Master shot
Also known as: master, wide master
A single continuous take covering a whole piece of action, framed wide enough that nothing important ever leaves the frame.
Updated
What it means
A master shot records the whole thing once. Framed wide and left running, it covers the approach, the action and the result in one take, which gives an edit something to fall back on.
Its value is coverage rather than beauty. Nobody builds a sequence from a master alone, and every sequence is safer for having one, because it is the shot that always contains the moment.
It comes from narrative filming and transfers directly. A Fixed-camera recording left running at a feature is a master shot in everything but name, and it does the same job.
How it works in practice
Wide enough means wider than feels necessary. The temptation is to frame for the expected line, and the value of the shot comes precisely from the attempts that went somewhere unexpected.
It is the sync reference for everything else. Other angles line up against it, and a master with usable audio makes Audio sync across several cameras a matter of minutes rather than guesswork.
One camera left alone provides it. A second body on a tripod covering the whole session is the cheapest possible insurance, and it needs no operator once it is pointed and started.
What to watch out for
It is tempting to use too much of it. A sequence that keeps returning to the wide shot reads as a recording rather than an edit, and the master belongs as a safety net instead.
Left running it produces enormous files. A session covered continuously fills a card, which is where Loop recording and an honest look at Hours of footage become relevant.
A master nobody checked is a master nobody has. A camera knocked, drained or filled part way through was covering nothing, and discovering that on review is the usual way it fails.
How RawClip handles it
A continuous wide recording is exactly the input the analysis handles best, since it finds the moments inside a long file rather than needing them separated first. The wide angle also means the action is reliably in frame when a closer camera missed it.