# A full-length movie that was shot in one continuous shot?! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2002, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874 "2002-12-15T10:11:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/21 "2002-12-16T09:18:22Z")
Since we’re talking music vids, **Tom Petty** ’s _You Don’t Know how it Feels_ ---
**Author:** ![Gerome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Gerome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerome)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/22 "2002-12-16T11:17:18Z")
Off the top of my head, music videos involving a single shot: Massive Attack - Protection, Unfinished Sympathy Eskimo Joe - Liar I could probably think of a lot more, but it’s been a while since I went through my tapes. ---
**Author:** ![Tomcat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Tomcat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tomcat)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/23 "2002-12-16T12:08:14Z")
There was a continuous music vid by **Primus** (Mr. Krinkle?) that was really neat! The lead singer/basist was dressed as a pig and behind him a continuous line of circus performers walked by, and then circled in the background. Jugglers, fire-breathers, acrobats, etc. It was one of the coolest videos I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Gerome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Gerome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerome)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/24 "2002-12-16T12:14:13Z")
Another music vid I just thought of: Flaming Lips - Do You Realise I’ll keep an eye out for the Primus one… ---
**Author:** ![gex\_gex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@gex\_gex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gex_gex)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/25 "2002-12-16T13:52:28Z")
Was the Verve’s _Bittersweet Symphony_ one shot? You know, the one with Richard Ashcroft walking down the street bumping into everyone? ---
**Author:** ![dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorkusmalorkusmafia/32/7266_2.png) [@dorkusmalorkusmafia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorkusmalorkusmafia)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/26 "2002-12-16T15:57:09Z")
I believe Warhol also had Sleep which was roughly 8 hours of a guy sleeping all in one shot. There is no way I could watch that though so I can’t verify it. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2002, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/27 "2002-12-16T16:23:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jovan \* > \*\* > For something a little different, how about _Empire_, one single 8 hour-long shot of the Empire State Building, by Warhol. There was also the 35 min _Blowjob_ and the 45 min _Eat_. \*\* I thought the film was about a 30 second loop in the projector. AW just started it and let it run till people left. (I personally think AW just wanted to screw with people’s heads) ---
**Author:** ![Gerome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Gerome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gerome)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/28 "2002-12-17T04:45:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gex gex \* > \*\*Was the Verve’s _Bittersweet Symphony_ one shot? You know, the one with Richard Ashcroft walking down the street bumping into everyone? \*\* Wasn’t one shot. Was one scene, but not one shot - they cut away to shots of faces, and a lot of Ashcroft’s feet. Still a good vid tho, one of my faves. ---
**Author:** ![Vanyel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@Vanyel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vanyel)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/29 "2002-12-17T05:09:42Z")
Cool, looks like Russian Ark is coming to the Cleveland Cinematheque February 14. Maybe I’ll go see it. ---
**Author:** ![Flowerchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/858c86/32.png) [@Flowerchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flowerchild)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/30 "2002-12-17T05:40:49Z")
According to the Hitchcock Doc. I have on tape, "Rope " was filmed in 12 continuous shots, Their exact words. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/31 "2002-12-17T05:47:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zebra \* > \*\*I thought the film was about a 30 second loop in the projector. AW just started it and let it run till people left. > > (I personally think AW just wanted to screw with people’s heads) \*\* No, no, it really was 8 hours of the Empire State Building. The movie was shot at 24 fps and played back at 16 fps. There is stuff happening, e.g. it gets dark, the city lights come on, etc. You can see the blinking clock of the Metropolitan Life Assurance Tower, which allows you to tell what time it is. And don’t get too excited about _Blowjob_, it’s just a static shot of a man’s face (while he’s supposedly receiving one, though.) ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/32 "2002-12-17T10:41:50Z")
The new(ish) Kylie Minogue video _appears_ to be one continuous shot, though it is obvious that there is some serious special effects happening, it is not easy to see where/how they happen. ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/33 "2002-12-17T19:11:23Z")
Weezer’s "Undone (The Sweater Song) has a one-shot video, directed by Spike Jonze of “Weapon of Choice” and “Sabotage” fame. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/34 "2002-12-17T19:26:35Z")
For the oldest continuos shot music video I can remember, how about John Fogerty’s “The Old Man is Down the Road” where the camera follows his guitar cable around the woods and streets. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/35 "2002-12-17T22:15:34Z")
I don’t know if it quite qualifies, but the television adaptation of Marsha Norman’s play **'Night, Mother** was filmed in such a way that it looks (most of the time) like someone was filming the play. It doesn’t have the continuous tracking shots of **Rope** , but it’s in the neighborhood. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/36 "2002-12-17T22:58:34Z")
Another music video: Bruce Springsteen, “Tunnel of Love” (IIRC), just him sitting in a kitchen with a guitar. Really striking the first time you see it. Dull as pudding the third or fourth time you have to sit through it. To send this discussion off track slightly, how about the first twenty minutes of Brian De Palma’s _Snake Eyes_? It’s not a very good movie, so don’t feel bad if you missed it, but he designed a handful of angles and takes that would glue together and form the illusion of a single continuous take for the first act of the film. It’s a pretty neat trick, and serves to hide, at least for a while, how vapid the story is. De Palma loves this stuff. The first five or six minutes of _Femme Fatale_ is a single unbroken take, also. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/37 "2002-12-17T23:03:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TridCloudwalker \* > \*\*Though not all one continuous take it’s pretty damn close. My Dinner With Andre. I believe they had three or four cameras filming at once. I am unsure how many takes they did themovie in, but with the exception of bookending streetshots, the entire movie takes place at one table in a resteraunt. \*\* You’re forgetting the ending, with Wallace Shawn in the taxicab travelling through the city, and narrating in voiceover. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/38 "2002-12-17T23:05:36Z")
At least at one point, Alfred Hitchcock’s _Rope_ doesn’t even pretend to be one continuous shot: when the maid announces that the dinner is ready, the film cuts from a group shot of the guests to a closeup of her. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2002, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/39 "2002-12-17T23:35:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TVGuy \* > \*\*From the trailer link that **Muad’Dib** posted, this also appears to be the longest film ever made in one shot and one take with not a single word of dialogue 😃 \*\* In my experience, no dialogue in the trailer just means it’s subtitled, and they don’t want to scare people away with a foreign film. Although if you’re seeing the trailer anyway, you’re probably not the kind of person who would care. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874/40 "2002-12-18T00:29:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > At least at one point, Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope doesn’t even pretend to be one continuous shot As I remember _Rope_ from the last time I saw it, it’s a mix of “trick” cuts where Hitchcock is disguising the join and about 4 explicit cuts. The oddity in watching it, at least for the first time, is that the myth of it being seemless is _extremely_ strong: you really don’t want to believe that there are obvious edits and you’re not terribly sure that there are jumps, even when you’ve seen them. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SmackFu \* > In my experience, no dialogue in the trailer just means it’s subtitled, and they don’t want to scare people away with a foreign film. This always seemed to be a distinctly Miramax ploy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-full-length-movie-that-was-shot-in-one-continuous-shot/142874.md?page=1)