Wondering What An Insert Unit Is
Oct 5th, 2009 by Alan Yu
I got a call time yesterday and on the breakdown it indicated that I am working in the “Insert Unit” group. I never heard of that terminology before. Usually if you are part of the main filming work of the day you would be classified as part of the “main unit” and secondary units, such as establishing shots, would be a “splinter unit”.
My best bet at this point is that since an insert shot is usually like a reaction of some sort that this is what the shot is going to be about. Example, maybe an action scene where in the final cut you have the main story where two characters are fighting and then at times it cuts to an onlooker cringing at how painful it looks. Or more common it’s like opening a door where they then cut to a shot of a hand on the door knob. That’s just a guess of course.
Guess I’ll find out soon as I am working on this production today.
