The Long Take
The Long Take is a tool that a filmmaker can use to help develop the narrative of a movie. There are a few different reasons why a filmmaker might use a long take:
- Establish a Setting: There are two reasons that a filmmaker might do this:
- Allows the audience to see everything that's going on in a setting, and it works to make the audience feel as if they are in the film.
- Example: Boogie Nights - Opening Scene
- By minimizing the cuts in a scene you're able to highlight the action in a fight scene.
- Example: Old Boy - 25:1 Fight Scene
- Establish a Character: When a filmmaker puts the audience in the perspective of the character, it allows the viewer to feel like the subject and understand their state of mind.
- Example: Goodfellas - Copacabana Scene
- Establish the Plot: This allows the audience to see the different actions and events of the plot develop in one take. It can also be used to build suspense in a scene.
- Example: Touch of Evil - Opening Scene
This is not an exhaustive list, but if you want to find more you can check out this list. Also, there are a few 'one' shot movies: Rope (1948), 1917 (2019), and Birdman (2014). While they are not actually one shot, they use different techniques to hide the cut.
You can see an example of a hidden cut in this clip from Rope and this clip from 1917.