BBC's new positioning guidelines for end credits
May 9, 2007 3:45 PM   Subscribe

The BBC have published online new guidelines for programme makers as to how the end credits to television shows should be formatted in future. The instructions are geekily idiosyncratic and the diagrams offer a preview of at least BBC One's on-screen graphics in the future. Spy drama Spooks famously dumped its credits online. Are we now seeing the first stage of a process in which the same will happen for all programmes? Does it matter?
posted by feelinglistless (29 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
If no one watches a credit {looking for their third cousin's name (second best boy, location crew 6)}, is it still displayed?
posted by chuckdarwin at 4:04 PM on May 9, 2007


That's nerdy and wonderful. I wonder why it is that I enjoy certain kinds of obsessive rule-making like this, but am bored to tears by, say, building codes?
posted by phooky at 4:12 PM on May 9, 2007 [1 favorite]


Credits are played so fast, you won't see them anyway...
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:14 PM on May 9, 2007


I kind of miss credits... So the UK has not yet succumbed to the US habit of squishing them into the far corner of the screen and blaring an ad for another show over the top of them then?
posted by Artw at 4:17 PM on May 9, 2007


Interesting, but it doesn't fully address the problem.

This is presumably about the complaint about end credits suddenly being squashed to the left of screen (vertically compressed to illegibility) while some announcer bellows over the outro music about the next programme.

We don't want it to run over "visually interesting graphics or live action" - we want it to run over full-width black screen, as filmed, so we can fucking read it.
posted by raygirvan at 4:18 PM on May 9, 2007


I'm gutted that I'm actually paying for this shite, it makes Steve Wright's Sunday Love Songs look like good value. Time to cover the living room in tinfoil I think.
posted by fire&wings at 4:19 PM on May 9, 2007


ken morse won't be happy.
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:58 PM on May 9, 2007 [1 favorite]


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posted by Smart Dalek at 5:02 PM on May 9, 2007 [4 favorites]


I kind of miss credits... So the UK has not yet succumbed to the US habit of squishing them into the far corner of the screen and blaring an ad for another show over the top of them then?

From the link:

"End Credits will be reduced to 46.5% of their original size when squeezed and cropped. Production are advised to test percentage reduction in an edit suite to ensure maximum readability."
posted by stammer at 5:07 PM on May 9, 2007


Bad Top Gear! How dare you have incorrectly formatted credits!

I wonder with the new guidelines whether they will be allowed to still use 'humourous' credits as seen in the American Special in the last series (Billy-Bob Clarkson, etc.)

"Credits are solely to recognise significant creative contribution to the programme. No exceptions will be allowed."

So no more teaboy credits then.
posted by bruzie at 5:16 PM on May 9, 2007


Credits on the right, Jackie Chan outtakes on the left... that's how it's supposed to be done.
posted by bobo123 at 5:25 PM on May 9, 2007


I like that green chick at the end of Star Trek.
posted by Tube at 5:28 PM on May 9, 2007


No. It doesn't matter.
posted by geekhorde at 5:54 PM on May 9, 2007


So the UK has not yet succumbed to the US habit of squishing them into the far corner of the screen and blaring an ad for another show over the top of them then?

That's fairly common now. What doesn't happen (yet) on mainstream UK channels is the US regime of, say:

program A story ends
ad break
program A coda, end titles
(ad break?)
lead-in to program B
ad break
program B

.. or whatever. Instead we have:

program A
ad break (unless it's the BBC, in which case you get an inane trailer)
program B
posted by wilko at 5:59 PM on May 9, 2007


Is this to comply with union rules or accessibility or...?
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 6:05 PM on May 9, 2007


I like the BBC's horizontal scrolling credits. Is there a particular reason they're doing away with those?
posted by Dr. Zira at 6:39 PM on May 9, 2007


Question: Whiskey tango foxtrot is up with the BBC “Mondrian” grid layout? The style is decent for most layouts on monitors/televisions/&c. but their design seems really overwrought.

And really, is this necessary? I'd have to agree with geekhorde's comment. As more subscribers switch to a DVR subscription based model for viewing television these bumpers crammed into every available orifice within a program seem rather obnoxious.
posted by Colloquial Collision at 6:40 PM on May 9, 2007


Is this to comply with union rules or accessibility or...?

From the article:

"This type of end credit allows a promotion or publicity still to be placed at the top of the screen: Once the programme credits roll the programme is reduced in size and cropped into a space in the bottom right hand side of the screen. A line up for the host channel will also be displayed in the bottom left of the screen."

A standard credits format allows the shrinking and cropping to work consistently.
posted by cillit bang at 6:58 PM on May 9, 2007


The Credit Union totally caved on this one.
posted by Dizzy at 7:10 PM on May 9, 2007


IMDB is where credit matters these days.
posted by bhouston at 7:58 PM on May 9, 2007


For me, credits, whether in film or on TV, have always been an integral part of the entire experience. I loathed the move to squished credits zoomed on the side, and I rarely ever leave a movie theater without having sat through ever last credit. I"ll only make exceptions for when I'm with a group, and those have been rare.

IMDB is useful, but it doesn't substitute for the actual experience.
posted by cmgonzalez at 8:48 PM on May 9, 2007


My credit has been squeezed and cropped 46.5% for years now. This is nothing new.

But really, each of the US networks has a "style" they want their programs to conform to. I think it was NBC that first went to having a separate text scroll for credits as the program itself was in its death throes, and that was nearly a decade ago.
posted by dhartung at 8:50 PM on May 9, 2007


46.5%? Not 47.5? Isn't this kind of anal?
posted by zek at 9:42 PM on May 9, 2007


I liked credits. Nice to sit through and discuss/reflect on the movie or TV show, without being bombarded by an instantaneous "NEXT TUESDAY, CATCH THE LATEST EPISODE OF !!!!!!!!!"
posted by Xere at 10:17 PM on May 9, 2007


I used to play with the children and give the wife her conjugal visit during the credits. Now, with important programming information being presented during that precious time, my family accuses me of inattention! These times are hectic, everything is becoming a blur. I don't know what to do.
posted by stavrogin at 10:46 PM on May 9, 2007


Grrrr... Don't get me started on this!

Quite apart from the fact it pisses me off (to the point of not watching whatever crap-o'-the-week gets advertised over credits or, through banners, over programmes - yes, this means I watch very little popular TV), remember this sort of thing puts the last nail in the coffin of interesting/fun/humorous credits (as sometimes used in the Simpsons, Futurama, etc).

The death of an art form, and me turning into an angry old man...
posted by Pinback at 12:57 AM on May 10, 2007


This is outrageous. I hope those responsible are sacked.
posted by phrontist at 1:13 AM on May 10, 2007


If I recall, credits are there because of union pressure, back when unions had power. British TV credits are unusual because they're actually readable, unlike American TV credits, which are a token gesture and zip past. Are Irish TV credits still at the beginning of the programme? I remember that really confused me as a kid when watching The Late Late Show (RTE, not US).

Credit sequences are bad for TV companies because they allow us to take a breather between programmes. We interpret them as to get up and make tea/go to the loo. What TV companies want is for us to transition straight into the next programme, so we don't channel hop. I notice the are signs of this happening on Channel 4 with Property Ladder and Grand Designs on Weds evening—there are no adverts between programmes (apart from the program sponsor), although there are credit sequences.

On the other hand, TV production companies want credit sequences, or at least an end credit pointing out they were responsible for the programme (ie Hat Trick Productions, Thames Freemantle etc). Otherwise, how would they get new business, or show investors that they're successful?
posted by humblepigeon at 2:52 AM on May 10, 2007


This is outrageous. I hope those responsible are sacked.

A Møøse once bit my sister...
posted by dreamsign at 7:47 AM on May 10, 2007


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