Short end

A short end is a partial roll of unexposed left over during a motion picture production and kept for later use. The short end may be sold to a film dealer who will resell it to productions who are in a position to use it.

Short ends most commonly occur either when the film left in the camera magazine is shorter than the amount expected to be required for the next take or at the end of a shooting day when all of the day's exposed footage needs to be sent to the film lab. When this occurs, the clapper loader will break the roll at the loop protruding from the magazine; the exposed footage is placed in a black bag inside a film can, sealed, and labeled for film processing, while the unused short end will be placed in another black bag in a film can which is then sealed and identified by length, type, which original roll it came from, and when it was unloaded.

Identification is critical, as there will be no other way to know what exactly is inside the can. Short ends cans should also be sealed in either white or colored gaffer tape, depending on what (if any) color scheme is being used to identify film types; in any case, black gaffer tape should not be used, as it is considered the standard tape color used to seal exposed cans. Alternatively, in the event that the footage will be needed very shortly, the short end may not leave the magazine in the first place, but rather be freshly threaded through the magazine as if it were a new roll.

If the entire roll has remained unshot and is to be unloaded back into a can, this is technically not considered a short end, but rather a re-can. Additionally, if the unshot footage is going to be thrown away almost immediately, then this is considered waste footage. Short ends only exist if there is both enough unexposed film left in the magazine to warrant using it to start a new magazine load and also if there is either a magazine or a film can available to store it in the interim. Otherwise, the film may have to be wasted if there is nowhere it can be kept safely away from any light. Short ends may exist for a number of reasons, but usually they are either created at the end of a shooting day when the exposed film is unloaded to be sent with the day's rushes or at the end of a film shoot when there is still film left in the magazine on the movie camera. Additionally, particular film stock types might only have been used for a few scenes and thus have considerable short end lengths at the conclusion of their usage.

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