Editing - Spatial Relationships

Establishing Shot

The Establishing Shot or sequence serves to situate the audience within a particular environment or setting and/ or to introduce an important character or characters. The establishing shot is usually the first or the first few shots in a sequence, and as such, it must be very efficient in portraying the context. Typically, establishing shots are Extreme Long Shots or Long Shots, followed by progressively closer framing.


Quentin Tarantino introduces his film Inglorious Basterds, with an extreme long shot of the countryside, suggestive of rural France. It is followed by a medium shot of the dairy farmer, who will dominate the first scene. One of the man’s daughters is also shown, first in a medium shot and then in medium close-up, hanging clothes. Moreover, the sequence establishes the central conflict, with the arrival of the German motor cars, shown in POV shots from the perspective of the farmer and his daughter.


Oliver Stone opens his film W. in the opposite manner. From an extreme close-up, a combined zoom out and pan reveals George standing in the middle of an empty ballpark.



The final clip, from the conclusion of the Japanese psychological thriller, 2LDK (“2-Bedroom Apartment”), is another example of the establishing shot composed in reverse order. This sequence shows an incremental expansion of the frame (in multiple shots) to include elements beyond the dead bodies and eventually the entire city of Tokyo.