short picture

...Toei succeeded in expanding the market with double feature programs (early side films were mostly documentaries of sports, singing, stripping, and star visits, and were sometimes combined with short films from foreign films), and gradually the double feature system, which was supposed to ensure marketability, became the norm. Shochiku first started producing medium-length films with a running time of about 40 to 50 minutes, which they called "sister films." The term originated from the Japanese-English word "sister picture" (originally called "short picture"), named by president Kido Shiro, meaning "sister film," and is also abbreviated to "SP." It has come to be used as a synonym for side films. Shochiku's first "sister film" was "Izu no Enka-shi," produced in 1952, the first film directed by Nishikawa Katsumi. ...

*Some explanations of terms that mention "short picture" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…そして東映が新作2本立て番組(初期の添えもの作品はスポーツ，歌，ストリップ，スター訪問などの記録映画が多く，洋画の短編との〈抱合せ〉などもあった)によって市場拡大に成功し，しだいに〈市場性確保を建前とする新作2本立て制度〉が一般化し，松竹がまず上映時間40～50分程度の中編作品の製作に乗り出し，これを〈シスター映画〉と呼んだ。社長の城戸四郎の命名による〈姉妹編〉を意味する和製英語sister picture(最初はshort pictureとも呼んだ)がその語源で，略してSPともいい，添えもの映画の代名詞として使われるようになった。松竹の〈シスター映画〉の第1号は，1952年製作の《伊豆の艶歌師》で，西河克巳の第1回監督作品。…

※「short picture」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報