Closing credits
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Closing credits or end credits are added at the end of a motion picture or television program to list the cast and crew involved in the production. They usually appear as a list of names in small type, which either flip very quickly from page to page, or move smoothly across the background or a black screen. Credits which crawl either right-to-left (common in U.K. television programs) or bottom-to-top (common in films and U.S. television) are also known as rolling credits. This term comes from the early production days when the names were literally printed on a roll of paper and wound past the camera lens. Sometimes, post-credits scenes or bloopers are added to the end of films along with the closing credits.
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[edit] History
The use of closing credits in film to list complete production crew and cast was not firmly established in American film until the 1970s.[citation needed] Before this decade, closing credits usually consisted only of a list of the major cast members, and in many cases, particularly in silent films, movies were released with no closing credits at all. For instance, the first release of Apocalypse Now did not have any opening credits. Once it was released on VHS and later on DVD, end credits were added to the film, but opening credits were never made.
As in motion pictures, most television programs until relatively recently did not list the entire cast and crew.
[edit] Humorous credits
Some closing credits include out-takes. Sometimes a parting scene is edited in after the credits conclude as a final joke. For example, in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Ferris appears and says "You're still here? ... Go home!" The Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker films have included fictional production members, credits unrelated to the movie ("Author of A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens"), cooking recipes and song lyrics in their closing credits, while Monty Python have included credits for ridiculous and non-existent production staff. On some occasions, the filmmakers will have a character come back and pop in during the credits to see the goings-on (a noted example is Finding Nemo, in which several characters interact with the credits like they are physical objects. Another noteworthy example is Daffy Duck appearing in the credits of Gremlins 2: The New Batch complaining about how long they run). On other occasions additional scenes to advance the storyline (as in Wild Things, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End) or set up sequels (as in Transformers and Iron Man) may occur after the credits roll. The closing credits for the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King have sketches of the characters and the actors who portrayed them.
Sometimes the closing credits include bloopers. This was spoofed in the closing credits of A Bug's Life, with shots of the animated characters fumbling their lines or knocking over the scenery. This tradition has carried over to other Pixar films, including Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc.
On Father's Day, Big Brother UK credits everyone using their father's name. For example, Steve Jones would be billed as "Adam Jones' son."
[edit] Reallocation of opening credits to closing credits
The elimination of full opening credits from many films has resulted in some films showing the major acting and production credits that would previously have been seen at the start of the film as part of the end-credits (sometimes preceded by the main title, which no longer appears at the start of every movie). Notable movies that omit opening credits include the Harry Potter and Star Wars series. In such films the main credits are shown at the end in a page-by-page format followed with the bulk of cast and crew credits as a crawl.
[edit] Marginalization for television promotion
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On American television, most networks now run a split-screened version of the show's credits to allow for running a promo (known in some circles as "generic credits").[1] NBC started this practice in fall 1994. At that time, the credits were displayed on the right side of the screen, as a promo for NBC programming aired on the left side. Some sitcoms, such as Friends or Frasier showed an extra scene, as the credits still aired in split-screen mode. Other networks that use this method of airing credits include most of the Viacom networks, such as MTV, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central.
On some shows, the credits are reduced to either a rapid-fire crawl, or quick-flashing cards. In some cases, each credit would appear on-screen for less than one second. Many networks have begun a trend of placing credits at the lower third of the screen, in this format. Sometimes a promo would run shorter of the normal time it would take to run the credits at normal speed. Thus, the credits even "sped-up" near the end in order to show all the credits before the promo ended. (A prime example of this is NBC's showing of Titanic, in which there were so many credits to be shown in so little time that credits switched almost every frame, making it impossible for anyone to read, even with a slow motion capability.) However, full closing credits are still created by the production company and used in syndicated reruns of a program, and are always seen if the program is released as a DVD box set.[citation needed]
Most daytime soap operas used scrolling closing credits for many years. Most of the shows aired during the week (e.g. Monday through Thursday) would list just the main people involved with the production and a few of the principal actors and actresses. However, given the large number of people involved with the production of each serial, a full cast and crew credit crawl could last three minutes or longer. Because of this, an expanded credit roll would often air at least once a week, such as on the Friday show.[citation needed] The closing theme often was an expanded version of the show's opening music. Starting in 1999, soap operas began eliminating the full-screen crawl in favor of the one-third screen credits/promo combination. While NBC and CBS soaps use the upper portion of the screen to show advertisements for primetime programming, ABC soaps show previews for the next episode. Soaps that are rerun on SOAPnet continue to use full-screen credits. Around Christmas time, ABC soaps air holiday-themed credits; in 2007 and 2008, One Life to Live scrolled the credits over a shot of a lighted Christmas tree.
Daytime game shows worked in much the same vein as soap operas. A shorter version might list one or two people involved with the production, along with such plugs as for prizes and wardrobe providers. At least once a week, a full-length credit roll would air over the extended main theme (along with camera shots of such things as the contestant talking with the host and/or celebrities). By the mid-1990s, The Price Is Right was the lone daytime game show remaining, and it would eventually switch to marginalized credits.
Some cable channels have used credits to blur the lines between the end of one show and the beginning of the following program. TBS and TNT frequently run the previous show's end credits in small (sometimes illegible) type at the bottom of the screen while the next program begins at about three-quarters height. Similarly, on E!, Style Network, and other networks, the program-to-program transition is seamless. To do this, the networks have moved the closing credits for their programs to air within the first minute of a show, usually on the bottom 1/3 of the screen in small, translucent type. For E!, the closing credits for the program being seen at that moment is seen at the start of that program; for most other networks that use this practice, the closing credits for the preceding program is seen during the opening of the next program.
Often, the network-to-local transition between the end of the network primetime schedule and late local news on broadcast networks will feature the network show credits on the bottom of the screen, while the local news teaser sequence, station identification, news opening, and then the top story will take place. Once the credits end, the local news broadcast zooms in to fill the screen and the handoff is seamless.[citation needed]
Despite some objections by television production unions, some programs, such as those that air on Discovery Networks and the U.S. version of the National Geographic Channel only air the credits during a program's premiere broadcast, referring viewers to a website to view the credits in subsequent broadcasts.[citation needed]
Some networks, such as GSN, have even begun cutting off the credits before they finish, most likely to allow more time for commercials.[citation needed] Many animated shows, however, still maintain and air the full version of the credits.
[edit] Notable exceptions
American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance are an exception to this, showing the full credits in a regular scroll as the shows close (along with voting disclaimers). Saturday Night Live has always done a full-screen credits scroll, though the credits are regularly cut off by NBC before the end to get in a promo.[citation needed]
ABC's Dancing with the Stars also airs their intended credits, as hosts Tom Bergeron and Samantha Harris close out the show. The credits are in a Helvetica font, and are located at the bottom of the screen, against a shaded transparent background. Starting with the 2004 season, ABC's sitcoms air their closing credits at the bottom of the screen, during the closing scene in a format that keeps in-line with the networks generic credits look. These credits, however, air without the dark-colored bar that airs during their other primetime programs. In other words, the credits are superimposed over the closing scene's action.
Between 2008 and 2009, both ABC and Fox aired their sitcoms' closing credits in the show's respective credit fonts, instead of the network generic font.
[edit] Trivia
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (April 2009) |
- Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) had one of the longest and most elaborate closing credit sequences of any film. The credits took around seven minutes to finish. It provided an animated recap of the movie's three-hour storyline, identifying the actors in the order in which they appeared.
- Superman also had a very long closing credits sequence. It took nearly eight minutes to end, and at the time of the film's release it was the longest end credits sequence ever.[2]
- The 2006 film Clerks 2 by Kevin Smith features an extended closing credits that included a list of anyone who joined Smith's "friends network" on MySpace.com in the months building up to the film's release. The very long list of credits (in multi-column format) has forced some theaters to either stop the projector early or to cut out sections of the film reel so that the theater can be cleaned in time for the following showing. Upon the film's release, Smith announced that he would continue the MySpace friends credit list through 2006 and would include any new names on the DVD credits when the film is released on DVD, which he did.
- The film adaptation of S. E. Hinton's The Outsiders has the end credits (as well as the ending of the book) in the beginning of the movie and the end.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Brooker, Charlie (2007-05-12). "Charlie Brooker's screen burn". The Guide (The Guardian). http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguide/columnists/story/0,,2077719,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-07-12.
- ^ Superman-DVD commentary by Ilya Salkind, Warner Home Video, 2006.
[edit] External links
- End credit guidelines of the BBC
