I recently had to make end credits for a film and thought: “Well, this should be easy enough.”Famous last words.I opened After... Read more
I recently had to make end credits for a film and thought: “Well, this should be easy enough.”
Famous last words.
I opened After Effects, because that’s the obvious route if you already know it. And yes, of course, you can make credits there. You can make almost anything there if you have enough patience and enough coffee.
But the more I worked with the credits, the more I felt how strange the process is.
End credits are not just a piece of design. They are also a structured document: names, roles, departments, music, legal text, logos, approvals, late corrections, spelling fixes, new people added at the last minute. And every small change can become a layout problem.
Add one name, and suddenly a column needs rebalancing.
Change one section, and something moves too close to the edge.
Fix a typo, export again, check again, hope nothing else broke.
So I thought: surely someone has already built a tool specifically for this. Something that handles final credits better than After Effects or editing software, because it is actually designed for this one job rather than for everything at once.
I found a few serious solutions. Some were expensive. Some were powerful but quite technical. In a few cases, I honestly felt it would be faster to go back to After Effects than to learn a whole new workflow.
And that was the interesting part.
If I feel that way with a background in editing, directing and production software, what does this feel like for producers, post coordinators, assistants, or anyone who simply needs the credits to be correct, clean and ready for delivery?
After reading forums and listening to other people’s experiences, it became clear this is not just my private little frustration. Credits are a real pain point.
Since I’ve recently been enjoying building small tools with AI and vibe coding, I decided to try creating this tool from scratch.
The idea is simple: make final credits less painful.
Something simple enough that producers and post coordinators can understand it without becoming motion designers. But flexible enough to import and edit structured information, control typography and layout, and produce credits that look like proper film credits, not data placed on a black background.
I’ve already started building it, and honestly I’m surprised by how well it is coming together. It is still early, rough in places, and not yet a polished product. But the main workflow is starting to feel real, and I like where it is going.
I hope to have a beta version soon, and I’ll be happy to share it when it’s ready.
Before I go too deep into my own assumptions, I’d love to hear from people who have dealt with final credits in real projects.
How do you usually make them, what works well, and what drives you slightly mad?
What do you wish existed in the tool you use now?
I’m genuinely curious.
I want to build something that makes this job easier for myself. But I’d be even happier if it turns out to be useful for other people too.
Famous last words.
I opened After Effects, because that’s the obvious route if you already know it. And yes, of course, you can make credits there. You can make almost anything there if you have enough patience and enough coffee.
But the more I worked with the credits, the more I felt how strange the process is.
End credits are not just a piece of design. They are also a structured document: names, roles, departments, music, legal text, logos, approvals, late corrections, spelling fixes, new people added at the last minute. And every small change can become a layout problem.
Add one name, and suddenly a column needs rebalancing.
Change one section, and something moves too close to the edge.
Fix a typo, export again, check again, hope nothing else broke.
So I thought: surely someone has already built a tool specifically for this. Something that handles final credits better than After Effects or editing software, because it is actually designed for this one job rather than for everything at once.
I found a few serious solutions. Some were expensive. Some were powerful but quite technical. In a few cases, I honestly felt it would be faster to go back to After Effects than to learn a whole new workflow.
And that was the interesting part.
If I feel that way with a background in editing, directing and production software, what does this feel like for producers, post coordinators, assistants, or anyone who simply needs the credits to be correct, clean and ready for delivery?
After reading forums and listening to other people’s experiences, it became clear this is not just my private little frustration. Credits are a real pain point.
Since I’ve recently been enjoying building small tools with AI and vibe coding, I decided to try creating this tool from scratch.
The idea is simple: make final credits less painful.
Something simple enough that producers and post coordinators can understand it without becoming motion designers. But flexible enough to import and edit structured information, control typography and layout, and produce credits that look like proper film credits, not data placed on a black background.
I’ve already started building it, and honestly I’m surprised by how well it is coming together. It is still early, rough in places, and not yet a polished product. But the main workflow is starting to feel real, and I like where it is going.
I hope to have a beta version soon, and I’ll be happy to share it when it’s ready.
Before I go too deep into my own assumptions, I’d love to hear from people who have dealt with final credits in real projects.
How do you usually make them, what works well, and what drives you slightly mad?
What do you wish existed in the tool you use now?
I’m genuinely curious.
I want to build something that makes this job easier for myself. But I’d be even happier if it turns out to be useful for other people too.
