History Main / EstablishingShot

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' did some when the party was split.
* Xawu did this for its second [[http://xawu.thecomicseries.com/comics/25 chapter cover.]]
* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' did this to introduce [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-03-17 the furniture store Swedekea]] as a setting.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' shows the outside of the house far too often, usually after any sort of passage of time.

* Just about every movie with a scene inside {{CIA}} headquarters involves a shot of a character walking over the seal near the main entrance at Langley, including ''Film/PatriotGames'', ''Film/MissionImpossible'', and ''Film/XMenApocalypse''. The same pattern is used for other big defense organizations like the Pentagon in ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'' and Omega Sector in ''Film/TrueLies'' or even the LAPD lavishly overdone with water fountains in ''Film/LastActionHero''. Also Taggart Transcontinental in ''Film/AtlasShrugged'', itself a kind of defense organization for Randian values.

* ''Series/ICarly'' have them for pretty much every location, but they aren't always used. Some important places that appear in one episode get them, such as the convention centre that the Carly vs Shelby fight took place in. A few strange examples, such as when Freddie was hit by a truck in ''iSaved Your Life'', they show an establishing shot of a hospital, but it cuts to Bushwell, where Sam tells Spencer about it, and the scene after Freddie is seen he's at home recovering. In ''iSaved Your Life'', they changed the usual establishing shot of Bushwell Plaza by adding a storm, which was in response to complaints that Seattle which is a very rainy city in real life being completely sunny on the show.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' established they were in one of the two principal apartments by showing [[http://gonyc.about.com/od/photogalleries/ss/tv-movie-location-photos_3.htm an apartment building in Greenwich Village]].

** And every apartment in Italy has a view of either the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Colosseum. This was parodied in ''Series/PoliceSquad!'', when Drebin by means of voiceover informs the viewer that he is going to Little Italy to follow up a lead, and the Colosseum is shown in the background. A subsequent interior scene shows the Tower of Pisa outside the window.

* ''KickinIt'' has a particularly heavy-handed use of establishing shots, with the exteriors of the mall and school being noticeably out of scale to the limited indoor sets.

* Overused ad nausem in Tommy Wiseau's ''Film/TheRoom'', providing some snark bait to the [[Podcast/RiffTrax riffers]].

* The CIA again in basically any show where they go to CIA headquarters someone walks over the seal in the main entrance, including ''Homeland''.
* Scenes set on Centauri Prime in ''Series/BabylonFive'' always began with a SFX pan over the planet with several Centauri ships flying by. Similarly other planets in the series had their own establishing shots -- Earthdome for Earth, a beautiful crystal city for Minbar, and so on.

** The orginal series also usually used a shot of the ship next to a globe that was supposed to be whatever planet it was visiting, even though India rotates through the shot.

* In ''Series/StargateSG1'', Several clips of the entrance to Cheyenne Mountain were shot 10 days before the series began and was not supplemented with new shots until the 9th or 10th season.

** And every apartment in Italy has a view of either the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Colosseum. This was parodied in ''Series/PoliceSquad!'', when Drebin by means of voiceover informs the viewer that he is going to Little Italy to follow up a lead, and the Colosseum is shown in the background. A subsequent interior scene shows the Pisa tower outside the window.

* ''Series/{{ER}}'' also has a subversion, in that the outside of the hospital is not shown until the very end of the final episode. But it's played straight with the inside of the hospital, as the second scene of the first episode follows Dr. Mark Greene through a hallway of the ER towards the admitting desk.

* Establishing shots of the Connors' house and other locations in ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'' were all still photographs, except for the end of one one HalloweenEpisode in which the house was represented by a model (which exploded).
* ''Series/{{CSI}}'' frequently uses random aerial shots of the ''entire city'', presumably to show the viewer that the the plot relevant areas haven't suddenly grown legs and moved to another city in the last couple minutes.
* ''Series/TheBill'' never used to bother with this, but it has only recently started to use a series of exterior stock shots of the various locations where we see the officers (the police station, hospital, etc) before cutting to interior scenes. The bad part? There are only about five or six alternative stock shots of each location, so get used to seeing the same two nurses walking past the hospital -- you'll be seeing them a lot.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'' established they were in one of the two principal apartments by showing [[http://gonyc.about.com/od/photogalleries/ss/tv-movie-location-photos_3.htm an apartment building from Greenwich Village]].
* In ''Series/{{JAG}}'' the exterior of the in-universe JAG Headquarters building in Falls Church, Virginia is shown once or twice in most episodes.

* Tommy Wiseau's ''[[Series/TheNeighbors2015 The Neighbors]]'' uses the exact same establishing shot—that of the outside of the apartment building while a synth riff plays— for every single scene transition.

* Xawu did this for it's second [[http://xawu.thecomicseries.com/comics/25 chapter cover.]]

* Whenever we switch the story of ''Webcomic/TowerOfGod'' to another floor, we get an establishing shot of it's settlements, usually [[FloatingContinent flying cities and castles]]. [[StarScraper Yes, inside the Tower.]]

* Traditionally, ''Film/StarWars'' material begins with the camera panning down from the starfield after the title scroll finishes to show a planet and often starships in orbit.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' shows the outside of the house far too often, usually after any sort of passage of time. It's really annoying once you notice it.
* Similarly, ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' often shows the outside of the Smiths' house, especially at the beginning of episodes.

* Parodied in ''WeeblAndBob'', where an establishing shot of a building is accompanied by a ditty exclaiming "Establishing shot of the building!" And in another episode, the narrator sings "Chris' house!" over a shot of... well, what do you think?

CueTheBilliardShot is a SubTrope.

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the first episode of the new ''MaddisonAtkins'', in which Maddison appears in the establishing shot, asking Adam what he's doing, and then proceeds to walk across the shot.

* Establishing shots of the Connors' house and other locations in ''{{Roseanne}}'' were all still photographs, except for the end of one one HalloweenEpisode in which the house was represented by a model (which exploded).

* Just about every movie with a scene inside {{CIA}} headquarters involves a shot of a character walking over the seal near the main entrance at Langley, including ''Film/PatriotGames'' and ''Film/MissionImpossible''. The same pattern is used for parodies of the CIA, like Omega Sector in ''Film/TrueLies'' or even the LAPD lavishly overdone with water fountains in ''Film/LastActionHero''. Also Taggart Transcontinental in ''Film/AtlasShrugged'', itself a kind of Randian private enterprise version of central intelligence. Okay not really, but it follows the same pattern establishment shot.

-->-- '''Tom Servo''', on an overly long EstablishingShot in ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'''s riffing of ''Film/{{Werewolf}}''

Establishing shots have fallen out of favor somewhat since the 90s. Current movies and TV dramas (''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'', ''Series/{{Lost}}'', ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', to name a few) go right into the action of the scene. Captions or title cards may be used instead to establish location or time setting. The ''Franchise/LawAndOrder'' franchise uses distinctive title cards to establish time and place.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

* Just about every movie with a scene inside {{CIA}} headquarters involves a shot of a character walking over the seal near the main entrance at Langley, including ''Film/PatriotGames'' and ''Film/MissionImpossible''.
** The same pattern is used for parodies of the CIA, like Omega Sector in ''Film/TrueLies'' or even the LAPD lavishly overdone with water fountains in ''Film/LastActionHero''.
** Also Taggart Transcontinental in ''Film/AtlasShrugged'', itself a kind of Randian private enterprise version of central intelligence. Okay not really, but it follows the same pattern establishment shot.
** US Robotics in the film ''Film/IRobot''

-->'''[[WebVideo/BestOfTheWorst Rich Evans]]:''' 'They had to establish the prairie, so they could establish the farm, so they could establish the farmhouse, so they could establish the kitchen counter.'

[[AC:{{Live-Action TV}}]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

** Not the only video game to do so, some even start at the EXIT, and work their way backwards, subtly (Or not so subtly), showcasing the route, and obstacles.

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]
* The ''[[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick Order of the Stick]]'' did some when the party was split.

[[AC:WebOriginal]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

** Similarly, ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' often shows the outside of the Smiths' house, especially at the beginning of episodes.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' makes use of these. Every time we see the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, a crow caws in the background.
** In earlier seasons, a shot of the supermarket would always be accompanied with a stray shopping cart drifting into the street.

* Most ''Series/ModernFamily'' episodes begin with an exterior shot of the Dunphey or Pritchet house, depending on which one the following scene takes place in. It's worth noting that the dialog often begins with the establishing shot instead of the scene itself.

** The same pattern is used for parodies of the CIA, like Omega Sector in ''Film/TrueLies.''

* {{Psych}} likes to use establishing shots of the police station, the titular Psych office, and [[CaliforniaDoubling and what's supposed to be a Santa Barbara beach outside of said office]].

* Subverted on ''{{Frasier}}'', where the exterior of Frasier's building was seen just once in 11 years. The establishing shots were replaced by witty title cards.
** Similarly, while Sacred Heart Hospital in ''{{Scrubs}}'' frequently has an establishing shot, the shot for the apartment building where the main characters live is only seen a few times in the very first episodes, and then very rarely afterward.
* ''{{ER}}'' also has a subversion, in that the outside of the hospital is not shown until the very end of the final episode. But it's played straight with the inside of the hospital, as the second scene of the first episode follows Dr. Mark Greene through a hallway of the ER towards the admitting desk.
* An episode of ''PrisonBreak'' shows an establishing shot of Tijuana with a Bital bank sign in the foreground... [[AnachronismStew but the problem is, that by that time, Bital was already replaced by HSBC.]]

** And every apartment in Italy has a view of either the Leaning Tower of Pisa or the Colosseum. This was parodied in ''PoliceSquad!'', when Drebin by means of voiceover informs the viewer that he is going to Little Italy to follow up a lead, and the Colosseum is shown in the background. A subsequent interior scene shows the Pisa tower outside the window.

* Mocked by ''MST3K'' in the movie ''Zombie Nightmare'' when an establishing building shot is followed by a rather disparate interior shot ("It went from a high-rise to someone's basement.").