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"American shot" is a translation of a phrase from French Film Criticism, "plan américain" and pertains to a medium-long shot of a group of characters, who are arranged so that each and every of them are covered in the frame.

The usual arrangement is for the actors to stand in an irregular line from one side of the screen to the other, with the actors at the end coming forward a little and standing more in profile than the others. The purpose of the composition is to allow complex dialogue scenes to be played out without changing the position of the camera. It is other wise referred to as 3/4 shot.