Credits Roll Faster Than Ever
The other day I was thumbing though OK! Magazine taking care of some porcelain throne business. Aside from the fact that Lynne Spears is clearly not going to win any mother-of-the-year awards, I had an observation: photographers get no love.
As if bloggers using credit-less pictures wasn’t bad enough, even “legitimate” magazines are robbing photogs.
There ARE credits, the problem is you need 20/20 vision and a microscope to read them. In some cases, it was a tiny white font on a light background. Plus, the magazine has to be flipped to the side to see who took the shot.
Things aren’t much better on television. Shows take dozens if not hundreds of people to come together. Yet the stars, the people who make the most money and probably do the least, get their names flashed on screen for several seconds. The behind-the-scenes folks? Their names fly by in a blaze of glory.
Have you noticed that more and more channels are choosing to roll credits – in some cases – at 128 times the normal speed. Try reading the names of the best boy grip or craft services specialist. Impossible.
It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s credits!
So I ask you this: Is it more offensive not to be mentioned or to be given a worthless credit.
Bloggers and the “lawless” Web are often the first things mentioned when it comes to photo and article hijacking. What about the mainstream media? They are in essence eliminating credits. Yet, people are quick to go after bloggers (most of whom are not even profitable), rather then address this greater problem.
Jack of All Blogs purposes a bill, that with your help, we can get before Congress. It’s the Credits Must Be Readable bill. Who’s with me?
The BBC recently (starting late last year) started what has become known as ‘the credits squeeze’. At the end of most programmes on both BBC1 and BBC2 the credits are shrunk to about a quarter of the size of the screen; the rest of the screen is taken up with thumbnails of whatever is coming up next on other BBC channels, while the continuity announcer does his bit.
The BBC credits squeeze not only disrespectful to the programme makers: it also wastes viewers’ time, because to find out the name of an actor (if you missed it) you then have to drop everything and go off hunting on the Web.
As for the Web, well it’s a crazy place when it comes to credits and copyright. But ‘proper’ broadcasters and publishers really ought to set a better example.
Chris said this on January 9, 2008 12:29 am