While in theory long takes may seem like quite an easy thing to accomplish and they allow you to shoot rolling scenic shots and track a character’s movements, they are in fact far more complicated than you would think and take an awful lot of planning and rehearsals to get them right. Long takes have no specific required length and truly have few limitations in regard to what is included in them. Many directors have attempted to create these long takes, so below is a list of 8 of the best long takes.
1.The Tricycle ride from The Shining - Stanley Kubrick
This may not be the longest long take in cinema history, but it certainly is worth mentioning, the scene comprises of the little boy Danny cycling up and down different hallways on his tricycle while the camera follows behind him. This camera movement, combined with the music in the background, creates and atmosphere full of suspense with quite ominous undertones.
2. The Bomb Sequence from Touch Of Evil - Orson Welles
The opening scene to Orson Welles 1958 film Touch of Evil is considered one of the most famous long takes of all time consisting of just over three minutes of a continues shot. In the opening to this scene, we witness someone placing a bomb in the boot of a car and watch as the owners of the car get inside and begin to drive away. The car does not blow up straight away and we witness the sequence from the moment the bomb is placed inside the car. The suspense of waiting for the explosion has the viewers on the edge of their seat.
3. The Boxing Match from Creed - Ryan Cooglers
An entire two round boxing match was filmed in one take in Ryan Coogler’s 2015 film Creed. The camera continually tracks the action inside the boxing ring, capturing the movements and emotions of each boxer perfectly, completely drawing in the viewer, and fully immersing them in the scene. The fluid constant movement of the camera, along with both actors’ performances delivers a very interesting scene.
4.The Stairwell Scene from Atomic Blonde - David Leitch
One of the best action long shots in recent times comes from David Leitch’s 2017 film Atomic Blonde, which has an incredible 8 minute action scene held in the a stairwell and was shot almost entirely in one take. This long take as with many long takes took much planning and was a big risk as for the most part, the full 8 minuts is action packed and full of complex camera work and it is clear that David Leitch put much thought into all the aspects of this scene.
5. The Beach Scene from Atonement - Joe Wright
This is a five-minute tracking shot in Joe Wrights 2007 film Atonement which follows the main character Robbie Turner as he makes his way along the beach at Dunkirk surrounded by hundreds of other soldiers, burning vehicles, shipwrecked boats and damaged buildings. This scene took days of planning and preparations along with a thousand extras a number of horses and a variety of vehicles.
6. All of 1917 - Sam Mendes
1917 is one of the most recent films on this list. Although a large portion of this film appears to be one continuous shot it is in fact comprised of several shorter long takes, this fact should not take away from the excellent camera work that was behind some of the more memorable scenes from Sam Mendes’ film. Even in the most basic of shots where the main character is simply walking through the camp Sam Mendes has found a way to keep the viewers eyes trained on the screen and their attention engaged.
7./8. Alfonso Cuarón’s films Gravity and Children of Men.
It is clear that Alfonso Cuarón has a great appreciation for long takes as he has included them in both Gravity and Children of Men along with many other films he has directed. Both these films have incredible long takes with Gravity opening with a 17-minute unbroken shot. Similarly, in his 2006 film Children of Men there are 154 long takes ranging in length from 22 seconds all the way up to 378 seconds. Cuarón created fantastic atmosphere and build up in his 2013 film Gravity this film also has some fantastic camera work really giving the illusion that we too are in space with the camera moving fluidly with almost a weightless look to it.
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