manual of Style (flags) for a more detailed rationale.

Article body

The following are the standard article components of Wikipedia film articles.

Lead section

The lead section of an article serves both as a quick introduction to the film and a concise overview of the article itself, as per the Lead section style guideline.

More specifically, for a film article, the first paragraph of the lead section should cover the basics, such as the film's release year, alternate titles, genre(s), setting, country, stars, and director (and possibly writer, if significant). Other notable, verifiable facts about the film may also be included (e.g. "At the time of its release, it was the most expensive film ever made..."). It is not recommended that the phrase "award-winning" be used in the first sentence of the lead: it provides insufficient context to the reader, and subsequent paragraphs in the lead can detail the major awards or nominations received by the film.

The second (and remaining) paragraphs should be a brief treatment of the film's impact: whether critics liked the film (and why), whether it was a commercial success, whether sequels to or remakes of the film were produced, and whether it had any significant influence outside the world of film.

Plot

The plot section is made self-contained (and is a separate section designated by ==Plot==), so plot details and actor names already mentioned in the lead section, and/or mentioned in a cast section, are repeated here. Plot summaries should be between 400 and 700 words and should not exceed 900 words unless there is a specific reason such as a very complicated plot.

Describe the basic premise of the film in a couple of sentences. Introduce key characters, with actors' names in parentheses after them, Character (Actor).

Now provide a more comprehensive plot summary. As this is an encyclopedia, not an advertisement, you should include plot twists and a description of the ending. For guidelines on using (and not using) spoiler tags, see WP:SPOILER.

The events of the film do not have to be described in the order in which they appear on screen, however; see Pulp Fiction for an example of this. Spoilers should not under any circumstances be deleted, as it directly contradicts the Wikipedia-wide content disclaimer. There are also other unacceptable alternatives which have been proposed in the past. In short, Wikipedia contains spoilers; please respect this policy.

Plot summaries do not normally require citations; the film itself is the source, as the accuracy of the plot description can be verified by watching the film. An exception to this rule may be films containing plot details that are unclear or open to interpretation, in which case the different interpretations should be sourced to reliable sources.

Background/Production

Included here should be a history of the film's background and development, such as how many studios, actors, directors and writers were involved with the project at one point or another. Continuing onto the production of the film, facts such as filming dates, budget figures, any noteworthy tidbits (such as delays, reshoots etc.) should be transformed into prose. Comments from the cast and crew are also welcomed.

Cast and crew information

Background information about the cast and crew should be provided, ideally as well-written prose. There are several ways to provide such information: Halloween contains "Writing", "Casting", "Direction" and "Music" subsections within the "Production" section, which uses brilliant prose to describe the casting and staffing decisions made, as well as discussing the reasons behind some of the cast decisions, the thoughts of the actors themselves about their roles, and some brief explorations of their careers before and after the film, e.g:

The part of Dr. Sam Loomis was offered to Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee; both declined the part due to the low salary. English actor Pleasence—Carpenter's third choice—agreed to star. Pleasance has been called "John Carpenter's big landing." Pleasence's daughter supposedly saw Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 and liked it, thus encouraging her father to star in Halloween. Americans were already acquainted with Pleasence as the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967).

Alternatively, Tenebrae (film) discusses "Production" in its own section, and provides the cast via the plot summary only. When a character is introduced in the plot summary, the actor playing that role is listed in parentheses immediately following the name of the character. The well-written prose enables the character to be introduced without breaking the flow of the plot, e.g:

Tilde (Mirella D’Angelo), a beautiful lesbian journalist, is murdered at her home along with her lover. Later, Maria (Lara Wendel), the young daughter of Neal’s landlord, is bloodily hacked to death with an axe after stumbling into the killer's lair.

The key is to provide plenty of added value "behind the scenes" background production information, without simply re-iterating IMDB. Of course, some film articles will lend themselves to one style better than others.

Failing that, a cast list inserted into the body of the article may be appropriate, though some editors frown on lists inside articles. It should be longer than the list in the infobox, and, depending on the number of minor characters in the film, can be furnished with a dozen or more credits. Credits should be written in the "ACTOR as CHARACTER" format, but for credits where the character has not been mentioned in the plot section, a short summary of the importance and role of the character in the film would be necessary, e.g, an example from Witchfinder General (film):

Robert Russell as John Stearne: Playing Hopkins’s thuggish assistant, Russell certainly looked the part. However, as filming progressed, Reeves found the actor’s high pitched voice unsuitable for such a rough character, and after production was completed he had all of his dialogue dubbed by another actor, Jack Lynn (who also appeared in a small role as an innkeeper).

Pertinent casting information might also be included in this section (or in production), and only then should bolding be used to make the credits stand out from the additional information. Try to avoid using the section as a repository for further "in-universe" that really belongs in the plot summary.

Distribution

The distribution section should detail any notable information about the film's releases in cinema, on video, and on TV.

Major themes

This section should discuss the film's major themes, and should take account of scholarly or other reputable analysis of the film.

Reception

Expanding on the second paragraph of the lead section, you should analyse how the film was received by critics, meaning professional or well-known film reviewers. Do not quote comments from members of the general public (e.g.user comments on Amazon.com, the Internet Movie Database, or blogs), since they are self-published. Websites for The New York Times, Time, and Variety can be searched for contemporaneous reviews of films; besides serving as sources for quotes, such websites are particularly useful for checking if a film's initial critical reception varies from the reputation that a film has today. Also useful are websites such as Rotten Tomatoes ([5]) and Metacritic ([6]), which collect professional film reviews and publish a numerical score calculated for each film.

In the case of what the general public thought of the film, tend towards the expression "money talks" and provide a summary of the film's commercial success, consulting sites such as Box Office Mojo ([7]) and Box Office Guru ([8]). Please do not include ratings such as IMDB's star ratings.

Documentaries

Documentaries present a special case, as they present themselves as recounters of fact. Therefore criticism of content ought to be included if it is presented with reasonable documentation and if there is evidence of public awareness of the controversy. Responses to such criticism should likewise be presented on the same basis. The existence of a public controversy ought to be acknowledged whatever can be said about it; the publicity is by nature citable, and omission creates the false impression that the subject matter is uncontroversial. Cite specific critics, not just "some people have criticized".

It is not the purpose of Wikipedia to act as an investigator of claims, though if criticisms are addressed by others, they should as well be cited.

Soundtrack

If the soundtrack does not have a separate article and is included in the film article use the WikiProject Albums' Track listing guideline.

References

In accordance with Wikipedia's verifiability policy, all articles should cite their sources. A variety of methods to present your references is available at Citing sources:Style and how-to, as well as an inline citations/footnoting system at Help:Footnotes. If you are unsure of how to use internet links as references, simply inserting the URL into square brackets at the end of the corresponding text (e.g. [http://www.google.com/] becomes [9]) is an adequate form of referencing the web, although providing the date on which you accessed the web page would enable other users of Wikipedia to retrieve it using the Wayback Machine, should the web link change or cease to function.

External links

• {{imdb title|id=0088247|title=The Terminator}} gives
  • "The Terminator at IMDb"
• {{amg movie|id=1:49101|title=The Terminator}} gives
  • "The Terminator at AllMovie"
• {{rotten-tomatoes|id=terminator|title=The Terminator}} gives
  • "The Terminator at Rotten Tomatoes"
• {{metacritic film|id=terminator|title=The Terminator}} gives
  • The Terminator at Metacritic
• {{mojo title|id=terminator|title=The Terminator}} gives
  • The Terminator at Box Office Mojo
• {{imdb name|id=0000881|name=Michael Bay}} gives
  • "Michael Bay at IMDb"
• {{amg name|id=2:203853|name=Michael Bay}} gives
  • "Michael Bay at AllMovie"

Other article components

The sections listed above are the standard film sections and by no means should they act as limits to the content of film articles. Larger and more complex film articles would warrant additional sections, such as Music, Themes and Cultural significance.

Tagline

Even the Greatest of Taglines is Still Just a Marketing Gimmick

As a general rule don't include taglines in an article. "Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information". However, if a particular tagline was a significant part of the cultural influence of the film, create a section for it and describe its effects. For example, none of the many taglines for Wes Craven's New Nightmare deserve mention. On the other hand, discussing Jaws 2 without mentioning "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..." would be a glaring omission. (You make the call... remember be bold.)

Trivia

Trivia may be a useful section in a film article, as it can serve as a "Miscellaneous" area for important facts (not just fan facts) that may not yet fit easily elsewhere. This is especially true for articles in early stages of development or about new releases. As the article matures, however, as per the Trivia sections style guideline, these items should be either moved to other sections of the article—preferably written using prose, not bullet points or lists—or removed entirely. Remember to include citations to reliable sources for any facts included in this section; otherwise they can be deleted.

Adaptations

Differences between a film adaptation and its source work(s) can be addressed by including text detailing the reasons for a change, its effect upon the production, and the reaction to it. This material should be placed within a relevant section of the article (e.g., Production, Themes, or Reception). Noting the differences between a film and its source work(s) without real-world context is discouraged. Creating a section which merely lists the differences is especially discouraged; while articles in the early stages of development (or about new releases) may contain information which does not easily fit elsewhere, this material should either be moved to the relevant section or removed entirely as the article matures.

Upcoming

Here are templates to add to the top of pages about things yet to happen:

{{Future}}	for upcoming/future general events
{{Future album}}	for a upcoming/future album
{{Future book}}	for a upcoming/future book
{{Future channel}}	for a upcoming/future channel
{{Future film}}	for a upcoming/future film
{{Future single}}	for upcoming/future single
{{Future television series}}	for upcoming/future tv series
{{Future television episode}}	for upcoming/future tv episodes

Lists

Once an article has been created for a film, it can be entered into a number of lists to allow easier browsing for viewers. All films should be included in the Lists of films. Each film can be included in lists based on the alphabet, year, language, genre, location, etc. that a film can be included in.

Categories

The article should include categories at the bottom. At a minimum, year, country, language and genre categories should be included. It is best to keep them in alphabetical order for easier browsing. For example, you would add the following to the bottom of a page for an English-language American comedy film that came out in 2008:

Category:2008 films
Category:American films
Category:Comedy films
Category:English-language films

See also

• Wikipedia:Manual of Style (writing about fiction)
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Films/Templates seems to have been "lost" after creation. Good place for more film templates.
• Category:Film template pages
• Wikipedia:Notability (films)
• m:Ideas on how to write about--and how not to write about--film - an old essay from meta which is still very applicable