The second that final spoonful goes in your mouth the waiter runs over, noisily clears the plates away and shoves a new menu under your nose, while insisting that you order the set menu immediately. That’s the experience we all have when watching films and TV on streaming platforms.
It might be yours, chum, but it's not mine! What, exactly, has your panties in a bunch?
The end credit sequence is an unsexy but still important part of the film-going experience. It can be a key moment of contemplation, to assess, absorb and reflect on everything you have just experienced. It can be a moment of musical resolve. It can be a place to see the countless hundreds of people who worked to create something from nothing (not just the famous ones). Or it can just be an excuse to look for crew members with funny names. But the current trend with virtually all the streaming services is to treat end credits as having the same artistic merit as a DFS Summer Sofa Sale ad.
They allow you to skip them. Or...not. They aren't chopping them off. You can watch them if you want.
I understand why the feature was introduced, especially in the age of the multi-episodic binge watch. And I have no problem with a lot of people wanting to skip credits...
But you clearly
do, or you wouldn't be writing this, would you?
But I do have a problem with having to “opt-in” to watch something that is often an integral piece of a complete artistic vision.
You think people should be forced to opt
out, then?
Some services have added options to turn these features off but they are usually hidden away and rarely fully implemented.
Oh, boo hoo! It might take a couple of clicks! Surely this can't be the most important reason?
But that isn’t my only reason for despising this trend.
Aha!
I write music for movies and TV, and I know, that from a compositional point of view, the soundtrack for the end credits can be an incredibly important part of the musical arc you and the director may have tried to create over a whole film.
Figured as much...
I watched a lot of credits back in the 1990s when I worked as a projectionist at the small independent cinema in Beverley. The audience had all left but the old projector needed the film to run all the way to the end before you could rewind it. I can't recall ever having a deep spiritual experience though.
ReplyDeleteI quite like the closing credits and I stay(ed) in the cinema until the end.
ReplyDeleteBut I am aware that most people aren't interested, which is fine by me.
I sometimes like to see the music credits, especially in old films.
ReplyDeleteWhat was that tune? etc.
However the person who provides the horrible background/foreground noises on modern films and tv never gets credits. Ashamed?
Sometimes I watch a film on tv and want to see the credits to find out who played a particular role. It's annoying when the credits are squeezed in half to show a trailer for what's on next. If I'm that interested I will look it up on the internet, perhaps I should write to the newspapers about it instead.
ReplyDeleteSurely you have to sit through the closing credits before standing for the national anthem at the end? (It's been quite a while since I was last in a picture house.)
ReplyDeleteIt's impossible to view the credits on many streaming services. I often want to to view them but cannot. Why I should want to view them is irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteThey have a point and you're being a pedantic contrarian.
It's only mildly annoying to have to click "cancel skip next" and is something I do occasionally if I'm not watching a series, in which case I appreciate being able to skip straight into the next one.
ReplyDeleteWhat's substantially more annoying is (used to be, as I no longer watch TV) the loud huckstering announcements of what you can watch next, over on channel 2, next week. And the credits are always shortened anyway, often omitting entire chunks.
"I can't recall ever having a deep spiritual experience though."
ReplyDeletePerhaps you were consuming the wrong brand of popcorn?
"I quite like the closing credits and I stay(ed) in the cinema until the end."
Like Doonhammer, I often stayed to see the music credits, particularly if I liked the song...
" If I'm that interested I will look it up on the internet, perhaps I should write to the newspapers about it instead."
It's the modern way!
"... standing for the national anthem at the end?"
LOL!
"It's impossible to view the credits on many streaming services. I often want to to view them but cannot. "
It can't be, I regularly manage to do it when I want to. On Amazon Prime, on Netflix and on Disney+. What sort of weird service are you using?