set piece

See also: setpiece and set-piece

English

Alternative forms

• setpiece, set-piece

Noun

set piece (plural set pieces)

1. A piece of freestanding stage scenery.
2. Any carefully planned sequence of operations, especially as part of a military operation.

   set-piece battle

3. (film, video games) An elaborate and interesting scene in a movie or video game, usually the most important and visually iconic scene in the work.
   • 2017 August 27, Brandon Nowalk, “Game Of Thrones slows down for the longest, and best, episode of the season (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[1]:

     What’s so great about the episode is it takes its time. The first 30 minutes of this 79-minute behemoth—a model for season eight’s reportedly extended run-times—are a single set piece, the big parlay in the Dragon Pit at King’s Landing.

   • 2021 February 5, Nicholas Barber, “The Great Dictator: The film that dared to laugh at Hitler”, in BBC‎^[2]:

     The message is that Hynkel is not a brilliant strategist or a mighty leader. He is an overgrown adolescent – as demonstrated in the sublime set piece in which he dances with an inflatable globe, dreaming of being "emperor of the world".

4. (soccer) Any planned strategy that a team uses after play is restarted with a free kick, penalty kick, corner kick, goal kick, throw-in or kickoff.

   Roberto Carlos is deadly from set pieces.

See also

• dead ball