# One Take/One Camera Scenes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 27, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-take-one-camera-scenes/753279 "2016-04-27T21:26:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2018, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-take-one-camera-scenes/753279/81 "2018-12-19T13:47:57Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > I’m surprised no one has mentioned the opening shot of Brian DePalma’s _Bonfire of the Vanities_, which is almost five minutes long. [Here it is](https://youtu.be/luui7KGzciY), and [here are some notes](http://www.steadishots.org/shots_detail.cfm?shotID=12) from the Steadicam operator who filmed it. Sorry, I posted late last night from my tablet, and couldn’t tell that that link to the BOTV shot was so low-res. Here’s a [much better version](https://youtu.be/Cl0CLylc6cU). ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-take-one-camera-scenes/753279/82 "2018-12-19T13:54:43Z")
One of Jim Jarmusch’s films–it might have been STRANGER THAN PARADISE–is three or four extended shots. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2018, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-take-one-camera-scenes/753279/83 "2018-12-19T15:32:16Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > In regards the famous Goodfellas shot through the club (already referenced): I heard it was called the Scorecese Stroll, and that it’s a fixture in his movies. I remember an impressive one-take shot of the activity on the Atlantic City boardwalk in _Boardwalk Empire_ (I think in the pilot) which Scorcese directed which reminded me of this. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2018, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-take-one-camera-scenes/753279/84 "2018-12-19T16:03:48Z")
CineFix has [covered this topic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLFHdagIw6o), and I think that they have revisited it more recently. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2018, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-take-one-camera-scenes/753279/85 "2018-12-19T18:43:30Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Big bump because there is a new movie screening now that ups the “one take” game to a new level. I am going to spoiler-box it, but I do not think the knowledge of the spoiler would ruin the movie, though I guess you might disagree. Worth it to make the movie one to seek out: > > One Cut of the Dead Had never heard of this before but thanks to your mention watched it last night. After finishing I had to go back and immediately re-watch the first part with a totally different perspective. Brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-take-one-camera-scenes/753279/86 "2018-12-19T18:59:51Z")
If we are listing music videos, you can’t miss [_Sentimental Journey_ by Yuki](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy7YkF5kvKM). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2018, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-take-one-camera-scenes/753279/87 "2018-12-19T19:07:22Z")
I just stumbled across this recently: an analysis of how [Stephen Spielberg uses one-take shots](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q4X2vDRfRk). There are a surprising amount of them, though they are relatively short and don’t call attention to themselves. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-take-one-camera-scenes/753279/88 "2018-12-20T00:44:53Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > The famous opening sequence to [A Touch of Evil’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8AXd1ayxrg) I read this was Orson Wells’ ‘fuck you’ to those who complained about his elaborate and over budget scenes. He took weeks to set it up, had many, many rehearsals and scared the hell out of studio execs. Then shot it all in one take, saving tons of money. Recognising that this a somewhat old post, I may as well still straighten out the story here. The anecdote doesn’t concern the famous opening shot in _Touch of Evil_. No, because there’s another spectacular unbroken sequence in the film _that nobody ever notices_. It’s during the scene when Quinlan (Welles) and his policemen search the suspect’s apartment. Not really as elaborate as the opening, since it’s done on an inside set and the camera just largely linearly tracks back and forth from right to left, without any vertical movement. But it is long and required a set where they could move walls on the fly during the shot to allow the camera to pass. He did the scene as the first day’s shot. Now by this stage he’s only got the job because Charlton Heston has insisted on him as the director. He’s got the vast reputation in Hollywood as the unreliable genius. So the execs are nervous and insist on regular reports from the set from a spy to see whether the reputation is true. So the spy spends the day phoning up that _nothing_ has been shot. Disaster looms. Then, right at the end of the day, the report switches to “he’s just shot [however many minutes]!” In terms of the discussion of the purpose of such shots, this is a nice example of the seamlessness serving a narrative purpose. At some point we see a bathroom cabinet (?) that’s innocent, only for someone to discover some incriminating dynamite in the same a couple of minutes later. Evidence that has to have been planted _during the shot_, which narrows down who’s tampering with the scene. Which is one of the major plot points. Almost nobody will notice this without it being pointed out to them, but it plays utterly fair. Not mentioned in the thread so far is [the shot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke2CFuLQ6t8) at the end of Antonioni’s _The Passenger_. Very much a head-scratcher on first viewing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-take-one-camera-scenes/753279.md?page=4)