Write an introductory sentence for your movie reference within your paper. For example, "In the film The Nightmare Before Christmas, Richard Burton shows his taste for storytelling with a macabre bent."
Change the format of the font for the movie title into Italics. Alternately, you may underline movie titles.
Use whichever format you chose (underline or italics) consistently throughout your paper for all movie titles; double-check to make sure you're using the same format for the entire essay.
Gather the name of the film's director, the film studio or distributing company and the year of release of the film. If there are actors in the film that are mentioned in your paper as a main idea, you should list their names in the bibliography or works cited page within the film citation as well.
Cite the media in which you viewed this reference. If the film is not released on DVD, use "Film." If the movie is released on DVD use "DVD." If the film is on VHS, use "VHS." Or "Videocassette."
List the film's information in this order:
Title, Dir. (full name of director). Perf. (use abbreviation for performers) Full names of performers followed by commas, with the last performer followed by a period. Distributor, Release Date. Film (DVD, Videocassette).
A sample citation for The Nightmare Before Christmas in MLA format would look like this:
Burton, Tim, Perf. Novi D. Di, Caroline Thompson, Michael McDowell, Henry Selick, Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, William Hickey, Glenn Shadix, Paul Reubens, Ken Page, and Ed Ivory. The Nightmare Before Christmas [in italics]. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, 2008. Film.