The Long Take

The 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. Long takes of a sequence filmed in one shot without any editing are rare in films" 1

The long take is something that really interests me as a film-maker, it's not something I've ever done before and I'm very keen to try it. Although it probably won't be anywhere near as impressive as some of the more well known examples of it.

One of the most famous uses of this is the opening scene of Touch of Evil by Orson Welles:

It's an amazing shot both technically and dramatically which ends with the explosion of the car.

Another great example is the corridor fight scene from OldBoy. Traditionally fight scenes involve a lot of different shots and quick editing. So it's really interesting to see it done in this way:

There's a great blog post with several more examples of the long take: Here

It's fascinating to see how different film-makers have used long shots. Alfred Hitchcock wanted to make his 1948 film Rope entirely in one continuous shot but due to the limits of how much film a camera could hold he was limited to 10 minutes at a time. The final film is made up of 11 shots that are cleverly edited together into one seamless take.

Snake Eyes is a great example of invisible cuts. The first 20 minutes of the film appears as one take, but there are 8 cuts clever hidden throughout. This is another aspect of long takes that I am keen to try.

Perhaps with a lot of practice with my steadycam and a dolly-track I could come up something half decent. We'll see.