I know the traffic jam scene is well over ten minutes, and I really dig the giraffes, kids playing chess and random, bloodied bodies.
But I'm just wonderin' if, besides like 'Rope', there's longer tracking shots. I'm sure there are.
Russian Ark, a Russian film made in 2002. The entire film is one shot.
shareThat's impossible. There is either hidden cuts, or you're completely insane.
shareSee it for yourself. It all takes place inside a museum, so it's in a confined space. How dare you call me insane?
shareThe only way that I can see how the film can be done in one very long shot with out hidden cuts (see Running Time starring Bruce Campbell) is if it's shot on video (DV) and even still miniDV tapes only run 60 min. But I also must admit I'm not an expert on this subject. (BTW my post was talking about that Russian movie that guy was talking about and not Week End)
shareThe setup they had for Russian Ark was that the camera was set up directly to a computer, so the footage was logging itself onto the computer as it was being shot. There was no tape involved.
And come on, do you really think that people at the top of the film industry couldn't make a dv tape that ran, say... 90 minutes... if they put all their guys at the stop to the test?
See it for yourself. It all takes place inside a museum, so it's in a confined space. How dare you call me insane
There is a very fine article in Sight and Sound describing how they did it.
Not only was it a 90+ minute single take, there were thousands of costumed extras- and they could only have one try, because the Hermitage museum is only closed for one day a year!
The film itself can be self-absorbed and distant at times, but as a beautiful and unique work of art, it's unmatched.
That traffic jam was one of the coolest scenes I've ever seen.
shareRUSSIAN ARK actually had 3 tries at doing it. Planned and constructed well in advance, but it took them 3 tries. They didn't make it through the whole thing the first two. They just stopped and started over. That's what I heard at least.
In heaven, everything is fine.
just check out the feature on the DVD and all yours questions will be answer.
Thank you
Cinéma, toujours le cinéma
Hello? What planet do you come from? *Russian Ark's* claim to fame is that it was a single take. Everybody knows that. You deserve the name "Fetus Flavored Fajitas ...."
shareI don't know, but I know it was very effective. We watched the shot in my film class today and just as we were getting all a little tired with how long it was lasting, it pans to the half bodies and blood smeared road which actually totally shocked me. I mean, I figured there was an accident causing the jam, but I didn't expect that much gore...and I think waiting for it made it much more harrowing.
shareWhat about Nostalghia?
shareyes, Russian Ark and Timecode win at 90 minutes each
but for shots that don't make up the entire film, there's Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice, which has one of the longest tracking shots in film history (although the traffic scene in Weekend might be longer, I'm not sure)
Before DV, it was impossible to do a tracking shot longer than 10 mins w/o hidden cuts.
shareAm I right in thinking that there is a break for text during the traffic jam shot in Weekend? Would that make it technically two shots? Its been a while since I saw it. Also, despite not being the longest, I think the opening shot in Touch of Evil is pretty amazing due to its sheer complexity.
shareYeah theres a break away for text while its at the school bus and you cant keep track of stuff because all you can see is the bus. This might be a delibrate cut away to break it up for filming or it might be one continuos take with text cut inbetween I don't know but text is inserrted about half way through or something.
"sometimes nothin is a pretty cool hand" cool hand luke
There's an interview with Raoul Coutard on the DVD where he talks about building the construction to shoot this in a sloping field which took them about a week.
Then he mentions how much Godard was trying to piss off the producer during the making of this (something to do with being forced to hire Mireille Darc) which is why he cut it in 2 in the final edit!
also anything from Bela Tarr. I think Turin Horse has twenty seven shots in it. Or maybe it was Satantango.
shareOh come on, why do people find it so hard to believe that a film could be one shot? Aside from the technical problems with storage and whatnot, it is not something that would be hard to do. Theater -upon which cinema is built- is essentially a one-take movie, live on stage.
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Theater -upon which cinema is built- is essentially a one-take movie, live on stage
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292081/
62 minute shot.
All Bela Tarr films are very... very long takes.
{1) Yes, Sakurov's Russkiy kovcheg was done with one shot.
(2) The scene in question from Weekend was not done as one shot, but had SEVERAL cuts for text.
"Sometimes you have to take the bull by the tail, and face the truth" - G. Marx
jeez, you could get 4 hour VHS tapes back in the 80s & 90s, and if you set the video-camera to long-play you hypothetically could have shot an uninterrupted 8 hour tracking shot if you really wanted. now with linked Tb-sized hard-drives you can technically shoot indefinitely...
shareIf one is to be very precise, Russian Ark was shot in one single take, but the film itself consists of more than one shots. This because the narrative voice over begins at black screen that cuts over to the famous 90min shot. I don't remember if it's something like that in the end aswell or not. Either way, thats two shots at least.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju67DqaRE7k
There is actually a film that is 12 hours long that is a document of a trip across the Pacific I think, in a giant shipping cargo tanker.
shareThat is one uncut shot?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_films_by_running_time
I can't find it on this list, wikipedia though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju67DqaRE7k
They used a hard drive in Russian Ark
shareI seem to remember the end of Antonioni's The Passenger was one eight minute shot. Or did it just seem that long!!
share