A long take is a single, unbroken camera shot that lasts much longer than a typical shot. While the idea’s been around for a long time, it feels like it has extra impact in today’s world of hyper-editing and constant angle changes. Some examples below.
It feels almost cliché to be linking up an Ok Go video at this point, but ya gotta hand it to the band; They have really mastered the art of making “event” videos. Check out this amazing long take video featuring the Notre Dame marching band:
Film directors have long known the power of the long take (Daily Film Dose offers up this list of “The Greatest Long Tracking Shots in Cinema”). One of the best is this scene from “Goodfellas,” where Ray Liotta and Lorraine Bracco walk through the Copacabana.
More music video examples after the jump.
The studio version of that Ok Go song has a different video, also long take, featuring an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine. (Wired has an article on how it was done.)
Vampire Weekend shot this video all in one long take too:
The first video I ever remember seeing that was all one shot was Lisa Loeb’s “Stay” (directed by Ethan Hawke). I recall how much the pacing of this video stood out back in the day on MTV. (Young people: MTV actually played music videos once upon a time.)
Obviously these shots are all very elaborate in their own way. But shooting in one long take with a single camera is a good example of how you can selectively (i.e. in just certain areas, like editing or number of cameras) embrace constraints and/or underdo the competition. When you do, you’re forced to think creatively and often get a finished product that really stands out from the pack.
Matt Linderman wrote this on Mar 04 2010 There are 45 comments.
Anonymous Coward 04 Mar 10
The “OK Go – This too shall pass” has to be a long shot but they where performing a Rube Goldberg experiment.
If it wasn’t a long shot, people should think that it was simply editted to look like a domino effect that never really worked.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg
Aaron M. Renn 04 Mar 10
Russian Ark was like a two hour movie set in the Hermitage that was shot entirely in one take. Pretty amazing
Jake Boxer 04 Mar 10
Children of Men had some of the most incredible long-shot sequences of any movie I’ve ever seen:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children_of_Men#Single-shot_sequences
One of the final scenes is absolutely breathtaking. Wikipedia lists it at 454 seconds (7 minutes, 34 seconds). They also say that it wasn’t TRULY done in one take and used CGI effects to stitch it together, but if I can’t tell, I don’t care.
George Anderson 04 Mar 10
The Johnnie Walker ad is pretty impressive, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnSIp76CvUI
Aaron M 04 Mar 10
Another example is a fighting scene in “The Protector”. It’s about 6 minutes long: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXIGP6_fNZk
Pitchfork 04 Mar 10
Also “Gun Crazy”.
Doug 04 Mar 10
Don’t forget Lucas with the lid off by Michael Gondry
James 04 Mar 10
i think i remember that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind did similar takes as well.
Jim Carrey would do a wardrobe change while the camera spun around…
Vitali 04 Mar 10
The movie “Russkiy kovcheg” (Russian Ark) is a single 99 minute shot based in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Tagline from IMBD : “2000 Actors. 300 years of Russian History. 33 Rooms at the Hermitage Museum. 3 Live Orchestras. 1 Single Continuous Shot.”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318034/
Vitali 04 Mar 10
Oopps, better read though all the comments before posting next time :-)
Lee 04 Mar 10
Great post. Cronenberg is another master of the long take!
Martin 04 Mar 10
The first really long take I remember was in “Four rooms”. I was simply taken back in sheer amazement for how long it went on.
Jeremy 04 Mar 10
Also reminds me of Fischli Weiss: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4b-EF34Hgw
Daniel 04 Mar 10
When speaking of single-shot music videos, I’m can’t help but link to this: Kylie Minogue – Come into my world.
It’s not just one shot; it’s a recursively-looping single shot. Or something. Watch it.
To be clear: I don’t much care for the music, but the video really is awesome. And I think it’s by Michael Gondry too.
Lykle 04 Mar 10
I just cannot resist sharing this Long Take video that a bunch of Dutch acts put together last summer, celebrating a festival that they would be playing later that year: Het vliedende land.
Awesome how they change instruments during and between songs and really capture the essence of both the island they’re on and the songs they perform. The bands features are LPG , Audiotransparent, Awkward I and Kim Janssen.
Zack Grossbart 04 Mar 10
How can you talk about long takes without mentioning the Honda Cog</> add.
Daniel 04 Mar 10
(ignore this comment – just used it to close the open a-tag from Zack’s comment above. The formatting got messed up, so everything from Zack’s comment downward is a link to the Honda “Cog” video. Hopefully, this comment closes that open tag)
Brian Drought 04 Mar 10
Don’t forget the classic Massive Attack video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGYRvIOZfZ8
Tom 04 Mar 10
Another great one is from Robert Altman’s film The Player. The opening shot is a long take of 7min 47sec.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0epB5Z6ijpk
Peter J. Hart 04 Mar 10
Closing Time by Semisonic. Two parallel long shots that almost sync at the end, but not quite (of course it is about a guy barely missing the girl he is looking for).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGytDsqkQY8&feature=fvst
scooter 04 Mar 10
or the highway shot from Godard’s Weekend:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC9d9rxjuhg
Jose Espinal 04 Mar 10
Quentin Tarantino often uses long takes very well, an example of this would be Four Rooms, on the 4th room.
Daniel 04 Mar 10
Oh, and this one!: “C’était un Rendez-vous” (1976)
Shot on public streets (i.e. not closed roads, no special permits, all of it illegal) in the wee morning hours, with a camera mounted on the front of a Ferrari. It starts with the text “What about to see was made without cutting or speeding up the film” (if my translation from French is correct) and goes for 8 minutes 20 seconds or so, as the driver races through Paris just ahead of sunrise, to reach his rendez-vous.
Oh, and the timing at the end is impreccable!
justin h 04 Mar 10
Another great example is the opening shot of Orson Welles’ “Touch of Evil” (1958):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg8MqjoFvy4
Tom 04 Mar 10
Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rope” is another great example. In fact, he contrived to have the single camera blocked briefly (by the opening lid of a chest, for instance) so that almost all of the cuts in the movie are hidden. It was based on a play, which I’m sure is part of the inspiration, but it also heightens the tension.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope_%28film%29
Jeppe 04 Mar 10
Another great long-take music video: Crusify My Heart on YouTube.
Marcus Blankenship 04 Mar 10
I believe that the 90’s sitcom, “Mad About You”, did a single episode in 1 long take.
Here’s a link which discusses lots of the “Oners” through TV history: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheOner
Jarin Udom 04 Mar 10
One of my favorite long takes, from Children of Men:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en16i8BY4hI
Don Schenck 05 Mar 10
@George, above, beat me to it … but, yeah … the Johnnie Walker ad trumps all.
Now I’m thirsty!
EH 05 Mar 10
Most of these are in the “Daily Film Dose” article linked at the top of the post.
Mike Riley 05 Mar 10
Old Spice Commercial
I’m sure most people have seen this repeatedly, but not everyone realizes it’s a single take. The changing background is a somewhat odd departure from the other links being posted here, but the it is a pretty effective method despite the fact.
Chuck 05 Mar 10
I think there are some edits in the Ok Go video, but they’re done cleverly. The pan that points near the sun strikes me as one place to place a cut as does the extreme closeup of the drum major’s uniform.
Gardiner 05 Mar 10
Bittersweet Symphony video by the Verve.
Sean 05 Mar 10
I love the long take…the one in Children of Men is the ultimate, but the Goodfellas one is a classic too. Brian de Palma also does an awesome one at the beginning of Snake Eyes (the rest of the movie is fogettable)
Erin 05 Mar 10
There’s an incredible long shot in “Kill Bill, Vol. 1” during the “House of Blue Leaves” segment. What makes the shot so impressive is the camera angle fluidly changing from a ground-level view to an overhead one in a walled setting.
Paul 05 Mar 10
I really love Children of Men for the lonig shots. The car scene, the bombing in the beginning, the spoilers birth of the baby and the shoot out at the end. All incredible scenes! The first Blu-Ray I bought just to watch those scenes again. The fact that they are all one take really makes the film awesome.
Leo 05 Mar 10
@Paul the Children of Men long-shot is actually two shots spliced together. Take a look at the moment when the camera enters the building and goes towards the stairs. I remember reading this somewhere.
Jeremy 05 Mar 10
You should check this one out : Ludéal – Allez l’amour, it’s full of movie references.
nae 05 Mar 10
Here’s the long take segment from Kill Bill – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFCb-iYTSg0
Ben 05 Mar 10
Connected Venture’s lip dub:
http://vimeo.com/173714
Samuel 05 Mar 10
I must be getting old. No love for Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V? The tracking shot starts with the singing, at about 3:25, and continues to the seven minute mark.
Of course, for the ultimate in long takes, you have to give it to Timecode. The whole movie is shown as for shots in splitscreen, each one a continuous, 90 minute take, all of them happening concurrently.
Hrishi Mittal 06 Mar 10
Before Sunset has some nice long takes of the two actors walking around Paris:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GeCPHmHp4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOiKwTAjves
Kris 06 Mar 10
I have to give another shout-out to Children of Men. The scenes are built in such a way that the tension just continues to grow and grow until you almost can’t take it. It is the closest I have been to actually feeling like I was IN a movie. Especially the car scene. How the pulled it off is truly extraordinary filmmaking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A55xTYXMpI
Daniel 08 Mar 10
Just thought of another one, although it’s clearly not a “pure” single-shot: Ad for a Philips cinema-format TV (it’s a Flash-heavy microsite for the product, so you have to pick your language and video quality before you get to see anything, but it’s worth it).
It’s essentially “bullet-time” like in The Matrix but taken to an extreme. The entire scene is frozen, and the camera just glides through it in one long tracking shot. It’s pretty neat, but the neatness is admittedly more to do with special effects than with actual camerawork.
The Simple CRM Guy 08 Mar 10
ER was also famous for these, following patients from the ambulance all the way to the trauma room.
This discussion is closed.