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A false ending is a device in film and music that can be used to trick the audience into thinking that the work has ended, before it continues. The presence of a false ending can be anticipated through a number of ways. The medium itself might betray that the story will continue beyond the false ending. A supposed "ending" that occurs when many pages are still left in a book, when a film or song's running time hasn't fully elapsed, or when only half the world has been explored in a video game, is likely to be false. As such, stories with an indeterminate running length or a multi-story structure are much more likely to successfully deceive their audience with this technique. Another indicator is the presence of a large number of incomplete story lines, character arcs, or other unresolved story elements at the time of the false ending. These elements can leave the audience feeling that too much of the story is incomplete and there has to be more.


Film

In ''
L.A. Confidential ''L.A. Confidential'' (1990) is a neo-noir novel by James Ellroy and the third of his L.A. Quartet series. It is dedicated to Mary Doherty Ellroy. The epigraph is "A glory that costs everything and means nothing"— Steve Erickson. Plot The s ...
'', it seems like the criminal case that the movie revolves around is completely closed with no loose ends until one of the witnesses admits that she lied about important details to give more importance towards the trial of the people who raped her, exposing a cover-up conspiracy. In '' The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King'', director
Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...
uses editing techniques that are indicative of endings in scenes that could be used as such, but continues until the movie finally ends. '' Spider-Man 3'' has two false endings. Another example is in ''
The Simpsons Movie ''The Simpsons Movie'' is a 2007 American Animation, animated comedy film based on the long-running animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. The film was directed by the show's supervising director David Silverman (animator), David Silverman and star ...
'', where, at a very climactic stage in the film, the screen fades away and says "
To be continued A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...
", which is then followed by the word "Immediately." Also in '' The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part'', at what appears to be a cliffhanger ending, a "The End" sign appears, only for Lucy (voiced by
Elizabeth Banks Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is known for playing Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in the ''Pitch Perf ...
) to break the
fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...
by insisting that the film will have a happy ending; the same sign appears again at the film's actual ending. Some movies come to a formal ending, followed by the rolling of the credits, which is almost universally used to indicate that the film has ended, only to have the actors reappear in one or more
mid-credits scene A post-credits scene (commonly referred to as a stinger or credit cookie) or mid-credits scene is a short clip that appears after all or some of the closing credits have rolled and sometimes after a production logo of a film, TV series, or video g ...
s. In comedy films, these sequences may be bloopers or
outtake An outtake is a portion of a work (usually a film or music recording) that is removed in the editing process and not included in the work's final, publicly released version. In the digital era, significant outtakes have been appended to CD and D ...
s. In other types of films, the mid-credit scenes may continue the narrative set out in the movie. The
Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...
movies have become notorious for this, in some cases featuring a mid-credits scene and an end-credits scene in the same movie.


Music

False endings are a known device in classical music.
Josef Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have l ...
was fond of them, for example inducing applause at the wrong place in the finales of his String Quartet, Op. 33 No. 2 (nicknamed "The Joke") and Symphony No. 90. The first movement of Prokoviev's
Classical Symphony The Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 25, also known as the "''Classical''", was Sergei Prokofiev's first numbered symphony. He began to compose it in 1916 and completed it on September 10, 1917. Steinberg, Michael. "The Symphony: a listeners guide". ...
contains false endings. False endings are also a common custom in popular music.
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
used false endings in many of their songs, including "
I'm Only Sleeping "I'm Only Sleeping" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 studio album ''Revolver''. In the United States and Canada, it was one of the three tracks that Capitol Records cut from the album and instead included on '' Yest ...
", "
Get Back "Get Back" is a song recorded by the British rock band the Beatles and Billy Preston, and written by Paul McCartney though credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. It was originally released as a single on 11 April 1969 and credited to ...
", "
Hello, Goodbye "Hello, Goodbye" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. Backed by John Lennon's "I Am the Walrus", it was issued as a non-album single in November 1967, the group's first r ...
", "
Cry Baby Cry "Cry Baby Cry" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album ''The Beatles'' (also known as the "White Album"). It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The coda of the son ...
", " Helter Skelter", "
Rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...
", and "
Strawberry Fields Forever "Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released on 13 February 1967 as a double A-side single with " Penny Lane". It represented a departu ...
". Other songs that use false endings include
Guns 'n' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff Mc ...
' "
November Rain "November Rain" is a song by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. Written by the band's lead vocalist Axl Rose, it was released as a single in 1992 from their third studio album, ''Use Your Illusion I'' (1991). "November Rain" peaked a ...
",
Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...
' " (Everything I Do) I Do It For You",
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
's "
Suffragette City "Suffragette City" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie. It was originally released in April 1972 as the B-side of the single " Starman" and subsequently appeared on his fifth studio album ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust a ...
", Gorillaz' " Dare",
Natasha Bedingfield Natasha Anne Bedingfield (born 26 November 1981) is a British singer and songwriter. Bedingfield released her debut album, '' Unwritten'', in 2004, which contained primarily up-tempo pop songs and was influenced by R&B music. It enjoyed intern ...
's " Unwritten",
Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...
' " Come Back",
Alice in Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...
' "Rain When I Die", and
Beastie Boys Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1978. The group was composed of Mike D, Michael "Mike D" Diamond (vocals, drums), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (voca ...
' "
Sabotage Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...
".


See also

*
Alternate ending An alternate ending (or alternative ending) is an ending of a story that was considered, or even written or produced, but ultimately discarded in favour of another resolution. Generally, alternative endings are considered to have no bearing on t ...
*
Multiple endings A narrative typically ends in one set way, but certain kinds of narrative allow for multiple endings. Comics * ''The Death-Ray'' by Daniel Clowes. * ''Cliff Hanger''. Literature * The ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' series. * ''Fighting Fantasy ...


References

{{reflist Endings Film and video terminology Video game gameplay Musical terminology Songwriting