DARP · Trade page
Film credits, explained
The end crawl is one of the oldest attribution systems in the world. It is also one of the hardest to read. Titles tell you who was hired. They do not always tell you what each person did. DARP reads a film the other way: by the act.
Every film trade below folds to one of four layers, Devise, Author, Review, and Prepare, and each word records a specific act you can check. When AI did the act, the record takes the same word with (ai) marked beside it, as a plain fact, never a judgment.
The questions people actually ask
How do you credit music in a film?
Three different acts usually hide inside "the music," and a fair record keeps them apart.
The film:composer wrote the film's original score. Working to locked picture, they build the score cue by cue, shaping recurring themes that match each scene's emotion and timing. That is a Maker act, in the Author layer.
On set, the film:production-sound-mixer recorded the live location audio. Another Maker act, a different artifact.
At the end, the film:re-recording-mixer balanced dialogue, music, and effects stems into the single soundtrack the audience hears. Nothing new was written there; existing parts were chosen and placed. That is a Curator act.
Three entries, three acts. If AI wrote a cue, the entry is the same word plus the full model name and (ai).
What does a colorist do?
A film colorist adjusts the color of footage that has already been shot. Working through several passes, they balance contrast, exposure, and tone, then tune isolated areas like skin or sky, matching one shot to the next so a scene cut from many takes reads as a single continuous space.
In DARP, the routine shot-matching grade is a Refiner act in the Review layer: the film:colorist changed the image the film:cinematographer made, and both entries sit side by side. Designing a brand-new look from scratch is a separate Maker entry. Visually transformative is not the same thing as making.
What does "a film by" mean?
"A film by" is a possessory credit: one name claiming the whole work. DARP does not argue with it. It records something more specific instead.
The director's act is Shaper, in the Devise layer: the film:director set the film's creative direction and guided how it was made, shaping how the story looks, sounds, and feels without personally photographing, cutting, or scoring it. That steady, shaping vision is a real act, and it is one act. The film still carries everyone else's entries beside it.
How do you make film credits?
Two honest answers.
The credit sequence itself is a made thing. The film:title-designer designed the film's title sequence and credit graphics, building original typography and animation into one finished passage, cut to the editor's locked picture. A Maker act.
Deciding who belongs in the credits is the harder part, and that is what DARP is for: one entry per act, in plain words, checked against what actually happened. If you want to try it on your own work, make a record.
Every film trade word
Shaper
- director — set the film's creative direction and guided how it was made.
- production-designer — set the film's overall visual look and world that the making followed.
- casting-director — selected the actors who fill the roles.
- stunt-coordinator — designed and directed the stunts the performers executed.
- vfx-supervisor — directed and oversaw how the visual effects were designed and executed.
Backer
- producer — greenlit the film and provided the funding to make it.
- executive-producer — financed and championed the project to get it made.
- line-producer — managed the budget and resources to keep the production running.
Maker
- screenwriter — wrote the screenplay.
- cinematographer — made the photographed image.
- composer — wrote the film's original score.
- gaffer — designed and rigged the set's lighting.
- costume-designer — designed the wardrobe worn by the cast.
- makeup-artist — applied makeup, shaping how performers appear on camera.
- production-sound-mixer — recorded the live location audio.
- sound-designer — created original sound effects and sonic worlds for the film.
- art-director — designed the buildable sets and directed their construction.
- storyboard-artist — drew the shot-by-shot panels visualizing the script.
- vfx-artist — made the visual effects.
- compositor — combined rendered CG, plates, and elements into a finished seamless shot.
- matte-painter — painted photoreal background environments that don't exist in reality.
- title-designer — designed the film's title sequence and credit graphics.
- choreographer — created the dance and movement work performers then executed on camera.
Performer
- actor — performed the role.
- stunt-performer — performed the stunt.
- foley-artist — performed everyday sound effects in sync to picture.
Curator
- editor — selected and placed existing shots into the cut.
- re-recording-mixer — balanced dialogue, music, and effects stems into the final soundtrack.
- set-decorator — sourced and placed existing furnishings and props to dress the environment.
Verifier
- continuity — checked continuity against the script and prior shots.
- script-supervisor — tracked continuity on set against the script and prior shots.
- dit — checked the image meets exposure, color, and technical spec.
Refiner
- colorist — routine shot-matching grade.
Finisher
- finishing-artist — conformed the finished film to its release form.
Distributor
- distributor — released the film, made it reachable.
Keeper
- archivist — keeps the film reachable over time.
Did an act on a film that none of these words fits? Your field may call it something else. Propose a word, and it can join the registry.