Best "Long Take" shots in film

ikr

he actually makes the camera fly in that one-hour take!

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

Almost a spiritual experience watching that 45 minute take. Unbelievable. One of the best young directors around. 31 years old!

Let's see what he does next time. It's gonna be pretty hard to surpass what he did before. He can only do it by introducing metaphysics or deep humanism.

12 Years a Slave 's long hanging scene was a pain to watch.

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Well he's already surpassed his own greatness once.

Here's another nicely done long take (4+ minutes) from the beginning of Spectre:

I've always admired this rather impressive crane shot during the French Commando attack in The Longest Day (1962).

(begins at 0:49)

Yeah, that's a good one-- especially in 1962. It took a lot of coordination and timing for the explosions and large cast of soldiers.

I always wonder in these types of shots whether they got lucky and got it in one take, or if they had to shoot it several times. I like seeing "the making of" videos or reading about productions.

Did some interesting research on it. Apparently it was filmed by helicopter and took quite a few attempts:

"An impressive helicopter shot (filmed by Ken Annakin on the eighth take, when all other directors had failed) captured the French Commandos from Sword rushing the waterfront of Ouistreham to take a heavily fortified hotel and casino..."

The one that most immediately comes to mind is the beginning of the birdcage. I'm sure there is a lot of movie magic involved, but to go from a long shot of the ocean to inside of a club, then to backstage is quite impressive.

VERY nice. The transfer from coming off the ocean to streetside, then into the club is very clever. And this before drones!

Just re-watched this great movie & was gonna post about the penultimate single shot take. Yes, the bars in the window were moveable.

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What is a "long take"? What are the bare minimum requirements? I suppose there is no maximum as we have films that are actual or simulated "oners," but what are the bare requirements for being in the conversation?



I think too many filmmakers attempt go for the "longest" oner in an attempt to one-up other directors, but that's pointless unless the length of the shot has a point which is contextually relevant. In short, there is a minimum length, but longer is not necessarily "better," right?

Ya beat me to it

You and your "serve the story" again. Films are so much more than just the story.

Film is an art form. And when you replace the living body of film with the digital zeroes and ones and then replace artistic bravado with serving the story, you get another boring movie. Unless you're one of the masters, of course, which you probably aren't.

I'd say anything above 1 minute is a long take. But I'd take them seriously when they're over 3 minutes long.

Perhaps you have a different definition of "story" than I?

That sounds about right. And when you think about it, one minute on the screen can be a pretty long time given the frenetic cutting we're used to.

The final long scene in Nostalghia from Tarkovsky is very well done

Giving an actual time in minutes would be tricky, since the long take is sometimes only "long" in contrast to the rest of the film. It's probably one of those things that "you know it when you see it".

And minimal long takes may not be that noteworthy. All the ones cited above are really impressive long takes.


FWIW here's a quote from backstage.com:

Long Take: a Definition A long take is a single shot with a much longer duration than the conventional editing pace of a movie; long takes can last several minutes and may also incorporate movement of the camera via dolly or otherwise. Sometimes known as a "oner," a long take is designed to appear to viewers as a single, uninterrupted take.

If it is longer than the average length shot, then we know it must be at least longer than what is presently the average length shot.



We can quibble, but I don't think that this one is a deep mystery and that we can safely say that a oner must be, at least, a minute long.