Long take
From Free net encyclopedia
A long take is an uninterrupted shot in a film which lasts much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general, usually lasting several minutes. It can be used for dramatic and narrative effect if done properly, and in moving shots is often accomplished through the use of a dolly or Steadicam. Some films, like Rope, Russian Ark, Before Sunset, Elephant, and Irréversible are composed entirely of long takes, while others like Goodfellas, Boogie Nights, Touch of Evil, The Player are well-known for a specific long take or two within otherwise more conventionally edited films.
The term "long take" is used because it avoids the ambiguous meanings of "long shot", which can refer to the framing of a shot, and "long cut", which can refer to either a whole version of a film or the general editing pacing of the film. However, these two terms are sometimes used interchangeably with "long take".
Films & TV with Noted Long Takes
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Bande à part (the famous quirky dance shot)
- Before Sunset
- The Bonfire of the Vanities
- Boogie Nights - From the outside to the inside of the disco, approximately 3 minutes.
- Breaking News - opening shot is approx 7 mins long
- "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" - Joss Whedon's productions of "Buffy," "Angel," and "Firefly" often included long takes, often discussed in DVD director commentaries
- La Captive
- Chelsea Girls
- City of Hope
- Code Unknown
- Damnation
- Elephant
- Empire
- Funny Games
- Gerry
- Gertrud
- Goodbye, Dragon Inn
- Goodfellas
- Hard Boiled
- Husbands and Wives
- I Am Cuba
- Irréversible
- Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
- Kadosh
- The Life of Oharu
- Magnolia
- The Mirror
- Platform
- The Player - The opening shot is roughly 7 minutes long with numerous characters talking about famous "long shots" in film history.
- Professione: reporter (The Passenger)
- Rear Window
- Rope - Consists of only 10 shots, the edits between half of which are hidden, sometimes making two shots look continuous to the untrained eye.
- Russian Ark - Consists of one single shot, with the use of digital cameras.
- Satantango
- Serenity - The shot near the beginning of the movie introducing the audience to the main characters over the main titles lasts roughly four and a half minutes
- Sleep
- Snake Eyes - The shot at the beginning is seemingly 15 minutes long, though it contains edits hidden in its numerous whip pans.
- Songs from the Second Floor
- Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith - The opening shot is 76 seconds of computer graphics of the battle, and is over 2 1/2 minutes if we include the beginning text crawl.
- Sunrise
- Taste of Cherry
- Tenebrae
- The Third Man
- Through the Olive Trees
- Time Code
- Touch of Evil
- Ulysses's Gaze
- Under Capricorn
- War of the Worlds - The car shot during the family's escape is 2 1/2 minutes long, in which the camera travels in and out and around the vehicle (assisted by visual effects).
- Wavelength
- Week End
- The West Wing
- "The X-Files", episode "Triangle" - Filmed in four takes, of eleven minutes each
- Yi-Yi
Directors Known for Long(er) Takes
- Chantal Akerman
- Woody Allen
- Robert Altman
- Paul Thomas Anderson
- Theo Angelopoulos
- Michelangelo Antonioni
- Brian De Palma
- Federico Fellini
- Michel Gondry
- Miklós Jancsó
- Abbas Kiarostami
- Stanley Kubrick
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Martin Scorsese
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Béla Tarr
- Tsai Ming-liang
- Gus Van Sant
- Andy Warhol
- Joss Whedon
- Robert Zemeckis