ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Opening credits

Opening credits are like the beginning of a movie or TV show. It’s like saying “hello, this is the story you’re about to watch”. Just like when you make a drawing, you write your name or sign it to show that it belongs to you, the people who made the movie or TV show put their names at the beginning to show that they’re the ones who made it.

The opening credits are usually at the very beginning of the movie or TV show and you can tell them apart from the actual story because they look different. They usually have different music from the actual show, and they show people’s names and different designs while the actual story just shows the characters and the things they do.

Sometimes the opening credits can be very cool and interesting to watch. They can even give you clues about what you’re about to watch, like if there are a lot of explosions, it might mean it’s an action movie or if there are a lot of people in fancy clothes, it might mean it’s a period drama.

So, that’s basically what opening credits are- It’s like the name tag of a movie or TV show that tells you who made it and what kind of story you can expect.