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Thursday, January 3rd, 2019 3:05 AM

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"Archive footage" attribute - problems with the guides

I was looking at the rules for the (archive footage) attribute, and I noticed that there are some differences between the rules as they appear on different help pages.1. From https://help.imdb.com/article/contribution/filmography-credits/archive-footage/G4X4TVH6HXYBW8WM#:The archive footage attribute is used for footage that was shot for an earlier, usually unidentified, production, such as a newsreel, home movie, outtakes, etc., or for archival documentation and not the specific production it is used in.2. From https://help.imdb.com/article/contribution/filmography-credits/attributes/GJNF5SNFE43G4S22#:(archive footage)A cast member appears in some footage from an unidentified production, usually newsreel, behind-the-scenes, or home movies. This is helpful to explain the appearance of a person in a documentary released after their death. If the footage is from an identified production, then it should instead be described by a "featured in" movie link, and no cast/crew entry should be created for the new title. 3. From https://help.imdb.com/article/contribution/filmography-credits/cast-acting-credits-guidelines/GH3JZC...#:The (archive footage) attribute is used for footage that was shot for a separate, earlier production (and not for the same series if TV), such as a newsreel, home movie, outtakes, etc., or for archival documentation and not the specific production it is used in. As you can see, there are some differences between the rules here. Rule #1 says that an archive footage credit is used when the footage comes from from a "usually unidentified" previous production. Rule #2 says that an archive footage credit can only be used when the footage comes from an unidentified production -- and if the source is identified, the person can't get an archive footage credit. Rule #3 doesn't say anything about whether the source is identifiable or not, but adds a prohibition on archive footage credits when the source was an earlier episode of the same TV series.I personally would prefer (a) to allow archive footage credits for footage from identifiable sources, and (b) to allow archive footage credits for footage from a previous episode of the same TV series. (For my comments on the latter, see the thread at https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/correlation-between-credit-only-and-archive-footage.) But even if my preferences aren't agreed to by the IMDb staff, it would be best if the policy was the same no matter which help page one happens to be looking at.

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6 years ago

Hi gromit82, Thanks for highlighting, this should indeed be aligned across the different guides. I've cut a ticket to fix this. Regards, Will

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2 years ago

This thread was marked "Solved", yet the inconsistencies among the three pages remain there today.