Why I like watching the closing credits at the end of a film?

(photo courtesy of Dailymotion)

I just want to briefly explain why the long list of credits at the end of a film always fascinated me. Marvel studios has gotten people to stick around and watch the end credits roll simply because they are waiting for the post-credits scenes. In a lot of cases while they wait for the post-credits scene some people normally talk while the credits roll on. I credit marvel for getting some of the average movie goers to appreciate watching the long list of credits even if they aren’t interested in the various names and positions that helped to make the film possible. I loved watching the long list of credits at the end of the film since I was a very young boy of 8 or 9. One reason is that I simply fell in love with movies after cable was first installed in my community during the mid 90s. HBO was my favourite channel and with lax parental supervision I watched all kinds of films. I became so in love with movies that by the end I would just watch the end credits roll as I digested the film experience. There was a time where I thought every film I watched was a great film; that’s what happens when you’re in love; you embrace everything with desire. This doesn’t matter even when on closer inspection a lot of films weren’t worth the time. One reason I am able to predict a lot of films is because I watched so much. Eventually the all embracing love became more selective and my love was directed at the better films or the ones that had much more quality. These better films made me appreciate the end credits sequence even more. The better films had such an impact on me emotionally that I would normally just watch the end credits sequence trying to process all that I just watched and then build anticipation for my next viewing. The film’s score and music also became important to me, and still is, in allowing me to continue to appreciate the film on an emotional level as it lingered in my head while watching the end credit sequence. I forgot to mention that my appreciation for the better films started in my teen years.

As I got older and left the teen years behind I came to admire the personnel that was being identified in the end credits and would start to marvel at the significant amount of people involved in the production. Creating a film is truly a massive undertaking. In the superficial world most people only focus on the stars because that’s who they see when they watch the films. Some people even have a vague idea of the Director and the Screen writers. Some films get people to appreciate the process by making a film within a film.  In the superficial world however the stars matter the most come awards time. To their credit the stars do carry a gigantic technical apparatus. They are the subjective element that makes all the technical output matter. Without the stars the technical aspects of the film are dead. The stars channel the creative energies of the numerous people behind the scenes so that they can create something distinctive. So I’m not taking anything away from the stars. In the end credit sequence they are truly the first names that the audience sees particularly in the open credit sequence along with the director, producers, screenwriters, cinematographers and editors. These are generally considered the more prestigious occupations in the film industry. The end credit sequence however did give me the opportunity to appreciate the other more technical operators like the stunt men (apart from Jackie Chan films lol). Obviously they are not grand on their own or there wouldn’t be so many and a lot of them are just assistants but the best ones in their field should be known throughout the film industry. This vast number of technical operators makes the creation of a film such a massive undertaking that at times I just have to say out loud ‘look how much people involved’. The vast number of technical operators also reveal how much things have changed. If you watch some of the older films you’ll realize how short the end of credit sequences are and obviously the major additions to the end credit sequence reveals how much the visual component has been enhanced. Visual and 3D effects, Cinematography, Music,  Sound effects, Sound mixing, various designers, art direction, camera men, etc demonstrate that the visual element of film has been considerably enhanced from the days where toys or small models of some structures were a part of production design. The increase in the end credit sequence also reveals that that the average level of investment in a particular film has raised considerably unless it’s primarily a character drama where most of the emphasis is on the actors and their acting ability. The scale of the blockbuster has raised the standard level of investment and the increased visual effects play an important part. So now I have moved from appreciating the amount of people involved in a film production to the amount of investment it takes to just to get a film made unless it’s primarily a character drama of course. When it’s a bad film it must be painful to sit through the end credit sequence because so much work went into producing a product that won’t be embraced by the market and so the investment won’t pay off.

End credit sequences therefore can make us appreciate the film even more from an emotional point of view as well as an appreciation for the numerous people involved in the production and the high level of investment. It all comes to the consumer in the form of a ticket price at the cinema or the price for a DVD or Blu ray. It is these end credit sequences that make it difficult for me to buy pirated material. You’re really playing with people’s livelihood when you do support the illegal activity but it’s such a costly affair to watch a movie at the cinema or buy the original Dvd or Blu ray that some people give in. Kudos to those that make watching the good films a great experience.