Often overlooked by many people who leave the cinema as they start to roll, the end credits list all the people who have worked on the film. Staying is a way to pay tribute to them and to thank them. Admittedly, staying behind for sometimes more than five minutes to read white text set against a black background is hardly exciting. Pixar has used its closing credits as a continuation of the film, so as to thus get people to stay in the cinema a few more minutes.




Blooper reels are always very much enjoyed by audiences. When dealing with an ordinary film there are always takes of scenes that have misfired or where the actors got the giggles. But how do you go about it when making an animated feature? The outtakes are the fruit of the imagination of animators who have made up these mistakes with our characters. By adding boom mics that drop into the shot or shaky cameras, Pixar turns animated features into films of their own right by showing what goes on behind the scenes.

When it came to Monsters, Inc. Pixar took the idea even further. After been shown the outtakes, the viewer is treated to the much talked-about musical "Put That Thing Back Where It Came From, Or So Help Me", which Mike mentioned during the film. The animators went about making this short film from beginning to end with its own songs and stage setting. The viewer can even catch a glimpse of Mike’s mother in the audience cheering her son on.





A 3D animator is first and foremost an artist. All too often people overlook the fact that before being a computer-generated character, the latter is drawn from every angle. Before being in 3D, an animated feature first exists on paper in the form of drawings. Designing a blooper reel that would last over five minutes is heavy-going and would be tedious. Pixar uses another method: credits in 2D animation.

During the entire credit roll there is background animation with characters from the film, as in Ratatouille with the rat enjoying many eventful moments during the end titles or in Cars 2.

The Incredible family is given a "retro-futuristic" (as Brad Bird calls it) animated sequence that matches the film’s graphic environment.

To enhance the idea, the closing credits to WALL-E have beautiful graphic designs which trace the development of pictorial art from the birth of mankind to nowadays.





Once films are over, the viewer fantasizes over what might happen next. Pixar actually depicts this in a couple of films.

In Finding Nemo there is a background in which little gags are played out between the characters of the film, as with Pearl, who waits for there to be a big enough space between text lines before swimming across the screen. The post-credits scene includes a fun little sequence with the anglerfish. We at last get to see the aquarium fish in the ocean. It is admittedly not a continuation of the story, but it is fun to see them all together.

The credits to Cars are slightly different to the others. One half is given over to the revival of Radiator Springs; the second half is dedicated to John Ratzenberger, the Pixarian voice that can be heard in every film. This is a novel way of paying tribute to someone in the team. These credits also include a tribute to Joe Ranft, a Pixarian who was nicknamed “the Heart of Pixar” and who died while the film was being made. Pixar even added a short scene after the full credit roll: we see the two cars (that were driving through Radiator Springs looking for the Interstate) completely lost.

When it comes to Toy Story 3, the viewer is treated to an extra scene featuring Buzz and Jessie’s dance.

The award for finest film continuation goes to Up. The end credits make up the film’s sequel. By means of a photo album we see Carl along with Russell and Dug. If you take a closer look, you will notice that every one of these pictures matches the job description of the person whose name appears on the screen.





The viewer will note that the end credits for Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are highly basic. They merely went for a credit roll that includes small, colourful drawings.






Ever since Toy Story, Pixar has always included the strangest but funniest category in its credit sequence : "production babies". Usually featured towards the end, it lists the names of children who were born while the film was being made.

In Monsters, Inc. it says at the end of the credits that "no monsters were harmed in the making of this motion picture".

As we pointed out in our heading given over to Easter eggs, Mike swims across the credits in Finding Nemo and Crush and Squirt can be seen in the end credits of WALL-E.



Editor : Ravnek - Translator : Camilla Jones.

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