How a movie title is cited on a paper depends on the chosen citation style. Each style has its own unique features. Those advocating the APA style find it advantageous that the style focuses on the presentation of important resource details or scientific literature in a more professional way. Meanwhile, those advocating the MLA style find it more beneficial because of the easier organization of content.
The MLA style is generally preferred in humanities or liberal arts papers. Meanwhile, the APA style is mainly used in the social sciences. There are only minor differences when it comes to the actual writing format used when citing a movie. Apart from the order of how the movie details are written for each style, these citations are written under the "Reference" page for an APA-style paper and the "Work Cited" page for an MLA-style paper.
A movie title cited within the paper's body is placed within quotation marks. Aside from this, citations are also placed on the "Reference" or "Work Cited" page of the paper. The basic elements included in both the APA and MLA styles include the movie's title, year of the movie's official release, name of the director, name of the production company and the medium of the resource material --- film or motion picture. On a case-to-case basis, the name of the movie's producer(s), key actor(s) and the city or country where the movie's production company is located are also included in the citation.
Citing a movie as a reference material for a paper is slightly different from those used when citing a book, an interview or any other type of reference material. When finding the right order and writing format for a specific citation style, guide materials are typically accessible in schools and research companies, especially those hosting or requiring the paper. A number of books are also available to guide writers and researchers on the different formats used in citations.
As an example, an APA-style citation is generally written as: "Landau, J. (Producer), & Cameron, J. (Director). (2009). Avatar [Motion Picture]. United States: 20th Century Fox." (The title of the film should be italicized.)
Meanwhile, an MLA-style citation is generally written as: "Avatar. Dir. James Cameron. Perf. Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana. 20th Century Fox, 2009. Film." (The title of the film should be italicized.)