The end...
I love nerdy things about film like watching academy leader.
You know, those countdowns that appear before the start of a film reel -- 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-POP! I have an old VHS tape a filmmaker friend gave to me filled with hours of countdowns from various countries spanning so many eras. No surprise, I also like to watch the end credits and I notice variations such as the order and organization.
One thing you don't see as much anymore is a final credit reading simply "the end." That kind of "end" to a film might seem cheesy nowadays. The last time I remember seeing "the end" appear on the credits was in the Flash Gordon movie from 1980 -- they even added a question mark punctuated by a "sci-fi" sound effect to imply Ming the merciless would be back to fight another day, which was really cheesy.
Consider the following film series that never really ended and continue onward...
5 Saws
5 Superman flicks
6 Star Wars (2 trilogies)
6 Police Academy movies
7 Batman movies (if you include the Adam West film from the 1960s.)
11 Star Treks
12 Friday the 13ths
22 Bond films
And the finale of the Harry Potter series will result in 8 movies as they are splitting one of the 7 books into two films.
Today, movies don't really end and even beyond the inevitable sequels there are TV specials or series or direct-to-DVD sequels. The death of an actor doesn't end a film series either, they'll just recast or if a film franchise is in need of a fresh start, they reboot. Filmmakers will often take a look at what went wrong in the original and make improvements, such as the recent Hulk[/b[ movie which was vastly improved from the original. Not to mention countless remakes and reboots and re-imaginings and sequels and spin-offs.
Ending a film with "the end" is kind of an ancient cinematic device. Perhaps that's why we don't see it anymore after a film's climax... movies like life... they never really end. It's reassuring to know that at any time when the feeling is right... an end can be... a new beginning.
Until my next blog... this is... the end?
(NOTE: Definitely click on the above graphic, it's worth seeing full-size. It's from a Flickr group someone started with over 100 images of "the end" from film and TV.)
I love nerdy things about film like watching academy leader.
You know, those countdowns that appear before the start of a film reel -- 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-POP! I have an old VHS tape a filmmaker friend gave to me filled with hours of countdowns from various countries spanning so many eras. No surprise, I also like to watch the end credits and I notice variations such as the order and organization.
One thing you don't see as much anymore is a final credit reading simply "the end." That kind of "end" to a film might seem cheesy nowadays. The last time I remember seeing "the end" appear on the credits was in the Flash Gordon movie from 1980 -- they even added a question mark punctuated by a "sci-fi" sound effect to imply Ming the merciless would be back to fight another day, which was really cheesy.
Consider the following film series that never really ended and continue onward...
5 Saws
5 Superman flicks
6 Star Wars (2 trilogies)
6 Police Academy movies
7 Batman movies (if you include the Adam West film from the 1960s.)
11 Star Treks
12 Friday the 13ths
22 Bond films
And the finale of the Harry Potter series will result in 8 movies as they are splitting one of the 7 books into two films.
Today, movies don't really end and even beyond the inevitable sequels there are TV specials or series or direct-to-DVD sequels. The death of an actor doesn't end a film series either, they'll just recast or if a film franchise is in need of a fresh start, they reboot. Filmmakers will often take a look at what went wrong in the original and make improvements, such as the recent Hulk[/b[ movie which was vastly improved from the original. Not to mention countless remakes and reboots and re-imaginings and sequels and spin-offs.
Ending a film with "the end" is kind of an ancient cinematic device. Perhaps that's why we don't see it anymore after a film's climax... movies like life... they never really end. It's reassuring to know that at any time when the feeling is right... an end can be... a new beginning.
Until my next blog... this is... the end?
(NOTE: Definitely click on the above graphic, it's worth seeing full-size. It's from a Flickr group someone started with over 100 images of "the end" from film and TV.)
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
Cool. We're friends now on LastFM. You can officially tell I am a music freak.
not yet we aren't..you have to accept my request
but yeah it's kind of odd that we aren't more musically compatible..
but then again i find that compatibility meter to be somewhat inaccurate most of the time.