MovieChat Forums > The Thing from Another World (1951) Discussion > Extended Scenes = Directorial Excellence

Extended Scenes = Directorial Excellence

posted 8 years ago by fatdogtavern
5 replies | jump to latest

The Thing had a lot of extended scenes too where the actors had to walk around and interact with multiple actors. Movies nowadays have scenes that average under 10 seconds, but The Thing had scenes that were done in a single shot that lasted over a minute. The scene on the ice where the spaceship was buried, before they tried to uncover it is a perfect example. Scotty tries to get permission to send a message to the world about what they found and gets denied. It's a great scene with actors walking in and out of the shot constantly. Directors today like Quentin Tarantino could learn a lot by watching this masterpiece.

[–] Soujurn 8 years ago

Seems like today, many film makers aren't as interested in telling a story as getting along to the next CGI moment.

"Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."
-Dennis

[–] Dan_Garten 8 years ago

Cool.

[–] G_Runciter 8 years ago

Quentin Tarantino is probably one of the worst possible examples for this, he uses long shots like that all the time.

[–] jack_north 8 years ago

Several directors are known for long takes. David Mamet, I think is one. Woody Allen, Scorsese, Wells...

Check out Hitchcock's "Rope." He shot an entire film magazine, about 10 minutes, for each scene with no edits within the scene. Then he simply joined the 11 shots into the finished film. The edits were cleverly covered by pans or shots to inanimate objects.

And of course "Birdman" was made to look like one long, unedited piece, as I recall. Done with long takes and clever edits in dark hallways, or doorway pass-thru's.

[–] telegonus (727) 5 years ago

Yes, but in The Thing From Another World's day its pacing, the long scenes between people,--heck, even westerns had them (High Noon, Shane, The Naked Spur)--and they were way more common back fifty or more years ago. I love this movie as much, and probably more, for its style than its content. It plays beautifully. The actors, the writing, the directing, there's a kind of formal perfection to most of its scenes.