Words by Martin de Fleurian, co-founder, House of Greenland
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What do Banksy, Guillermo del Toro and American surrealist Don Hertzfeldt have in common? They’ve all directed the opening credits to The Simpsons, demonstrating that the pull of the famous couch gag can attract some of the biggest creative names.
But with binge culture taking hold, the artistic creativity of both opening and closing credits is a dying art. Has all hope vanished for the credits?
Impatient viewers
When Netflix drops an entire season on the same day, the streaming giant has taken into account the hordes of people who’ll binge it all at once. A massive 69% of people prefer the ‘all at once’ drop rather than week-by-week releases. The traditional linear television format is slowly becoming less and less popular.
Today, all streaming platforms want is for you to watch… and quickly. That’s why they give us the option to “skip the credits” – why watch them, when you can just jump to the next episode?
Saving the credits
So how can we save the credits? Time to get creative!
Used as an extension of the story – like Game of Thrones’ globe-trotting opener – the credits are an enriching part of the experience. Every week, GoT’s animated credits would act as a whistle stop tour of Westeros (and Essos), showing us the vastness of the world we were watching, as well as setting the scene for the locations featured in that episode.
The credits can also be used in programmes to remind us of what happened previously. No one has done this better than Braindead. The satirical thriller series playfully opened each show by singing us through key clips from preceding episodes, cleverly breaking the fourth wall in the music and engaging us with blood, guts and gore every week.
Or perhaps it’s time to get a bit meta? In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Matthew Broderick enters our screens, breaks the fourth wall and asks us: “You’re still here? It’s over. Go home.” Spoofed in Deadpool 30 years later, Ryan Reynolds speaks Broderick’s exact lines in a similar post-credit scene. Why not steal from the best? I’m sure Deadpool would approve!
On the subject of costumed superheroes, everyone knows to stick around after a Marvel film for its post (and often mid) credit sting. Skip those and you’re potentially missing a crucial Easter Egg and a key part of the Marvel world-building.
Credits are also an opportunity to create something really unique. Take the opening sequence of Juno. The design couple Smith & Lee captured a whopping 900 photos of Elliot Page walking around the neighbourhood, Sunny D in hand. The designers then proceeded to print, hand-trace, colour xerox and finally cut each one of these photos out separately, pairing them with illustrated backgrounds and hand-animated typeface. The result? An opening credit sequence which is fun, engaging, and distinctive, capturing Juno’s spirit. It sets the tone for the whole film!
Music additionally compels us to watch credit sequences. Succession’s opening credits is accompanied by the award-winning theme tune by Nicholas Britel, dramatically amplifying the images. Or what about that famous fist pump frozen on our screens in the final credits of The Breakfast Club – it definitely wouldn’t have been so effective without Simple Mind’s “Don’t You Forget About Me”, bringing the film full circle as it was also played in the opening title sequence. In fact, get the music right and your credits could become cultural icons – take Friends and its opening number “I’ll Be There for You”.
So, whether we keep the art of the credits by engaging the audience with Easter Eggs, interactive scenes or music, producers and creatives can find original ways to keep audiences from switching off or skipping credit sequences. And in doing so, saving this art form.
Long live the credits!
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Words by Martin de Fleurian, co-founder, House of Greenland
