JW's appearance in on-screen credits

[Bayesian 1,359]

One thing that has begun to intrigue me of late is the position in which JW's on-screen credit appears. For example, I started watching The Patriot on Hulu and the opening credits show "Music by John Williams" after the cast list, the casting director, a co-producer, and the costume designer. (His credit appears before the film editor, production designer, or director of photography, among several others.)

 

Is there a guild-mandated method to sequencing cast and crew for on-screen credits? I don't recall off the top of my head JW's credit placement in other films, but I looked at TROS just now on Disney+ and I see he appears after the credits for director, screenwriters, story writers, George Lucas, producers, exec producers, cinematographer, production designers, and film editors. I'm sure it's plenty different in other films, but I don't know if there's a method to that madness or what.

[Fabulin 3,510]

I like the placement like in "The Sea Hawk", with the most important contributors being the last ones the viewer sees before the film starts, so that the association is the least covered by other surnames:

And guess where the composer is  

[Bayesian 1,359]

Full screen credit, right before the director! Right where Korngold belongs!

 

Reminds me of seeing JW's name on all the Star Wars one-sheets, alongside mostly no one else except George Lucas, a producer, and the main cast. You put forward the most important ones first ; )

[artguy360 1,843]

IIRC JW's name in the end credits of Lincoln syncs up really nicely with a deep brass statement of the With Malice Towards None theme.

[Thor 7,463]

2 hours ago, artguy360 said:

IIRC JW's name in the end credits of Lincoln syncs up really nicely with a deep brass statement of the With Malice Towards None theme.

 

Elfman often does this, or at least used to - i.e. highlighting both his and Burton's names in the main title sequence with some form of crescendo or accentuation.

 

I don't know if there are any set 'guild rules' about where to place the composer names, but they tend to come at natural points in the credits - i.e. among the post production crew, which is appropriately at the end of the credit sequence.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,493]

JW didn't appear in the main title list for either THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, or THE TOWERING INFERNO. He was relegated to end titles 

[Thor 7,463]

12 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

JW didn't appear in the main title list for either THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, or THE TOWERING INFERNO. He was relegated to end titles 

 

Yes, and it's especially egregious when it comes to INFERNO. He really carries that helicopter ride.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

2 hours ago, Thor said:

 

Elfman often does this, or at least used to - i.e. highlighting both his and Burton's names in the main title sequence with some form of crescendo or accentuation.

 

 

Goldsmith did this in his original Alien main title.

[Fabulin 3,510]

.

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,493]

3 hours ago, Thor said:

 

Yes, and it's especially egregious when it comes to INFERNO. He really carries that helicopter ride.

Agreed. That sequence - as nice as it is - would be nothing without the fabulous music.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

Surely the greatest honor for a composer, credits wise, is when in an opening credits sequence they are the last person credited before the director.

 

I know Hitchcock did this for Herrmann in Psycho, obviously he knew how much work Herrmann's music had done to help the movie, but has it happened for any other composer?

 

 

[QuartalHarmony 542]

Has anyone ever done a set of screengrabs of Williams's name in the titles of films he's done? It might be nice to see a direct comparison of how it looks in each one.

 

I do often wonder whether composers are tempted to massage their credits music so that their name coincides with a particular flourish or sting. I know I would be, though I'm sure Williams is far too consummate (not to say modest) a musician.

 

Mark

[Thor 7,463]

1 minute ago, QuartalHarmony said:

Has anyone ever done a set of screengrabs of Williams's name in the titles of films he's done? It might be nice to see a direct comparison of how it looks in each one.

 

Yes. JWFAN member thx99 had a whole website dedicated to JW title grabs a few years ago, but it went under. I don't know if he's ever planned to put it back up. I'll let him answer that!

[Jurassic Shark 12,024]

Paging @thx99!

[thx99 1,740]

 

I have contemplated reviving my old "John Williams Screen Credits Site", as clunky as it was, but haven't found the time.  I still have all of my captures, most of which are not HD given that I was relying mostly on DVDs back then and not BDs or HD streams.

@QuartalHarmony, this topic came up back in May of this year, and I posted an archive.org link to the remnants of the site there.  See this post:  LINK.