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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
Ich warte mit dem Abschalten der Kameras grundsätzlich bis zur offiziellen "Abgedreht"-Ansage, da Regisseure oft spontan noch einen zusätzlichen Take fordern. Bei komplexen Steadicam-Fahrten sichere ich alle Aufnahmen sofort digital, bevor der Wrap erfolgt - ein defektes File nach "Abgedreht" kostet den ganzen Drehtag.
Der "Abgedreht"-Moment ist meine letzte Chance für Korrekturen - danach wird das Set meist sofort abgebaut und Wiederholungen kosten Tausende. Ich lasse mir immer die letzten drei Takes am Monitor zeigen und checke kritische Dialogstellen frame-genau, bevor ich den Wrap gebe.
"Abgedreht" stoppt automatisch alle Tagesraten und löst den Equipment-Rückbau aus - eine Stunde Verzögerung kostet bei 60-köpfiger Crew etwa 3.800 Euro Überstunden. Ich dränge ab 19:00 Uhr auf zügige Wrap-Entscheidungen, da Nachtarbeitszuschläge ab 22:00 Uhr greifen und das Tagesbudget um 15-20% erhöhen.
1. Was beschreibt „Abgedreht" am besten?
2. Zu welchem Department gehört „Abgedreht"?
3. Wie viele verschiedene Fachperspektiven bietet dieser Eintrag?
The Lexikon is part of the Filmfarm ecosystem — alongside budgeting (FilmBalance), an industry magazine (FilmCircus) and crew networking (FilmCall, CrewMesh). One shared vocabulary for the whole production.