Movies

Closing credits of Sesame Street.

Closing credits, in a television program or motion picture, come at the end of a show and list all the cast and crew involved in the production. They are usually shown on the screen in small characters, which either flip very quickly from page to page, or crawl from bottom to top of the screen.

Some closing credits include out-takes from the show for humour. Sometimes, a parting scene is edited in after the credits conclude as a final joke. On other occasions additional scenes to advance the storyline may occur after the credits roll (a prime example being Wild Things). 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, another noteworthy example is Daffy Duck appearing in the credits of Gremlins 2: The New Batch complaining about how long they run).

The elimination of full opening credits from many films have resulted in some films essentially displaying two credit sequences, as the major acting and production credits that would previously have been seen at the start of the film are displayed first (often preceded by the main title which no longer appears at the start of every movie), and then these credits are usually repeated along with the complete cast and production credits that follow.

On American television, closing credits have started to become more of an afterthought. Most networks run, instead of a show's usual credits, a split-screened version of the show's credits to allow for running a promo. On some shows, the credits are reduced to either a rapid-fire crawl, or quick-flashing cards; either way, 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. 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.

Some networks, such as GSN, have even begun cutting off the credits before they finish, most likely to allow more time for commercials. Many animated shows still however maintain, and air the full version of the credits.

American Idol has proven to be an exception to this, showing the full credits in a regular scroll as the show closes due to the live nature of the program (along with voting disclaimers) precluding Fox from doing a split-screen. 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.

The use of closing credits in film to list complete production crew and cast was not firmly established in American film until the 1960s. Before this decade, closing credits usually consisted only of a list of the major cast members, and in many cases, particularly in silent film, movies were released with no closing credits at all.

Around the World in Eighty Days (1956 film) had one of the longest and most elaborate closing credit sequences of any film. It provided an animated recap of the movie's three-hour storyline, identifying the actors in the order in which they appeared.