Long take explained

In filmmaking, a long take (also called a continuous take, continuous shot, or oner) is shot with a duration much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general. Significant camera movement and elaborate blocking are often elements in long takes, but not necessarily so. The term "long take" should not be confused with the term "long shot", which refers to the use of a long lens and not to the duration of the take. The length of a long take was originally limited to how much film the magazine of a motion picture camera could hold, but the advent of digital video has considerably lengthened the maximum potential length of a take.

Early examples

When filming Rope (1948), Alfred Hitchcock intended for the film to have the effect of one long continuous take, but the camera magazines available could hold not more than 1000 feet of 35 mm film. As a result, each take uses up to a whole roll of film and lasts up to 10 minutes. Many takes end with a dolly shot to a featureless surface (such as the back of a character's jacket), with the following take beginning at the same point by zooming out. The entire film consists of only 11 shots.[1]

Andy Warhol and collaborating avant-garde filmmaker Jonas Mekas shot a 485-minute-long experimental film, Empire (1965), on 10 rolls of film using an Auricon camera via 16 mm film, which allowed longer takes than its 35 mm counterpart. "The camera took a 1,200ft roll of film that would shoot for roughly 33 minutes."[2]

Later examples

A handful of theatrically released feature films, such as Timecode (2000), Russian Ark (2002), PVC-1 (2007), Victoria (2015) and Boiling Point (2021) are filmed in one single take. Others are composed entirely of a series of long takes, while many more may be well known for one or two specific long takes within otherwise more conventionally edited films. In 2012, the art collective The Hut Project produced The Look of Performance, a digital film shot in a single 360° take lasting 3 hours, 33 minutes and 8 seconds. The film was shot at 50 frames per second, meaning the final exhibited work lasts 7 hours, 6 minutes and 17 seconds.[3]

Another example from television can be seen in the first season of HBO's True Detective. In episode four, "Who Goes There", protagonist Detective Rustin Cohle (portrayed by Matthew McConaughey) is undercover as part of a biker gang who have decided to brazenly rob a drug den located in a dangerous neighborhood. The shot begins with the bikers arriving at the drug den with McConaughey's character reluctantly in tow. The six-minute shot moves in and out of various residences, through several blocks and over a fence, while shots are fired by shouting gangsters, bikers and police as they arrive on the scene. McConaughey at first assists the biker gang, then turns on them to abduct the leader, dragging him along for more than half of the continuous shot.[4] Director Cary Joji Fukunaga commented to The Guardian, "We required the involvement of every single department, like a live theatre show. We had make-up artists hiding in houses so they could dash out and put make-up on [Cohle's hostage] Ginger's head. We panned away for a second to do that. We also had ADs peppered around the neighborhood with extras who had specific things to yell and specific places to run. We had stunt guys coordinating with stunt drivers to pull up at the right time, special-effects guys outside throwing foam bricks and firing live rounds."[5]

The John Wick series of films are known for their long-take fight scenes. This was due to the budgetary constraints of using only a single high-end camera for all the filming, and required close choreography with the various extras involved in the fights, who had to run behind the camera after being among the first fallen attackers to come in again as new attackers.[6]

In 2010, artist engineer Jeff Lieberman co-directed a 4-minute music video with Eric Gunther, featuring the indie band OK Go performing their song "End Love". The video was shot in a continuous take using three cameras, running 18 hours from before sunset to 11am the following day. The footage was condensed using time-lapse techniques ranging up to 170,000 times speedup, with some brief slow-motion segments also recorded at 1500 frames per second.[7]

Sequence shot

A sequence shot is a shot, a long take, that includes a full narrative sequence containing the full scene in its duration, meaning different locations or different time periods. The term is usually used to refer to shots that constitute an entire scene. Such a shot may involve sophisticated camera movement. It is sometimes called by the French term plan-séquence. The use of the sequence shot allows for realistic or dramatically significant background and middle ground activity. Actors range about the set transacting their business while the camera shifts focus from one plane of depth to another and back again. Significant off-frame action is often followed with a moving camera, characteristically through a series of pans within a single continuous shot.

An example of this is the "Copacabana shot" featured in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990), in which Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) takes his girlfriend to a nightclub passing through the kitchen.[8]

Robert Altman's The Player (1992) opens with an elaborately choreographed eight-minute shot that follows multiple characters in multiple locations, both inside and outside.[9] Among the 17 scenes that comprise the shot, one character refers to the four-minute shot that opens Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil (1958).[10]

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's Rosetta (1999) ends with a five-minute continuous shot.[11] The Dardenne brothers also shot long sequences for Two Days, One Night (2014), some of them consisting of ten minutes.[12]

Directors known for long takes

Continuous-shot full feature films

A "one-shot feature film" (also called "continuous-shot feature film") is a full-length movie filmed in one long take by a single camera, or manufactured to give the impression that it was. Given the extreme difficulty of the exercise and the technical requirements for a long lasting continuous shot, such full feature films have only been possible since the advent of digital movie cameras.

See also

References

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Miller, D. A. "Anal Rope" in Inside/Out: Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories, pp. 119–172. Routledge, 1991.
  2. News: Preview: Warhol, The Film-Maker: 'Empire, 1964', Coskun Fine Art, London . London . The Independent . Charlotte . Cripps . 10 October 2006.
  3. Web site: The Hut Project. The Look of Performance. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120512151129/http://www.jerwoodvisualarts.org/page/3096/Jerwood+Encounters. 12 May 2012. dmy-all.
  4. News: Seitz: Why True Detective's 6-Minute Tracking Shot Is More Than Just 'Awesome'. Vulture. 2018-11-22. en.
  5. Web site: How we got the shot: Cary Fukunaga on True Detective's tracking shot. Fukunaga. Cary. 2014-03-17. the Guardian. en. 2018-11-22.
  6. The Legend of Keanu Reeves . Alex . Pappademos . April 15, 2019 . April 15, 2019 . GQ.
  7. Web site: Rothermel . Ryan . OK Go "End Love" – Masters of the One Take Music Video, by Gunther and Lieberman . Motionographer . 2020-03-09 . 22 June 2010.
  8. http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2018/the-10-most-stunning-long-takes-in-movie-history/ The 10 Most Stunning Long Takes in Movie History — Taste of Cinema
  9. http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2018/the-10-most-stunning-long-takes-in-movie-history/2 The 10 Most Stunning Long Takes in Movie History — Taste of Cinema
  10. http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2015/the-15-greatest-opening-long-takes/2/ The 15 Greatest Opening Long Takes in Cinema History — Page 2 — Taste of Cinema
  11. Quandt . James . James Quandt . October 2014 . Too Good to be True: The Films of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne . Artforum.
  12. Web site: Chai . Barbara . 24 December 2014 . Marion Cotillard on 'Two Days, One Night': 'I Came Close to a State of Depression Once' . The Wall Street Journal.
  13. Web site: Chantal Akerman . Filmref.com . 29 January 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120203080554/http://www.filmref.com/directors/dirpages/akerman.html . 3 February 2012 . dead . dmy-all .
  14. News: Jake. Coyle. 'Atonement' brings the long tracking shot back into focus. Boston Globe. 29 December 2007. 29 December 2007 .
  15. https://ew.com/gallery/10-signs-youre-watching-wes-anderson-movie/?slide=425048#425048 10 Signs You're Watching a Wes Anderson Movie|EW.com
  16. http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/the-12-best-directors-that-often-use-long-takes/2/ The 12 Best Directors That Often Use Long Takes - Taste of Cinema
  17. Greg Gilman. ‘One Tree Hill’ Director Completes World’s First One-Shot Rom-Com (Exclusive). Netflix. The Wrap. Retrieved 24 December 2013
  18. Web site: Emptying Space: Contemporary Slow Cinema and the Work of Scott Barley . 29 March 2020 .
  19. https://www.indiewire.com/feature/best-long-takes-movies-cinematography-87699/ The 20 Best Long Takes In Movies|IndieWire
  20. https://www.indiewire.com/feature/best-long-takes-movies-cinematography-87699/ The 20 Best Long Takes In Movies|IndieWire
  21. https://www.allmovie.com/movie/a-woman-under-the-influence-v55063/review A Woman Under the Influence (1974) - AllMovie
  22. https://variety.com/2020/tv/features/damien-chazelle-the-eddy-jazz-in-paris-1234599931/#! 'The Eddy' Team on How Jazz 'Brings Together Different Groups' — Variety
  23. Web site: McCausland· . Sinead . March 11, 2017 . The Lasting Humanity of 'Two Days, One Night' . Film School Rejects.
  24. Beyond aesthetics: The long take as the nation-form in the cinema of Lav Diaz . 2021 . Asian Cinema, Volume 32, Issue 2 . 10.1386/ac_00038_1 . 31 May 2024 . dmy-all . Garcia . Elio . Asian Cinema . 32 . 2 . 127–143 .
  25. Web site: Carl Theodor Dreyer . Filmref.com . 29 January 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120210233430/http://www.filmref.com/directors/dirpages/dreyer.html . 10 February 2012 . dmy-all .
  26. Web site: Hughes . Darren . Senses of Cinema: Bruno Dumont's Bodies . Archive.sensesofcinema.com . 29 January 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110423152950/http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/19/dumont_bodies.html . 23 April 2011 .
  27. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/56605/13-incredible-unbroken-takes-movies 13 Incredible Unbroken Takes in Movies|Mental Floss
  28. https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2003/great-directors/berlanga/ Berlanga, Luis García - Senses of Cinema
  29. Web site: How the Gravity-Defying 59-Minute 3D Take in 'Long Day's Journey Into Night' Was Shot . IndieWire.com . 15 October 2019 . 12 April 2019 .
  30. https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/16-incredible-long-takes 16 incredible long takes|BFI
  31. Frey . Mattias . Michael Haneke . Senses of Cinema . 29 January 2012.
  32. https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/16-incredible-long-takes 16 incredible long takes|BFI
  33. http://cinemaspace.berkeley.edu/Papers/CityOfSadness/slong.html Hou Hsiao-hsien: Long Take and Neorealism
  34. News: Derek Malcolm . Silent Witness . Film.guardian.co.uk . 14 August 2003. 29 January 2012 . London.
  35. Web site: Carvajal . Nelson . Bong Joon-ho: Living Images, Moving Frames . 2024-05-07 . . en.
  36. http://www.geekweek.com/2010/01/20-greatest-extended-takes-in-movie-history.html 20 Greatest Extended Takes In Movie History - GeekWeek
  37. News: Take it or leave it: the long shot . London . The Guardian . Anne . Billson . 15 September 2011.
  38. News: David Lean, Perfectionist of Madness . The New York Times . Terrence . Rafferty . 14 September 2008.
  39. http://sgnewwave.com/main/2008/04/sergio-leone-father-of-spaghetti-westerns Sergio Leone, Father of spaghetti westerns
  40. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-mar-22-ca-hunger22-story.html Steve McQueen's long shot in 'Hunger' is paying off
  41. https://www.businessinsider.com/qa-sam-mendes-on-making-1917-in-one-long-take-2019-12 Sam Mendes explains why he made the World War I epic '1917' — and chose to present it as one long take
  42. Hughes . Darren . Tsai Ming-Liang . Senses of Cinema . 29 January 2012.
  43. http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2016/the-12-best-directors-that-often-use-long-takes/2/ The 12 Best Directors That Often Use Long Takes - Taste of Cinema
  44. Web site: Camera Movement and the Long Take . Filmreference.com . 6 May 1902 . 29 January 2012.
  45. Web site: Focus on Play Director Ruben Östlund. 24 December 2013. European Parliament/LUX prize. 28 July 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190728224426/https://luxprize.eu/news/focus-play-director-ruben-%C3%B6stlund. dead.
  46. https://whitecitycinema.com/tag/david-lean/ Tag Archives: David Lean
  47. Web site: Fujiwara . Chris . Senses of Cinema: Otto Preminger . Archive.sensesofcinema.com . 29 January 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100303235335/http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/preminger.html . 3 March 2010 .
  48. https://web.archive.org/web/20051125132019/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3768/is_200301/ai_n9212973 Colliding with history in La Bete Humaine: Reading Renoir's Cinecriture
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  50. Book: Marcus, Millicent . After Fellini: National Cinema in the Postmodern Age . JHU Press . 2002 . 9780801868474 . 14 July 2020 .
  51. News: The Sixth Sense . Chicago Sun-Times . 6 August 1999.
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  53. Web site: Los años Sorogoyen. Letras Libres. Vicente. Molina Foix. 1 January 2020. Vicente Molina Foix.
  54. Web site: The Spielberg Oner – One Scene, One Shot . Tony Zhou . 9 September 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180810041742/https://vimeo.com/94628727 . 10 August 2018 . dead .
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  56. Web site: Strictly Film School: Béla Tarr . Filmref.com . 29 January 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120118040626/http://www.filmref.com/directors/dirpages/tarr.html . 18 January 2012 . dead . dmy-all .
  57. https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/16-incredible-long-takes 16 incredible long takes|BFI
  58. Web site: Rob Tregenza Interview . Cinemaparallel.com . 29 January 2012.
  59. Brunner . Vera . Phantoms of Liberty: Apichatpong Weerasethakul edited by James Quandt . Senses of Cinema . 29 January 2012.
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