Establishing shot in film for beginners.

An establishing shot introduces new scenes and tells the viewer where and when the action is happening. Establishing shots can also set up a point of view or help develop a character.

Establishing shot photograph looking down on a city from above.

What is an establishing shot?

Establishing shots are typically wide or extreme wide shots of buildings or landscapes. These shots might include signage, landmarks, or other obvious signals of place and time. They can help convince your audience that your film’s action is taking place in a cafe in Paris or a cantina on Tatooine instead of a soundstage in L.A.

What makes an establishing shot successful?.

For an establishing shot to work it needs to:

Make it clear where the action takes place.
Show the scene’s geography.
Establish the mood.

These photographic elements combine to place your viewer in the film, providing them with context to understand what’s happening – sometimes without any dialogue required. Whether you’re working on a film, TV series, documentary or animation, a successful establishing shot is key to keeping the audience’s attention.

It’s similar to how the first few pages of a book need to be gripping to avoid the reader putting it down. The establishing shot must engage the audience from the start.

Shot of the Golden Gate Bridge which establishes you are in or near San Francisco.

Two drone-related caveats:

Filming an establishing shot with a drone allows beginner filmmakers to easily capture strong aerial scenes. There are two key aspects of drone filming to be aware of:

Point of view. “Whenever the camera is moving, that implies to the viewer a point of view,” writer and filmmaker David Andrew Stoler says. “If you’re moving in your establishing shot, the question is: ‘Who’s seeing this? Whose point of view am I in?’"
Drone noise. Director and writer Van Jensen adds: “You have to be shooting something where you don’t need to be capturing sound, because drones are extremely loud.”

Taking aerial establishing shots with a drone.

Get creative and skip the traditional wide shots.

You don’t always have to go for the epic view of the New York City skyline. You can prepare your audience for the scene with set design and props. For example, a therapist’s office might have diplomas on the wall and a couch with a chair next to it. Those details tell your viewers exactly where they are or what they need to know.

Jensen recalls making a music video that takes place at a house party. “The specific opening shot is a tight shot of a beer being poured into a glass. I thought of it as the establishing shot even though it’s atypical,” he says.

There’s room for artistry even in these transitional shots. You can experiment with framing, camera position, or angle and create something beautiful instead of something that simply conveys necessary information.

Other tips for getting the most out of establishing shots.

Establishing shot image of an old, collapsing building.

Focus on the story.

Never forget that you’re a storyteller, and every shot should serve your story. “If you’re bouncing around locations quickly, like in Law and Order, it can be helpful to use establishing shots,” Stoler says. “But if you’re doing something short, you can set that information up more quickly.”

View of a small village from across a small lake.

Consider space.

Pay attention to your location and build your story around that. “Work the angles,” Jensen says. “Work the space to find the most beautiful shots within it.” If you’re going for a wide or long shot, make sure you have the room. “Beginners tend to shoot very flat, without much in the background. So don’t get too close,” Stoler says. “You have to get back far enough to get good depth.”

Aerial shot of a girl on a pier establishes she is alone and surrounded by water.

Experiment.

Get your necessary wide, medium, and close-up shots, but be open to other possibilities. “You want to go into the editing room with a grab bag of extra footage,” says Dominic Duchesneau, a documentary filmmaker and editor. “The editor might see the story differently than the director or cinematographer, so if you’re on location and you have time, try for something that might serve the story better.” You can always test out unusual establishing shots by using Adobe Premiere Pro to create a rough cut.

Using lighting to help establish where, in the shot, a viewer's eyes should focus.

Watch and learn.

Watch the films you love, paying close attention to the shot at the beginning of each scene. Find ones you like, and try to put your own spin on them. Remember that these shots have to tell us where we are, but they can also: