Credits

Can you show a sample of channel 4 not squeezing an international production (ie not one sanctioned by channel 4). Skins and Hollyoaks are shows made for channel 4. Its the same with ITV. I bet Channel 4 squeeze the credits for ugly betty (seven reformat as per any other show). UK ECPs are almost worthless. They dont really do much to keep viewers around, they just act as visual aids to the promotional voiceover. With seven the promo plays from beginning to end with the credits timed perfectly to it. Since theyre retyped, they are perfectly readable and viewers can easily ignore them by concentrating on the content playing above.

If they want to promote things they should just scroll some text across the screen.Then people could still read the credits.

Jetix aren't too bad.If they show 4 episodes of PRMF,they don't show credits on the first three but they do on the last one.And when they do,they don't squeeze it to a corner of the screen.Jetix in the US do though if they're repeats.

Scrolling across the screen Is one of the WORST ways to format credits. It ALWAYS results in motion blurr and is rendered unreadable. Page by page ensures credits can be read easily and what exactly is wrong with it?

Have you got an LCD/Plasma? I don't read credits avidly, but I've never had a problem with scrolling ones (on a CRT).

David

God, I bet the bloke who reformats them thinks it's time well spent - not! They could just put in any old rubbish!


I do agree reformating is generally better than squashing, but having a standard layout hasn't proved too bad. And out of all of them, ITV's work the best (ignoring the awful general credits background) - they remain completly readable when an ECP is used - and look fine without an ECP too.


It is surprising though that no UK broadcaster has switched yet to putting credits at the bottom of the screen, with the promos above - centre screen. That's pretty much become the standard now in the US and Aus.

I'm not keen on the three columns of text though - it be better if they just used a classic set up of centering the text with character on the left, actor on the right etc.

How ruddy anal. Leave it to the programme makers!

They could, but then they would get into trouble for not displaying the credits which legally must air. Seven dont put too much of an effort to do it. They've been doing them since 2004 now (irinically ITV started them in 2002 before them but are restricted by doing ECPs on live transmission) so it has become second nature and is done automatically. It wouldnt really take that long at all. It would actually take much more effort to do what the UK nets do and coordinate live squeezes and ensure the CA does the right stuff at the right time. Seven only reformat credit from imported shows for primetime (about 3/night at most). UK nets however have ECPs throughout the day which is a waste since those that air during the day when nobody is watching look exactly like those that air in primetime. If ITV were smart, they would demand any show which had a "next time" trailer have them play with the credits. Why bother with an ECP when you could just play a "next" slide when the credits/trailer are finished. It looks like ITV are just adding their workload just to squeeze the credits for a little announcement - POINTLESS and a waste of time.

US networks have 20 person strong departments to do the credits for all their shows. They invest in these personell because they MUST air the credits, but they also want to make them less of an intrusion so that they can keep audiences watching into the next show. 2 years ago they used to play the next time trailer followed by the credits. Now they ALL play the next time preview with the credits because it holds viewers through them.


3 columns seems to be a very popular format (NBC copied ABC). It's the easiest to handle as you just copy and paste the text into the columns. FOX and CBS do it side by side. Although FOX shows credits in 2 columns if there is more than 1 set of titles.

Here are some vid caps of some current US ECPs (not to be confused with UK ones which are just glorified 1990s voice overs). Notice the quirky themes they play over the production company cards.
http://watelevision.com/site/upfiles/FOXcredits_familyguy.wmv
http://watelevision.com/site/upfiles/CBScredits_2006.wmv

That 7movie end one, i found that quite funny the way it speeded up like that. Why put them on at all. I guess rules are rules.

I tried putting the credits for Corrie at the bottom, then changing...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6jSf6WY4Oo

What I find quite amusing (and worrying if it drifts across "The Pond") is the US passion for litigation - this is even demonstrated on their programme menus now. They have to warn viewers - just incase they were too fat to reach for the remote to switch off.
http://www.rp-networkservices.com/tvforum/uploads/fox_menu.jpg

Thats just for a promo, they usually badge such shows as "viewer discretion advised". Very common on FOX, don't think the other nets do that. You'll also notice during the promo on the top left that the classification for the show being promoted is shown. This is the same for Australian Networks too. I don't think theres anything wrong with letting viewers know of the shows content so that they can make informed viewing decisions. Australian nets have been classifying their show promos since the 60s. I think the US took it up in the last 5 yrs. These things are always mandatory.

I meant the now/next/later stuff.Maybe if they scroll onto the screen and stop.

People should be able to make informed choices without being spoonfed the information!


There was talk a year or so again about a similar system for the UK, but thankfully it's gone quiet. Most people (with common sense) recognise the 9pm watershed as a very clear indication - and programmes are always clearly flagged up for content after hours - too clearly on some occassions. (Particularly find those that do it on every ad break particularly insulting!)