What is a shot to shot relationship in film?

Answer 1

You can think of this as a way to transition between scenes, or among characters/ objects/ elements in storytelling. Because film is a director's medium, choices like these are generally made by the director, and not by the screenwriter.

But the screenwriter might suggest these examples:

• Barry and Ruth ride in his truck toward the library. Zoom in: the exterior door handle. Pause. Zoom out. Barry and Ruth discuss the books they picked up from the library. (A scene in the library selecting books is unnecessary.)
• Establishing shot: Grace Cathedral. A funeral. Close on: an urn containing Jacob's ashes. Pull back to reveal: the urn sitting on the mantle as Jacob's children discuss their father's mysterious death.
• The Elder, Winter Bear, dressed in his best clothing, settles himself beside a tree in the dark, winter cold. Seated, he closes his eyes. We become aware of the weathered skin on his face. Dissolve to: Winter Bear's weathered skin dusted with frost in early dawn light. Snow on his hair and eyelashes. Inanimate now, Winter Bear's found a way out of his life.