What Are Closing Credits?

Closing credits, also known as end credits, are played at the end of a production, and they consist of the names of cast and crew members who worked on the project. Traditionally, they are displayed as scrolling white text on a black background as music plays.

In the early 1900s, films had no credits at all. In the next few decades, credits started making their appearance in movies when actors and actresses began building large fan bases. At this time, only a few title cards would appear at the beginning of a film, acknowledging the major cast members.

In the 1960s-1970s, films started to see lengthy closing credits that included crew members as a way to help them get more jobs. As productions became more complicated and required more crew members, closing credit sequences have gotten longer and longer, with some recent movies’ end credits reaching nearly fifteen minutes in length.

Many movie goers will skip the closing credits, but some productions make an extra effort to add blooper reels, bonus scenes, or some type of narrative closure to their closing credits to keep audience members around until the final frame fades away. Other productions will also create special animated sequences for closing credits instead of the traditional white text on black. See some examples below.

“5 Best End Credits of All Time” by CineFix

Not everyone who is involved in a production is included in closing credits, though. With the sheer number of people involved in making a feature film, crediting every individual would extend the closing credit sequence well beyond a reasonable amount of time to display all the names. As such, closing credits are determined by producers’ internal criteria.

To learn more about end credits and how the order in which credits appear are determined, visit: https://indiefilmhustle.com/movie-credits-template/

If you are looking for an animator or graphic artist to help you design creative closing credits for your next production, check out our online Nevada Production Directory to find experienced Nevada production crew or drop by our office and pick up a free printed directory!

If you offer production and film-related services in Nevada and are not yet listed in our Production Directory, you can learn more about how to sign up for the NPD here.

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