technique · 1 recipe
Static Shot (Locked-Off)
A locked-off shot fixes position, orientation and focal length while action unfolds inside the composition.
Selected recipe
Static Locked-Off
This is the default recipe for the Locked-Off family.
Free short AI video prompt
A starter line you can copy. The full timed recipe, still-image and production prompts are on the shot card.
Prompt rule: Lock position, orientation and focal length. Let all change come from the staged action inside the frame; no automatic reframing, drift or push-in.
Static Locked-Off: A locked-off shot fixes position, orientation and focal length while action unfolds inside the composition. Keep the subject readable; motivate camera and light.
Technique guide
- When to use
- Let the audience observe the relationship on their own, or provide a stable reference for the movement shots.
- How it works
- Use fixed building edges to approve the composition of the first frame. Allow actors and props to act according to the plan, then align the building edges at the beginning and end.
- Common mistakes
- The backgrounds of the establishing shot and the closing shot do not match. A fixed camera position was mistakenly generated as a static photo.
How to read this page
Static Shot (Locked-Off) is one technique in Camera Movement. The definition states the single mechanism the frame has to show. The technique guide covers when to use it, the steps, the usual mistakes, how it differs from the neighbors, and what a successful take looks like.
The clip above is one reading, made with a third-party video model. Another model, or the same model on another day, can land on a different frame. It is an example, not a promise that a prompt will match it.
The free short prompt is a starter sentence. The shot card is the timed recipe: scene, start and end frames, action, light, and color. Three sample cards are free on the site. The rest are part of GrokCine Pro. A second name for the same shot keeps its own URL and points back at this definition.
When you write a prompt, keep the one mechanism in the definition, then name the subject, the motion, and why the light is there. Do not stack a neighboring technique into the same sentence. If the name or the example is wrong, send this page's URL from the contact page.
Recipe
8 seconds · single take
A glass etcher in a clear vinyl apron stands beside a frosted shop pane clamped upright in a quiet storefront workshop at night.
Shot cards
The full recipe for Static Locked-Off is a shot card
The full recipe for Static Locked-Off is a shot card. The start and end frames, timed action, lighting and color specs, a camera parameter table, copy-ready still-image and video prompts and negatives are open to GrokCine Pro members on the web.
Related families
- Pan Shot (Whip Pan)
Pan Shot (Whip Pan)A pan turns the camera around its vertical axis from a fixed station, changing horizontal direction without sideways travel. - Tilt Shot
Tilt ShotA tilt pitches the camera around a horizontal axis from one fixed station, changing vertical direction without changing support height. - Dolly Shot (Push In)
Dolly Shot (Push In)The camera translates on a smooth supported path, changing viewpoint and spatial overlap rather than only image scale.
Seen in these film styles
More in Camera Movement
References
Sources we studied for this technique. External links; we don't embed them.
Images & stills
- Ozu's static camera kept close to the floor
@DavidVeinot · 2024-08-13 · X
"Ozu preferred a static camera, usually kept close to the floor."
- Limbo: static shots compared with Roy Andersson
@WhitlockAndPope · 2020-10-14 · X
Limbo's static shots and composed frames compared with Roy Andersson.