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Film & Television vocabulary · Shots and Camera Movements

Over-the-shoulder shot

Meaning in film & television, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In film & television, over-the-shoulder shot means: A shot framed from behind one person’s shoulder to show another person or subject, often used in conversations.

In Turkish: omuz üstü çekim

How it is used

Common in directing, cinematography, and shot lists. It helps show eyelines, point of attention, and spatial relation between speakers.

Example sentences

  1. The editor chose the over-the-shoulder shot because it kept the manager present while the intern delivered the bad news.

    Here, the shot keeps one character visually included, reinforcing power dynamics without cutting to a separate reaction shot.

  2. For the interview scene, the director avoided a wide shot and used an over-the-shoulder shot to make the exchange feel more personal.

    In this sentence, the term describes a framing choice that creates intimacy by placing the viewer close to one speaker.

Common collocations

  • use an over-the-shoulder shot
  • classic over-the-shoulder shot
  • reverse over-the-shoulder shot
  • over-the-shoulder framing
  • 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.
  • camera angleThe position and direction from which the camera looks at the subject, such as from above, from below or at eye level.

More terms: Shots and Camera Movements

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