Editing Establishing shot (section)

==Use of establishing shots==
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;Location: Establishing shots may use famous landmarks to indicate the city where the action is taking place or has moved.

;Time of day: Sometimes the viewer is guided in their understanding of the action. For example, an exterior shot of a building at night followed by an interior shot of people talking implies that the conversation is taking place at night inside that building – the conversation may in fact have been filmed on a studio set far from the apparent location, because of budget, permits, time limitations or convenience. In the series ''[[JAG (TV series)|JAG]]'', [[24-hour clock|24-hour]] [[Coordinated Universal Time]] was used for these scenes to reinforce the military setting of the series.

;Relationship: An establishing shot might be a long shot of a room that shows all the characters from a particular scene. For example, a scene about a murder in a college lecture hall might begin with a shot that shows the entire room, including the lecturing professor and the students taking notes. A close-up shot can also be used at the beginning of a scene to establish the setting (such as, for the lecture hall scene, a shot of a pencil writing notes).

;Concept: An establishing shot may also establish a concept, rather than a location. For example, opening with a martial arts drill visually establishes the theme of martial arts. A shot of rain falling could be an establishing shot, followed by more and more detailed look at the rain, culminating with individual raindrops falling.