Director's or first assistant director's announcement that all takes for a scene are complete, signaling wrap of equipment and end of the shooting day.
Technical Details
The announcement is made exclusively by the director or the 1st Assistant Director after all takes have been approved. Before the final announcement, the camera department is consulted to confirm the technical quality of all shots – on average, 3-7 minutes pass between the last "Cut" and "That's a Wrap." In digital productions, the DIT (Digital Imaging Technician) checks the integrity of the files on the storage media. The script keeps precise logs of timecode positions and take numbers of shots marked as usable.
History & Development
The exclamation "That's a wrap" became established in Hollywood around 1920, when exposed 35mm film had to be packed into light-tight containers after each shooting day. The German equivalent "Abgedreht" emerged with the dubbing of American films in the 1950s. While early film productions were extremely economical with takes due to film costs, modern digital workflows allow for multiple safety shots – the "wrap" today often occurs only after checking 8-12 takes per setup.
Practical Application in Film
Stanley Kubrick legendarily delayed his "wrap" decisions: For the ballroom scene in "The Shining" (1980), he shot 38 takes before announcing "abgedreht." In "Fast & Furious" productions, filming is "wrapped" daily at 10:00 PM, regardless of shooting progress, to avoid overtime surcharges. Streaming series like "Stranger Things" use digital wrap reports with automatic notifications to post-production and insurance. The moment of "wrap" triggers precisely defined procedures: equipment dismantling begins, costumes are inventoried, and accounting stops the daily rates of all crew members.
Comparison & Alternatives
"Abgedreht" differs from "Cut" (end of a single take) and "Schnitt" (end of a setup). "Drehschluss" (End of Principal Photography) refers to the end of the entire principal photography of a production, while "Tageswrap" (Daily Wrap) only ends the current shooting day. In international co-productions, "Wrap" has become the universal term as it is understood independently of language. Documentary filmmakers often use "Camera off" instead of "Abgedreht" because their shooting situation is more flexible and less formally structured.