Pick-up (filmmaking)

In filmmaking, a pick-up is a small, relatively minor shot filmed or recorded after the fact to augment footage already shot. When entire scenes are redone, it is referred to as a re-shoot. Both of these types of shots usually occur after continuity, logic, or quality issues are identified during the film editing process. In other words, such shots are occurring months after the sets have been struck, the costumes and props have been stored, and all the cast and most of the crew have moved on to other projects. If these issues had been identified during principal photography, the director would simply have asked for another take. Thus, the director and producer must carefully balance the cost of reuniting key cast and crew members on set against whether the pick-ups or re-shoots are absolutely necessary to fix plot holes (or worse) in the final cut.

The three movies in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson, were filmed back to back, and so used pick-up shots. The three films in The Hobbit trilogy, also directed by Jackson, used similar techniques.

News reporting

In news studios, pick-up shots are more commonly called "insert" or "reaction shots". Local news stations send just one remote camera to cover a story. This is called PSC, or Portable Single Camera. After the interview, if there is time (i.e., the reporter is not covering breaking news that must be broadcast immediately), the subject is then asked to "react to questions" and the camera then takes various shots after the original interview. The reactions from angles other than the original shoot are then edited into the final cut, which then looks less boring as opposed to shots of the interview subject from a single angle.

See also

• B-roll