Во втором дубле использовали общий план.

Russian normally uses в for in, but it often changes to во when the next word begins with a difficult consonant cluster, especially something like вт-.

So:

• в школе
• в доме
• but во втором
• во Франции

Here в втором would be awkward to pronounce, so Russian uses во.

After в / во meaning in, Russian usually uses the prepositional case.

So:

• второй дубль = nominative, dictionary form
• во втором дубле = prepositional, meaning in the second take

Both words change because the adjective must agree with the noun:

• второй → втором
• дубль → дубле

In this sentence, дубль is a film/TV word meaning take, as in one recorded attempt at a scene.

So во втором дубле means in the second take or on the second take.

This is not the everyday meaning of дубль in all contexts. In different situations it can also mean things like a duplicate or double, but in cinema it commonly means take.

This is a very common Russian pattern. Russian often uses a 3rd person plural past tense with no stated subject to mean something like:

• they used
• someone used
• people used

So использовали does not necessarily mean a specific they. It is an indefinite-personal construction.

In English, depending on context, you might translate it as:

• they used a wide shot
• a wide shot was used
• they went with a wide shot

Russian prefers this active-style phrasing quite often.

It could be, but that would be a different style.

Compare:

• Во втором дубле использовали общий план.
  = They used a wide shot in the second take. / A wide shot was used in the second take.
  This sounds natural and fairly neutral.

• Во втором дубле был использован общий план.
  = A wide shot was used in the second take.
  This is more explicitly passive and can sound more formal or report-like.

Russian often prefers the active-looking indefinite-plural form использовали where English might use a passive.

It is the direct object of использовали, so it is in the accusative case.

However, because план is a masculine inanimate noun, its accusative singular looks the same as the nominative singular:

• nominative: общий план
• accusative: общий план

So the form does not visibly change, even though the case function does.

Literally, yes, but here it is a fixed cinema term.

In film language, общий план means a shot showing a broad view of the scene, often translated as:

• wide shot
• long shot
• sometimes establishing shot, depending on context

So this is one of those cases where a literal word-for-word translation can be misleading. In cinema vocabulary, общий план is a standard expression.

Yes. Russian word order is flexible, and different orders can shift the emphasis slightly.

For example:

• Во втором дубле использовали общий план.
  Neutral: In the second take, they used a wide shot.

• Общий план использовали во втором дубле.
  Emphasizes общий план.

• Использовали общий план во втором дубле.
  More conversational, with the verb first.

The original sentence is perfectly natural and gives smooth context-first information: in the second take → used → a wide shot.

Russian has no articles like a/an/the.

Whether something is definite or indefinite is understood from context.

So:

• во втором дубле can mean in the second take
• общий план can mean a wide shot or the wide shot, depending on context

When translating into English, you choose the article that sounds right in the situation.

Использовали is from использовать, which is usually imperfective.

Here the imperfective can be used simply to report what was used in that take, without strongly highlighting the result as a one-time completed event in the way a perfective verb might.

In real usage, Russian often uses the imperfective in factual descriptions of what was happening or what was used in a scene or process.

A perfective version like использовали does not exist here as a separate form; the perfective partner is usually использовать? Actually in modern Russian, использовать is commonly used as both imperfective and, in many contexts, effectively neutral, while some speakers may treat it mostly as imperfective. In practice, использовали here sounds completely normal.

For a learner, the key point is: don’t be surprised that Russian uses использовали in this kind of production/reporting sentence.

Yes, definitely.

In film vocabulary, it is useful to learn these as set phrases:

• общий план = wide shot / long shot
• крупный план = close-up
• средний план = medium shot

Memorizing общий план as one unit will help much more than trying to interpret общий literally every time.