An establishing shot is simply the first scene in your animation. And sometimes it is the first shot of a new scene if your animation is long and it moves to different places. The establishing shot it usually a long shot that shows most everything important. In the case of this animation it is a shot of the whole room that we start out in.

If the whole story moved to a new location you might do a new establishing shot for the new location. For example I have an establishing shot for what happens in this little house. Let's say the figure gets in his car and drives to a new house. Before he goes inside that new house you might do an overall shot showing the outside of the new house. This would establish us in this new place.

Often times establishing shots are very long shots, and often times they are up high. The establishing shot for this video is up high and looks down a bit on the scene.

Establishing shots aren't mandatory and you don't necessarily have to do them all the time. But usually they are a good idea. They will help the viewer understand the scene and what is going on.

This picture shows the establishing shot for this animaiton. It is a view of the entire room.

Ok, let's move on to the next lesson in this tutorial: Lighting - It is so important in stop motion animation. I will give you some tips and guidelines.

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