Wide Shot

What this is about

Crews reach for the wide when the audience has to understand where they are: the first setup of a scene, a character entering, the shot the editor will open on. In the shot list it is usually abbreviated WS, and it costs prep time because everything is visible — background action, cables, the crew reflected in a window. Directors also use it as a breathing shot between tighter coverage, and ADs often schedule it first so the lighting can then be pulled in for the closer sizes.

A term only helps when everyone on set means the same thing by it — so what follows is how it is used, not a dictionary definition.

What runs differently here

Where this differs from the general case:

• Wide shot names a framing size; establishing shot names a job in the edit — the same image can be both or only one.
• Against the full shot, the wide keeps clear air above and beside the figure: the location wins the frame, not the body.
• An extreme wide pushes further out again, until a person reads as a silhouette rather than a performer you can follow.

With TillyGen

TillyGen keeps a size on every shot, so you can see at a glance whether a scene even has a wide to open on.

Change one constraint and the consequences travel through the whole plan: affected shots are flagged, the call sheet is regenerated, and nobody keeps working from yesterday's version.