establishing shot

establishing shot (plural establishing shots)

1. (film) A master shot, the primary wide shot of a scene used to inform the audience of the location or situation.
   • 2015 April 9, Peter Bradshaw, “Force Majeure review – after the avalanche”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     Using mostly fixed camera positions, he will intersperse scenes with establishing shots of the clanking, pitiless machinery of the ski lift, rattling rhythmically as bits of cable and metal thunk into each other.

• long shot, wide shot

• closeup