Long take

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.

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".

At least two theatrically-released feature films, "Timecode" and "Russian Ark" are filmed in one single take; others are composed entirely from a series of long takes, while many more may be well-known for one or two specific long takes within otherwise more conventionally edited films.

When filming "Rope" (1948), Alfred Hitchcock intended for the film to have the effect of one long continuous take, but the cameras available could hold no more than 1000 feet of 35 mm film. As a result, each take used up to a whole roll of film and lasts as much as 10 minutes. Many takes end with a zoom in to a featureless surface (such as the back of a character's jacket); with the following take beginning at the same point by zooming out. The complete film consists of only eight cuts.Fact|date=May 2008

equence shot

A sequence shot involves both a long take and sophisticated camera movement; it is sometimes called by the French term "plan-séquence". The use of the sequence shot allows for realistic and dramatically significant background and middle ground activity. Actors range about the set transacting their business while the camera shifts focus from one plane of depth to another and back again. Significant off-frame action is often followed with a moving camera, characteristically through a series of pans within a single continuous shot.

Average shot length

Films can be quantitatively analyzed using the "ASL" (average shot length), a statistical measurement which divides the total length of the film by the number of shots. For example, Bela Tarr's film "Werckmeister Harmonies" is 149 minutes long, and made up of 39 shots. [http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070908/REVIEWS08/70909001/1023 RogerEbert.com : Great Movies: Werckmeister Harmonies] ] Thus its ASL is 223.7 seconds.

The ASL is a relatively recent metric, devised by film scholar Barry Salt in the 1970s as a method of statistically analyzing the editorial patterns both within films and across groupings of them. Noted practitioners of ASL studies include David Bordwell and Yuri Tsivian. Tsivian used the ASL as a tool for analysis of D. W. Griffith's "Intolerance" (ASL 5.9 seconds) in a 2005 article. [Yuri Tsivian, in "The Griffith Project: Vol. 9: Films Produced in 1916-1918", Paolo Cherchi Usai (ed.), text at [http://www.cinemetrics.lv/tsivian.php Cinemetrics] .] Tsivian helped launch a website called [http://www.cinemetrics.lv Cinemetrics] , where visitors can measure, record, and read ASL statistics.

Directors known for long takes

*Chantal Akerman [ [http://www.filmref.com/directors/dirpages/akerman.html Chantal Akerman ] ]
*Robert Altmancite news
first=Jake
last=Coyle
title='Atonement' brings the long tracking shot back into focus
url=http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2007/12/29/atonement_brings_the_long_tracking_shot_back_into_focus/?page=1
publisher=Boston Globe
date=2007-12-29
accessdate=2007-12-29 ]
*Paul Thomas Anderson
*Michelangelo Antonioni
*Alfonso Cuaron
*Brian DePalma
*Carl Theodor Dreyer [ [http://www.filmref.com/directors/dirpages/dreyer.html Carl Theodor Dreyer ] ] in his sound films
*Bruno Dumont [ [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/19/dumont_bodies.html Senses of Cinema: Bruno Dumont's Bodies] ]
*Michael Haneke [ [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/haneke.html Senses of Cinema: Michael Haneke] ]
*Hou Hsiao-Hsien [ [http://cinemaspace.berkeley.edu/Papers/CityOfSadness/slong.html Hou Hsiao-Hsien: Long Take and Neorealism] ]
*Miklos Jancso [ [http://film.guardian.co.uk/filmedinburgh2003/story/0,,1018635,00.html Silent Witness] ]
*Jia Zhangke [ [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/jia.html Senses of Cinema: Jia Zhangke] ]
*Mikhail Kalatozov
*Max Ophüls [ [http://www.filmreference.com/encyclopedia/Academy-Awards-Crime-Films/Camera-Movement-CAMERA-MOVEMENT-AND-THE-LONG-TAKE.html Camera Movement and the Long Take] ]
*Jean Renoir [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3768/is_200301/ai_n9212973 Colliding with history in La Bete Humaine: Reading Renoir's Cinecriture] ]
*Jacques Rivette [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/04/movies/04lim.html?pagewanted=print An Elusive All-Day Film and the Bug-Eyed Few Who Have Seen It] ]
*Martin Scorsese
*Andrei Tarkovsky [ [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/02/tarkovsky.html Senses of Cinema: Andrei Tarkovsky] ]
*Béla Tarr [ [http://www.filmref.com/directors/dirpages/tarr.html Strictly Film School: Béla Tarr] ]
*Rob Tregenza [ [http://www.cinemaparallel.com/interview.tregenza.html Rob Tregenza Interview] ]
*Tsai Ming-Liang [ [http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/tsai.html Senses of Cinema: Tsai Ming-Liang] ]
*Orson Welles
*Joe Wright

ee also

*Slow cutting

Notes

References

* "A History of Narrative Film" by David Cook (ISBN 0-393-97868-0)

External links

* [http://20bits.com/2007/03/19/examples-of-the-long-take/ Six Examples of the Long Take (w/ video)]
* [http://www.cinemetrics.lv Cinemetrics - a statistical analysis of shot length]
* [http://listverse.com/entertainment/top-15-amazing-long-takes/ Top 15 Long Takes at List Universe]
* [http://dailyfilmdose.blogspot.com/2007/05/long-take.html 25 Great Long Takes at Daily Film Dose]