Movies with very long continous shots
One of the most exciting shots in a film can come from a continuous, unedited, uncut single shot. A combination of storytelling, direction, prepardness, planning and technical expertise with special cameras, dollies, tracks, and steadicams to pull off an amazing one shot sequence.
Imagine how difficult it was back in the 40s and 50s when they were working with film reels that only lasted 10 minutes. In Afred Hitchock’s film The Rope from 1948, the entire movie was shot in ten minute intervals.
Each shot ran continuously for up to ten minutes (the camera’s film capacity) without interruption. It was shot on a single set, aside from the opening establishing shot street scene under the credits.
The camera moves were carefully planned and there was almost no editing. The cameraman was directed to focus in on the back jacket of a jacket or something at the end of the reel. The next reel was loaded and the camera would pull back from that point and enter the scene. Half the fun of watching the movie is knowing the technique and watching it occur through out the film.
Several recent films have used long tracking shots to great effect. One has to wonder if there is some kind of Olympics for directors trying to outdo each other with the longest tracking shots. Each time requiring more and more elaborate cranes, dolly set ups, robotics as well a visionary director.
For example the Children of Men, required this elaborate contraption to film a long shot in which the camera swings around INSIDE the interior of a car and the actors had to duck out of the way when it moved from the front seat to the back.
Imagine acting inside this crazy moving vehicle with a robotic camera flying around inside the car and drivers in the front and back to control the kinetic action all the while trying to remember your marks, lines and avoid getting hit in the head by the camera!
Movies With Long One Shot Sequences
Here are some notable movies that used long tracking shots.
The Rope (1948)
Inspired by a real-life murder case, Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope is a shocking spellbinder starring James Stewart. Two friends (Farley Granger and John Dall) strangle a classmate for intellectual thrills and then proceed to throw a party for the victim’s family and friends—with the body stuffed inside the trunk they use for a buffet table. As the killers turn the conversation to committing the “perfect murder,” their former teacher (Stewart) becomes increasingly suspicious that his students have turned his intellectual theories into brutal reality. Filmed in only nine different takes almost entirely on a single sound stage, the first color film from the Master of Suspense is a chilling look into the dark side of humanity.
Paths of Glory (1957)
A colonel defends three of his soldiers in a court-martial after they abandon a suicidal attack.
Touch of Evil (1958)
A Mexican official and his American wife are targeted in a Texas border town by the crime family he’s trying to put behind bars for drug trafficking, as his concern grows over the tactics of the local detective whose cooperation he needs.
Children of Men (2006) – The most famous part of Alfonso Cuarón’s last directed movie, “Children Of Men” (2006), is a 378-second long moving shot that follows the protagonist through an intricately coordinated war zone.
In a chaotic world in which women have somehow become infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.
Oldboy (2003)
Oh Dae-Su, an obnoxious drunk abducted on a rainy night in 1988, wakes up in a strange, windowless hotel room. Kept under lock and key for an unknown reason, Oh Dae-Su’s invisible captors keep him fed and systematically sedated to avert suicide, providing only a colour television to keep him company. And after fifteen long years in captivity, perplexed Oh Dae-Su finds himself released. Now, his pitiless abductors encourage Oh Dae-Su to track down the ones behind the mysterious kidnapping and finally get his brutal, longed-for revenge on the unknown tormentor.
1917 (2017)
As an infantry battalion assembles to wage war deep in enemy territory, two soldiers are assigned to race against time and deliver a message.
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
A washed-up actor who once played an iconic super-hero must overcome his ego and family trouble as he mounts a Broadway play in a bid to reclaim his past glory.
The entire film looks like it it was shot in one take.
The Shining (1980)
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter, where a sinister presence influences the father into violence. At the same time, his psychic son sees horrifying forebodings from both the past and the future.
Hard-boiled (1992)
A tough-as-nails cop teams up with an undercover agent to shut down a sinister mobster and his crew.
Creed (2015)
The former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Balboa serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed.
Boogie Nights (1997) – Boogie Nights opens with a long take steady cam shot.
An idealistic porn producer aspires to elevate his craft to an art when he discovers a hot young talent.
Gravity (2013) – opens with a 17-minute one take.
Dr Ryan Stone, an engineer on her first space mission, and Matt Kowalski, an astronaut on his final expedition, have to survive in space after they are hit by debris while spacewalking.
Spectre – The opening scene of Spectre follows James Bond (Daniel Craig) as he climbs through a window in Mexico City to chase a villain. The scene was designed to look like one continuous shot for the first five minutes.