Credit for roles in a simple event video production?

[Christopher Dunning]

I was hired to edit a series of professional panel presentations and I’m not sure how to credit the different roles involved in creating the videos.

The Project

An employee at a non-profit set up a series of five panel discussions for specific members of a professional community, and there were three presenters at each panel, making 15 presentations in all. Someone else shot it, and I was hired to make individual, short, trimmed down versions of each of the 15 presentations. Each presentation was about 30 minutes long and the final edits are between 6 and 12 minutes. Each presentation is to be delivered (online) as its own short piece, meaning there are 15 short videos total.

Roles

I’m almost done finalizing the videos, and we’re trying to figure out how to credit the roles in the production.

I did the editing (in FCPX: putting clips together, making choices about what parts to include, designing lower thirds, opening credits, finding music, color correcting, audio sweetening, etc.), so I’ll get “Editor…” credit.

Should the person who shot it get “Videographer”? “Filmed by…”? “Director of Photography”? “Camera Operator”?

The non-profit employee is the one who had the idea for the panel discussions and to film them and edit them and make them available for training purposes. And they gave the panelists questions to answer, got the camera operator involved, hired me to edit, made some editorial decisions about what to include and leave out based on better knowledge of the subject, ran the panels (though they don’t speak on camera), etc. Is that person the “Director and Producer”? Just “Producer”? Just “Director”? Should those two titles be listed separately? Is “Director” even a relevant credit for a project like this?

Also, this employee and I worked together on language in lower thirds, full screen graphics, on screen bullet points, titles, etc. Does that deserve a “Writer” credit? They suggested crediting the two of us as “Co-Writers”, but I’m not even sure a “Writer” credit is appropriate. We did do some writing, essentially creating a powerpoint presentation after the fact to match the speakers points. (I slid the speaker video to one side and had a half-screen graphic come in and the bullet points built on-screen sequentially as the speaker made their points.)

Possible Credits:

Producer…….Jane Doe

Director………Jane Doe

Camera Operator…………Joe Smith

Editor…………me

Writers……….Jane Doe and me

This all feels a little overstated to me given the scope of the project, but the creator of the project wants ending credits.

Thoughts?

[Mark Suszko]

In order:

Producer, Jane Doe

Jane Doe’s boss, if necessary, gets and Executive producer credit, but this is probably overkill.

No director. A director for this would have been on the location telling the camera operator how and what to shoot, and maybe operating the switcher for multiple cameras, or directing a technical Director to switch it. This task was offloaded to the shooter. So the videographer credit covers that. You could also call it “Camera operator”, but I think “Videographer” connotes that the shooter made key decisions on site for lighting, grip, sound, etc. in the absence of a dedicated director.

Videographer: Joe Smith

Editor: you

Writers – no. Not in the circumstances you describe. If you need to get some recognition for the extra talents you brought to this, then “Additional production services (names here)”

[Christopher Dunning]

Thank you for the reply, Mark!

[Andy Ford]

Although it is overstated, credits have a significant positive impact on those involved. Even if you scroll them quickly, it’s the thought that counts. I’ve seen people role credits on a short webinar lol. Anyway, it’s a good time to make a template for this so you can knock them out quickly in the future.