Long Takes - Unbroken, Unedited, Uninterrupted

In a movie, shots which are of greater duration than the average shots are called lengthy shots or long takes. In order to understand what a long take is, first we have to know the difference between a long take and a long shot. A long shot is the apparent distance between the camera and the object. It is a distanced framing. A long shot can also be known as a wide shot. On the other hand, a long take is an uninterrupted shot in a movie which lasts longer than the average shots. It is the boldest way of making a statement and also a very daring step that a filmmaker can take.

Long takes are actually dependent completely on the camera movements. A long take is a magic of how the camera works, it includes all the basic camera movements such as panning, tilting, zooming, tracking and craning. It is very important to show camera movement in long takes because this keeps the audience focused and attentive throughout the scene. A long take with no camera movement will make the audience jaded and it will make the scene worn out.

The earlier films didn’t have any editing techniques therefore the filmmakers had to use long takes in their films. Later, editing was introduced in films by D.W. Griffith and the use of long takes was limited to a comparatively less number of films. In Mexico, this technique of long takes is very popular among established filmmakers and is known as plano sequencia.

A long take can include a single shot in a scene, an entire scene or it can also be an entire movie. This can be seen in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rope”, which he shot in a series of long shots of 8 to 10 minutes which were put together by flawless cutting and were made to look like a single shot. The film worked out well and it was not a difficulty to shoot it because it was shot in only one room with little camera movement. It was an 80 minutes film with little lighting changes. It had seven cuts which were hidden very efficiently. The camera movements were planned and this film was known to be Hitchcock’s most experimental work ever.

A long take with camera movements is very difficult to achieve because when the camera moves the focus and lighting changes. Everything in a long shot is planned – the actor’s movements, dialogues are well rehearsed, props and background is well managed. If a small mistake takes place, the entire scene has to be shot again and this takes a lot of money, patience and also courage. It is a very challenging and time consuming process. The reason why filmmakers take this risk of filming their films in long takes is to take advantage of realtime.