7.1 Agents for Works/Variants

7.1.1 Agents for Works/Variants (e.g. Cast, Credits, Person, Organisation, etc.)

An Agent is defined as an entity that is involved in the creation, realisation, curation or exploitation of a Work/Variant and who is considered to have major responsibility for, or be of major importance to, the Work/Variant. Typical distinctions between Agent types are Person, Corporate Body, Family, and Person Group.¹ This includes cast and credits for the Work/Variant.

An institution should determine the types of activities they wish to include. These activities may vary from institution to institution according to the types of moving image material held. For example, an institution holding primarily television material may consider the activity of producer more important than that of director. Institutions whose collections are primarily composed of motion picture material may value equally the activities of directors and producers. Provide access to Agents when they have made an important contribution to the particular Work or Variant, even when the type of responsibility (credit function) is one that may not be considered major in other Works/Variants or types of Works/Variants.²

Agents may be described in two ways: as discrete index points, and/or merged into one field where the credits are listed in order of role importance or as transcribed from the Work.

Optionally, if the Agent is credited under a name that is not identical with the preferred name from an authority file, record the name as used in the current instance of the related entity.

Example

Bob Robertson (pseudonym/screen name used by the director Sergio Leone at the beginning of his career)

Example

Terence Hill (pseudonym/screen name used by the actor Mario Girotti in the most known part of his career)

Example

Sofia Lazzaro (first pseudonym/screen name used by the actress Sophia Loren, whose birth name is Sofia Villani Scicolone).

Optionally, record multiple instances of Agent, e.g., cast and credits, associated with aggregated Works/Variants (See E.6 Credits (i.e. Agents) for Aggregates).

Variants may include both the Agents of the original Work and of the particular Variant, or just those pertaining to the particular Variant, e.g. additional cast in reinserted scenes in a Director’s Cut, new credits relating to digital special effects in a special edition with new CGI effects, cast used for a dubbed version, etc.

7.1.1.1 Agent Activity – Works/Variants

This describes the activity or role of the Agent in relation to the moving image Work/Variant (e.g. credit terms).

Record one or more Agent Activity terms, for example, “animator,” “cast,” “choreographer,” “production company” etc., to express the nature of the agent’s relationship to the Work or Variant. Choose the single most specific term, if possible. Selection should be made from a controlled list of terms, such as the FIAF Glossary of Filmographic Terms.

If no suggested terms apply, compose a term to describe the relationship between the Agent and the Work/Variant being catalogued. If the relationship is ambiguous, use a value to indicate this, for example, “unknown” or “on-screen participant” to indicate a person appearing on screen in a capacity that is indeterminate or not covered by typical terms.³ Optionally, when the role performed by an Agent is probable but not certain, provide the function name followed by a question mark.

Besides the principal Agent Activity suggested, institutions, particularly those with special interests, may create and apply in-house value lists of other specific Agent Types, which may vary from institution to institution.

Record in a note any additional details that cannot be expressed through controlled terms. (e.g. “appears only in final scene”, etc.). If a name is known to be fictitious, or requires clarification, make a note giving the actual name.

If more than one Agent is associated with a particular role connected with a Work/Variant or related Event, where possible or desirable, record the names in the order indicated by the sequence, layout, or typography of the names on the source of information. Preserving the ordering of the credited persons should be determined by the requirements of individual institutions.⁴

Example

Les Enfants du paradis

réalisation, Marcel Carné

scenario et dialogue, Jacques Prevert

musique, Maurice Thiriet

OR

Example

Enfants du paradis, Les

director, Marcel Carné

script and dialogue, Jacques Prevert

music, Maurice Thiriet

Example

Star wars

Director, George Lucas

Executive Producer, George Lucas

Producer, Gary Kurtz

Screenplay, George Lucas

If Agents are added as index points rather than listed or described in order of importance, an organisation may choose to put the Agent Activity or role term(s) at the end of the name.

Example

Les Enfants du paradis

Carné, Marcel, réalisation

Prevert, Jacques, scenario, dialogue

Thiriet, Maurice, musique

Example

Star wars

Lucas, George, director, executive producer, screenplay

Kurtz, Gary, producer

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1. EN 15907, 5.1 Agent ↩

2. 1991 FIAF Cataloguing Rules for Film Archives – Statements of Responsibility, p. 35. ↩

3. ist of relator terms are a combination of those found in YCR, 1.3.2. Other creators, pp. 42-43; and, OLAC TF, Part II, Core Attributes and Relationships, Commonly-Occurring Roles, pp. 16-18. ↩

4. FIAF, 1.6.2, pp. 36-37. ↩