Credits

In the creative arts, credits are an acknowledgment of those who participated in the production.  They are often shown at the end of movies and on CD jackets. In film, television, theatre, etc. the names of actors and behind the scenes staff who contributed in this production. 

Opening Credits

The opening credits show the most important people at the beginning i.e. the actors that are taking part, the director, producer editor and more.  They are usually shown on a blank screen, at the bottom/ top of action and even next to the characters and where the action is taking place. This for me makes it more visually interesting and we are able to see exactly who the characters are, and doesn't bore the audience by looking at just plain text on a plain background, but the action keeps their attention drawn to the movie.

Opening credits since the 1980s, identify the major characters and crew, while the closing credits list the extensive cast and production crew. Here is a typical way of how credits are being layed out:

Common opening credits order

While there are numerous variations most opening credits use some variation of the basic order^[4] noted within:

• (NAME OF THE STUDIO)

Name of the studio that is distributing the film and may or may not have produced it (Walt Disney Pictures, Columbia, Lions Gate, Universal, Marvel Studios, Dimension, Miramax etc.).

• (NAME OF THE PRODUCTION COMPANY)

Name of the production company that actually made the film or name of the investment groups or companies that financed a substantial part of the film (usually credited as "in association with" or "A (studio name) production.").

• (PRODUCER NAME) PRODUCTION or/and (director only) A FILM BY (DIRECTOR NAME)

Director's first credit, often "a film by XY or "a XY film".

• STARRING

Principal actors and the most important cast in the film.

• (FILM'S TITLE)

Name of the film.

• FEATURING

Featured actors

• CASTING or CASTING BY

Casting Director

• MUSIC or MUSIC COMPOSED BY or ORIGINAL SCORE BY

Composer of music

• PRODUCTION DESIGN or PRODUCTION DESIGNER

As a variation some of the below may be noted:

• SET DESIGN
• COSTUMES or COSTUMES BY or GOWNS (older movies)
• HAIRDRESSER
• MAKE-UP ARTIST
• SOUND RECORDING (older movies)
• VISUAL EFFECTS DIRECTOR or VISUAL EFFECTS BY

• EDITOR or EDITED BY

• DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

• PRODUCER or PRODUCED BY, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Producers, co-producers, executive producers, 'also produced by' (credited for various reasons according to contracts and personal scrutiny of the principal producer). Often, though, the name of the producer will be the next-to-last opening credit, just before the director's name is shown.

• BASED ON THE BOOK (PLAY, GRAPHIC NOVEL etc.) BY or FROM A PLAY/BOOK BY (older movies)

If based on a book or other literary work.

• BASED ON THE CHARACTERS BY or BASED ON THE CHARACTERS CREATED BY

If based on characters from a book or other media.

• STORY or STORY BY

Person who wrote the story on which the script is based, gets "story by" credit, and the first screenplay credit, unless the script made substantial changes to the story.

• WRITER(S) or WRITTEN BY

• DIRECTOR or DIRECTED BY

Director. The Directors Guild of America usually permits a film to list only one director, even when it is known that two or more worked on it.