APA Movie Citation Guide (7th Edition)

Last Updated on: 2nd February 2024, 03:12 am

There are different formats for citing a movie, according to APA 7^th edition, depending on where you viewed it. Citing a movie you saw at a theater or on TV will be different from citing a movie you have seen on a media subscription or YouTube. In this article, we’ll cover both types of APA movie citations, according to the 7th edition of the APA manual of style.

Citing a Movie Seen at a Theater or on TV

When you need to cite a movie that you have seen at a theater or on TV, you can find the information you need on the IMDb website or you can search for the movie by the title on the internet.

In-Text Citation 

To cite a movie in an in-text citation according to APA 7^th edition, provide the director(s)’ last name(s), and the year. If you refer to a scene or quote from the movie, provide a timestamp to indicate the part you are referring to. 

In-text Citation Format: (Director’s last name, year)

Example of Citation: (Zhao, 2018)

Example of Citation with Timestamp: (Zhao, 2018, 0:34:16)

Reference List

To cite a movie in the list of references, you will need to provide the movie’s director(s) in the author section and the production company in the publisher section. Write the movie’s title in sentence case and put it in italics. Then write the word “Film” in square brackets.

Reference List Format: Last name, Initials. (Director). (Year). Movie title [Film]. Production Company.

Example: Zhao, C. (Director). (2018). The rider [Film]. Sony Pictures Classics.

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If the movie has more than one production company, separate them with a semicolon. 

Example: Zhao, C. (Director). (2018). The rider [Film]. Sony Pictures Classics; Casio Productions.

Movie Seen on a Subscription Website or YouTube

Subscription websites include sites such as Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix, etc.

In-Text Citation:

The in-text citations will be the same as the ones for the movie that is seen in the theater or on TV. 

Reference List

The format for the reference list is the same as for the one seen in the theater or on TV, except you should write Video in brackets after the title, and then the name of the media website and the URL

Format: Director’s Last Name, Initial. (Director). (Year). Title [Video]. Website Name. URL

Example: Zhao, C. (Director). (2018). The rider [Film]. [Video]. Netflix. http://www.netflix.com

The format for the movie seen on YouTube is the same as that for the movie seen on a subscription website, except for the URL: you do not put the ULR for YouTube, instead, you put the URL for the movie. You can obtain the movie’s URL by right-clicking on any part of the movie and selecting “video URL.”

Example: Zhao, C. (Director). (2018). The rider. [Video]. YouTube. http://youtube.am/QUJOEAI

Note: For more information, see the Audiovisual Media and Section 10.12, pages 341-344. in the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition.

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