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why are credits at the end of new movies?

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why are credits at the end of new movies?

Old 02-13-03, 05:16 PM
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why are credits at the end of new movies?

i recently watched singin' in the rain and gone with the wind (damn the flipper i was watching side 2 for a while without even knowing) and noticed the credits were in the begining, before the film ever starts. i have seen it before and mainly on older films. my question is why did they (don't even know who they is in this case) move them to the end of the film? it seems much more respectful to the people involved with the film that the credits be in the begining as people would not have the option of getting up and leaving unless they wanted to miss the film. am i the only one who feels this way?
Old 02-13-03, 05:19 PM
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The credit roll for modern movies are typically 10 minutes long. That's a wonderful way to start a movie.
Old 02-13-03, 05:24 PM
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Originally posted by pixyboi
The credit roll for modern movies are typically 10 minutes long. That's a wonderful way to start a movie.
hmm, good point. guess it wouldn't be respectful to shorten people off the credit either, huh?
Old 02-13-03, 05:26 PM
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The credits on old films were much shorter (2 minutes tops) because during the days of the studio system they only listed the studio dept. heads. Today films are made differently, and every single person gets named. This takes a lot longer. Many films today still have the MAJOR credits at the beginning.
Old 02-13-03, 05:45 PM
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Man on the Moon was different in that respect
Old 02-13-03, 05:48 PM
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Damn unions and guilds.

j/k
Old 02-13-03, 08:55 PM
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Don't get me started on credits ... now EVERYONE wants to get a credit, whether or not they are actually involved in filmmaking. Do we need to know who fed the cast, who picked them up and drove them to the studio, who cooked the books, who insured the roduction, etc. etc.
Imagine if say, restaurants did the same thing ... on the back of the menu we could get little items like "garbage removal by ..." and "roach control provided by..."
Old 02-13-03, 09:21 PM
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Originally posted by marty888
Don't get me started on credits ... now EVERYONE wants to get a credit, whether or not they are actually involved in filmmaking. Do we need to know who fed the cast, who picked them up and drove them to the studio, who cooked the books, who insured the roduction, etc. etc.
Imagine if say, restaurants did the same thing ... on the back of the menu we could get little items like "garbage removal by ..." and "roach control provided by..."
And that's why people get up and leave the theater at that point.

But then the purist get really upset and say, "I'm a real film lover, I always stay and watch the credits, out of respect for those that worked on it."

And then someone comes in and calls us all Joe Six Packs.
Old 02-14-03, 06:38 AM
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Back in the old days, during the studio system, most workers were under contract with the studio, and had steady jobs as they were shuffled from film to film.

Nowadays, each crew member has to go through the hiring process for every film they work on, so they need a resume showing what other work they've done. Giving them a credit on the film is an easy way to provide a reference, instead of having a thousand people calling up the producer about a crew member they might not even remember.
Old 02-14-03, 12:22 PM
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I remember a few years ago Andy Rooney complained about how long credits were at the end of movies. He then pointed out that when he was a kid, credits were at the beginning, and that this was better. So he's complaining about their length, and yet he would like to be forced to sit through them to see the movie. He then suggested handing out booklets at ever theater with the names of everyone who worked on the movie in them.

So instead of just leaving when the credits roll, he would prefer that we cut down hundreds of trees. The man is a moron.
Old 02-14-03, 01:40 PM
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If the credits were still at the beginning of movies, the opening crawl of Star Wars would have been really long.
Old 02-14-03, 01:43 PM
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Originally posted by majorjoe23
I remember a few years ago Andy Rooney complained about how long credits were at the end of movies. He then pointed out that when he was a kid, credits were at the beginning, and that this was better. So he's complaining about their length, and yet he would like to be forced to sit through them to see the movie. He then suggested handing out booklets at ever theater with the names of everyone who worked on the movie in them.

So instead of just leaving when the credits roll, he would prefer that we cut down hundreds of trees. The man is a moron.
Maybe we could just download the credits to our handheld PCs in the future.
Old 02-16-03, 02:33 PM
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Have you watched the end credits for LOTR? man they are looooooong.
Old 02-16-03, 02:36 PM
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Originally posted by Fok
Have you watched the end credits for LOTR? man they are looooooong.
Just for the dc, since they had to list all the people who are a part of the fan club.
Old 02-16-03, 02:56 PM
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I remember as a kid thinking the opening credits to Superman: The Movie ran longer than the director's cut of Greed...

I was a precocious child. A prick, but a precocious child...
Old 02-16-03, 04:15 PM
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The credits are long so they can promote the soundtrack with music from the film.
Old 02-16-03, 06:21 PM
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Originally posted by clemente
...And then someone comes in and calls us all Joe Six Packs.
You guys are all a bunch of Joe Six Packs!
Old 02-16-03, 09:47 PM
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Also, in older movies with credits at the beginning, they often showed news reels, cartoons, etc, before the movie started. People were walking in and out, not jsut sitting there. Credits at the beginning gave the stragglers a few extra minutes to get situated. Kind of like the overture in stage shows.
Old 02-16-03, 10:27 PM
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Not everyone who works on a movie gets a credit. Dayplayers, interns, and other people are left off quite often. Sometimes a department only gets a certain number of credit lines so a person that worked the entire shoot can be left off. It is common (and cruel) to promise people trying to work on their first film a credit to work long, long hours for free and then they don't get one.

My friend worked for over a year on the highest grossing film ever made and didn't get a credit. He is still pissed off.
Old 02-16-03, 11:35 PM
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and if you don't show ANY credits in the front, you must pay fines. right george lucas?
Old 02-17-03, 12:14 AM
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Originally posted by pdinosaur
and if you don't show ANY credits in the front, you must pay fines. right george lucas?
Yeah. That was so stupid. Forget artistic integrity, you must follow the rules.
Old 02-17-03, 03:20 PM
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Originally posted by pdinosaur
and if you don't show ANY credits in the front, you must pay fines. right george lucas?
Well, actually, if you're in the Director's Guild then you must have credits before the movie. That's why Lucas isn't with the director's guild.

I'm sure there are a bunch of directors who never applied to the director's guild for this very reason.
Old 02-17-03, 06:17 PM
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I always want to know who the Best Boy was.

So back off, alright.




















Old 07-20-15, 06:36 PM
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Re: why are credits at the end of new movies?

I think the proper question in 2015 is what is the rare movie that has opening credits in the beginning of the movie?

Now the big opening credit scene is left at the end of the movie followed by the closing credits.


Kind of sucks for animation since sometimes you want to know the names of some of the voice actors but you have to wait until the end of the movie.
Old 07-20-15, 06:43 PM
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Re: why are credits at the end of new movies?

Originally Posted by WiccanPagan
hmm, good point. guess it wouldn't be respectful to shorten people off the credit either, huh?
What I find odd is that I'm sure television stations are forced to air the credits in their entirety when they show a movie, but they seem to be able to shrink them to an unreadable size and fast forward through them, so what the point?

Also, I always think they should have some kind of message near the beginning of the credits saying whether there's an extra scene at the end, because otherwise I'm the jerk who has to look at his cell phone in the dark during the credits to see if it's worth it to sit there.

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