Shot-Reverse-Shot

Shot- Reverse-Shot

A shot/reverse/shot is....

"A film technique wherein one character is shown looking (often off-screen) at another character, and then the other character is shown looking "back" at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer unconsciously assumes that they are looking at each other."

-Bordwell, David; Thompson, Kristin (2006). Film Art: An Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill.

To establish a shot-reverse-shot you would usually have a two shot of two characters , then an over the shoulder shot of character A, then an over the shoulder shot of character B, then after that, as you have established where the characters are and who they are talking to, you can the just do face shots of them talking.

Here is an example of a shot-reverse-shot in use: 

Here is an example of a shot-reverse-shot in use in our film: