Notable Use of the Long Take in Motion Pictures
by Jeffrey Sward
 

Long Take Definition

A long take is continuous shot in a motion picture with no cuts, photographed from a single camera. Generally long shots run several minutes. In order to accommodate changing scenery or moving actors, the camera is often on a dolly or studio crane. The steadicam is often used in long takes after its invention in the 1970s.

Long takes are rare because of their relatively high expense and complexity. Long takes require extensive technical coordination among the camera operators, lighting technicians, and actors. Long takes are also unforgiving of mistakes, requiring a retake from the beginning. The time involved in extensive planning, coordination, and retakes is costly in labor dollars. Culturally the population has become accustomed to cuts in motion pictures, so there are no continuity reasons for long takes. However, when done well, the long take is often an object of beauty as well as cinematic craftsmanship. The long take is the director's and cinematographer's éclat, raison d'être, tour de force, sine qua non, and ipso facto.

The term "long shot" is often used to mean "long take." More often "long shot" refers to a scene where camera is positioned to take in a large area, such as the actors included with their surroundings.

The term "long cut" is often used to mean "long take." More often "long cut" refers to the longest version of a motion picture containing the fewest cuts.

Using "long shot" or "long cut" to mean "long take" often creates confusion. The plan is working.

Examples of Motion Pictures with Long Takes

 
Motion Picture Director
Notes
Best Years of Our Lives, The (1946) William Wyler
 
Breathless (1960) (A Bout de Souffle) Jean-Luc Godard
 
Gang's All Here, The (1943) Busby Berkeley

The first half of the opening musical number "Brazil" starting with the singing head and ending with a cut during Carmen Miranda's song. There may be a seamless matte transition between the roped cargo and the fruit stack, but the effect is one continuous long take. Even with the transition, the first half of the "Brazil" musical number would be a seamless concatenation of two long takes.

The second half of the "Brazil" musical number after the cut during the Carmen Miranda song is also a long take. This second long take is incredibly ingenious. The second long take includes pans in and out and an imaginative sequence of successive chorine heads with percussion instruments.

Royal Wedding (1951) Stanley Donen
The sequence which involves Fred Astaire dancing on the floor, walls, and ceiling of a square room is a long shot. The room set was attached to a large mechanism which allowed the entire room to be rotated 360 degrees. The camera was bolted to the floor of the room. As the scene progresses, the room-camera apparatus is rotated. Since the camera is bolted to the floor, the point of the view does not change. As the room-camera apparatus is rotated, the floor, then one wall, then the ceiling, then the next wall, then the floor each become oriented parallel to the ground in succession. As each surface becomes parallel to the ground, gravity then allows Fred Astaire to dance on the surface currently horizontal. Since the camera is always viewing the scene from the viewpoint of the floor, Fred Astaire appears to be defying gravity, when in reality he is using gravity. Since gravity always pulls things downward, note the direction Fred Astair's pant cuff shift as the room-camera apparatus moves. A long shot was necessary for this sequence for a variety of reasons, two of which are (a) cuts would make the scene less convincing and (b) it would be very difficult to interrupt the sequence and restart mid-point.
Goodfellas (1990) Martin Scorsese
 
Gun Crazy (1949) Joseph Lewis
The bank hold-up scene is shot in one long take entirely from a camera mounted in the back seat of a car, operated by a dwarf. Much of the action and dialogue was improvised. Some residents of the town believed a real hold-up was in progress.
Lady Be Good (1941) Norman McLeod with dance numbers directed by Busby Berkeley
Most of the incredible "Fascinatin' Rhythm" musical tap dance number is a single long take. Eleanor Powell tap dances between various moving pianos, curtains, and moving stages on rollers. This sequence was filmed in a very large sound stage with a single camera on a very mobile crane. The camera was in constant motion. Several moving stages on wheels pushed by stage hands were in constant motion as were various moving curtains. Eleanor Powell does an incredible job jumping from one moving stage to another, dodging moving curtains, while continuously tap dancing! This is perhaps the most technically complex long shot in motion picture history. There is documentary footage of the shot being made, taken by a second camera in a far corner of the sound stage. This sequence and dance number was directed by Busby Berkeley.
Player, The (1992) Robert Altman
Dialogue identifies long take shot in progress in the studio lot.
Rope (1948) Alfred Hitchcock
Entire picture a series of interwoven long takes. However, an occasional cut is made.
Touch of Evil (1958) Orson Wells
Long take opens picture including running under the opening credits. This is perhaps the best known long take in motion picture history.
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) Frank Tashlin
 
 
 

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