# Clever Shot Setups in Movies -- does this have a name?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-shot-setups-in-movies-does-this-have-a-name/554862>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 24, 2010, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-shot-setups-in-movies-does-this-have-a-name/554862 "2010-09-24T11:25:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\
**Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-shot-setups-in-movies-does-this-have-a-name/554862/21 "2010-09-27T00:36:36Z")

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I have heard it called a “visual metaphor”.

My favorite example is a scene from _Easy Rider_. In the foreground, Peter Fonda is changing the tire on his motorcycle. In the background, a cowboy is shoeing his horse.

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**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\
**Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-shot-setups-in-movies-does-this-have-a-name/554862/22 "2010-09-27T02:12:59Z")

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The one that comes to mind is, I think, from Mel Brooks’ Silent Movie (or maybe Young Frankenstein). The character has a brilliant idea and a standard light behind him comes on at that instant, so you get the lightbulb-moment thing quite literally. I guess I’d call it superimposition.

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