establishing shot

plural establishing shots

1. broadcastingA master shot, the primary wide shot of a scene used to inform the audience of the location or situation.

   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.

   2015 April 9, Peter Bradshaw, “Force Majeure review – after the avalanche”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms: long shot, wide shot