Film & Television vocabulary · Shots and Camera Movements
Establishing shot
Meaning in film & television, with examples
/ɪˈstæblɪʃɪŋ ʃɒt/nounCommon term
In film & television, establishing shot means: A shot, usually wide, at the start of a scene that shows where and sometimes when the action takes place.
In Turkish: açılış planı, mekanı tanıtan genel plan
How it is used
Typical examples: the outside of a hospital before a scene in a ward, or a city skyline at night. TV series reuse establishing shots of the same buildings, and drones are now often used to film them.
Example sentences
We need an establishing shot of the police station at night.
The drone gave us beautiful establishing shots of the Bosphorus.
Common collocations
aerial establishing shot
exterior establishing shot
open with an establishing shot
Related terms
wide shotA shot that shows a large area, with people appearing small or full-length inside their surroundings, so that the audience sees where they are.
shotOne continuous piece of film recorded from the moment the camera starts until it stops, or the piece of it that appears between two cuts.
locationA real place outside the studio, such as a street, house or forest, where a film or TV show is shot.
sceneA part of a film or TV episode that happens in one place and at one time, usually made up of several shots.
