Beginning & Closure to this Project...
Creating your Unique Opening
INDIVIDUAL ACTIVITY: Watch the following youtube video on Opening Credits and be able to locate and examine examples of what you would like to replicate in your Opening Credits!
Intro/End Film Credits & Stop Motion Animation... or....
Examples:
Examples:
Adding Closing Credits to your Film: Use this list as a basic guide for your film.
CLOSING CREDITS
Closing credits do not have any hard and fast rules that dictate how they need to be ordered. But there are conventions that have been established. If you intend to have no opening credits (something George Lucas left the DGA over) you basically put the Director, Writer and Producer credits first, then go down the line for the closing credits:
***if you credited the above in the opening, closing credits begin here ***
THE DISCLAIMER
Here is a standard motion picture disclaimer...
"PERSON'S NAME OR PRODUCTION COMPANY" is the author of this motion picture for the purpose of copyrght and other laws.
This motion picture is protected pursuant to the provisions of the laws of the United States of America and other countries. Any unauthorized duplication, distribution and/or exhibition of this motion picture may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution.
Characters and incidents portrayed and the names herein are fictitious, and any similarity to the name, character or history of any person is entirely coincidental and unintentional.
No animals were harmed in the making of this film.
PRODUCTION LOGO
if you have an Animated Production Company Logo, place that at the very beginning, before your credits. it's the first thing we see. some studios/production companies will tag the logo on at the very end too.
BREVITY
Now, it's important to note that on a short film, many of the roles you see above were handled by one person. I've been to a few film festivals and there is nothing more likely to induce a collective groan, and lose a few fans in the process, than a tedious string of credits on a five minute film... especially if the same names keep popping up. and I'll tell you why. at festivals, shorts are programmed in blocks of 90 to 120 minutes. no one in the audience cares who did what. so waiting thru two minutes of white test scrolling against black is pretty miserable for everyone. it also does a disservice to your fellow filmmaker. shorts blocks thrive on momentum. I've seen people leave the theater because of long credits. in particular, I sat through a 22 minute film followed by 6 minutes of very detailedcredits. HALF the theater left before my film screened. half.
The best advice I can give here is that if you were the writer, director, producer, cinematographer and editer... just go with the most important titles (in this case... "written and directed by...", dropping any credit for your editing or cinematography. Or maybe "a film by..." is enough. Didn't have a casting director and held scheduled the auditions yourself? skip it. And even if you had a crew of 20-30 people, move through those credits as quickly as possible. When you are watching a short film, a minute worth of credits feels like an eternity. move, baby, move!
CLOSING CREDITS
Closing credits do not have any hard and fast rules that dictate how they need to be ordered. But there are conventions that have been established. If you intend to have no opening credits (something George Lucas left the DGA over) you basically put the Director, Writer and Producer credits first, then go down the line for the closing credits:
- Director
- Writer(s)
- Producer
- Executive Producer
- Lead Cast
- Supporting Cast
- Director of Photography
- Production Designer
- Editor(s)
- Associate Producers
- Costume Designer
- Music Composer
- Casting Director
***if you credited the above in the opening, closing credits begin here ***
- Unit Production Manager
- First Assistant Director
- Second Assistant Director
- Full Cast / Character List
- Stunt Dept
- Production Departments (Grip, Electric, Camera, Sound, Wardrobe, etc)
- Post-Production Departments (Assistant Editors, Visual Effects, Colorist, etc)
- Song Credits
- Caterer
- Title Designer
- Special Thanks
- Camera, Lenses and Equipment Makers
- Location of Final Sound Mix ("Recorded at...")
- Copyright ©
- Disclaimer
THE DISCLAIMER
Here is a standard motion picture disclaimer...
"PERSON'S NAME OR PRODUCTION COMPANY" is the author of this motion picture for the purpose of copyrght and other laws.
This motion picture is protected pursuant to the provisions of the laws of the United States of America and other countries. Any unauthorized duplication, distribution and/or exhibition of this motion picture may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution.
Characters and incidents portrayed and the names herein are fictitious, and any similarity to the name, character or history of any person is entirely coincidental and unintentional.
No animals were harmed in the making of this film.
PRODUCTION LOGO
if you have an Animated Production Company Logo, place that at the very beginning, before your credits. it's the first thing we see. some studios/production companies will tag the logo on at the very end too.
BREVITY
Now, it's important to note that on a short film, many of the roles you see above were handled by one person. I've been to a few film festivals and there is nothing more likely to induce a collective groan, and lose a few fans in the process, than a tedious string of credits on a five minute film... especially if the same names keep popping up. and I'll tell you why. at festivals, shorts are programmed in blocks of 90 to 120 minutes. no one in the audience cares who did what. so waiting thru two minutes of white test scrolling against black is pretty miserable for everyone. it also does a disservice to your fellow filmmaker. shorts blocks thrive on momentum. I've seen people leave the theater because of long credits. in particular, I sat through a 22 minute film followed by 6 minutes of very detailedcredits. HALF the theater left before my film screened. half.
The best advice I can give here is that if you were the writer, director, producer, cinematographer and editer... just go with the most important titles (in this case... "written and directed by...", dropping any credit for your editing or cinematography. Or maybe "a film by..." is enough. Didn't have a casting director and held scheduled the auditions yourself? skip it. And even if you had a crew of 20-30 people, move through those credits as quickly as possible. When you are watching a short film, a minute worth of credits feels like an eternity. move, baby, move!