favorite long take in movie history.

dasher said:
way over-rated Whitewood. The set looked cheap (the board crashing stunt was from the 1960s).

PTA's long takes or the Atonement , or the huge (still disputed) tracking shot in Children of Men looked professional and real.
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SO I guess NOTHING is impressive about a cameraman walking up about 5,6 flights of stairs in four minutes filming action going on ALL around him. Nothing cool about stunt-men falling on cue from 3rd story floors. Nothing sweet about one man beating the asses of over 20,40 men, knocking them through glass, wood, doors, etc. NOTHING EXCITING about EVERYTHING having to be DEAD on time. About the fact that it was done time after time after time due to miscues and health risk and time restraints. About how much more money it cost than these other shots. You're crazy. This is not overrated, this is the BEST. I watched all the other ones. They're just all long shots of a cam in the sky, following people, moving in ways that I can figure out. And though I can figure out how the scene I'm talking about was shot, It'd be a PAIN IN THE ASS to choreograph that camera work. It's the best, hands down.
 
Don't know if anyone's mentioned this yet but there's an incredible 5 minute steadicam sequence in "Atonement" starting at the 65 minute point. Huge, gorgeous wartime beachfront set, amazing shots, great variety of actions/events...quite brilliant...
 
That scene from tony ja's The Protector is a great scene, It was very hard to pull that off, the stedicam op must have so tired after serveral takes of running upseveral flights of stairs, thats why I feel it is one of the best.

Children of men is very comparable in greatness, but the cam was remote controlled, while the whole cam crew sat on top of the car. But acting and set was much better.
 
Masta T said:
That scene from tony ja's The Protector is a great scene, It was very hard to pull that off, the stedicam op must have so tired after several takes of running up several flights of stairs, that's why I feel it is one of the best.
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I had posted this earlier but here is my opinion on that shot:

"I personally do not care for the "protector" scene at all from a cinematography point of view. The stunt people are AMAZING in that scene but the steadicam Op has a 10MM lens and has very little to do as far as trying to hit his marks or timing. The theory behind his motion is very weak and he just has to be in the ballpark of placement and just point in the general direction to catch the action. Most of the time I found his movements very distracting and I think it took away from the amazing talent and daring of the stunt people in that scene. Also his horizon is off most of the time and the barrel distortion from the 10mm is not pleasing"

Running up flights of stairs and being physical with a steadicam is not difficult at all. Believe it or not I think this shot is 10 times more difficult to pull off then the protector:

http://steadishots.org/shots_detail.cfm?shotID=194

Here are a few details that you might not have noticed:

- Camera zooms in and out while the captain is in the cockpit.
- Jane appear in the hallway when the captain is descending from the stairs so the operator does not have to tilt down.
- When Zoe says "we crashing again" the op swings right, that is added there so the op can climb up the stairs with out making it obvious to the audience.
- When the captain is in the dining room the whole ship and the camera shakes, there is a reason for this which will be justified for another shot.
- When the captain reaches the engine room to talk to caylee, he is not lit. A grip slowly creeps in a light from below so when he turns to see the doctor the are lit from below, in the hallway there were no lights before.
- When the captain and the doctor are descending the ship shakes again. That is done so the op can place himself at the top of the stairs, before he starts a steep descend. That why shook the ship earlier, to justify this one.
- When the doctor is going up the stairs the camera zooms and op steps in a platform. This way he can fallow the docs feet to rivers face.

There are probably 20 more little nuances like this in that shot but that would make this post way too long. That shot is much harder to pull of physicaly then the protector. There a lot more amazing shots in that website, check it out.

Start with this:
http://steadishots.org/shots_detail.cfm?shotID=250

PS: Incase you have not seen it before the shot does not use a standard steadicam rig, it's called an Alien Revolution. It allows you to spin the rig from low mode to high while filming.

Cheers,
 
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This one hasn't been mentioned, so I thought I would. The film Death Sentence with Kevin Bacon has a great continuous shot in the middle of (IMO) generally well done chase sequence through a parking garage where the camera's following Kevin's character who's climbing up levels, then exits the side of the structure, moves down a level or two to cover the gang members following him for a moment with one being sent to the stairs to the top, exits again on another side, goes back up to meet up with Kevin again, who we then follow up to the top of the structure, and the shot finally cuts to a different one with the stairway gang member busting through the door and Kevin having to hide behind a car.
Now, the film itself wasn't anything astounding, but I found this shot really impressive, with there being at least 5 or 6 camera operators but nearly seamless hand-offs, and them not having the money to digitally blend the best parts of different takes like City of Men (which, don't get me wrong, I love, but it's been talked about plenty on here, and so anything I could add wouldn't be nearly as good).

I'm glad the opening of Serenity was mentioned...I was drooling over that shot the first time I saw it (well...the first time it registered and I wasn't focusing on the dialogue).

Another couple forgotten ones: Quentin Tarantino's sequence of Four Rooms. Approximately the first have of it is one long take. Nice. And George Clooney's directorial debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, it's not the longest, but there's a montage scene of Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell) going up in the ranks of the TV studio, from applying for a job, to being a gopher and a tour guide, etc, showing the passage of time, and it's all one shot, no cuts, complete with costume changes. Nice little sequence.

Just some thoughts.
 
Lion In Winter - Extremely dramatic 5 minute dolly shot from Wide shot to CU of Katherine Hepburn soliloquy. Won her an oscar.
 
surprised no-one said this one already, its not the longest (1:30), and its not the most technically challenging, but the single shot after the ear scene in reservoir dogs is pretty king.

what that one shot reveals about the character is incredible, and it takes the viewer along for the ride. Think of whats happening, this man just cut a captive police officers EAR off with a razor blade while dancing to "stuck in the middle with you", the single shot starts when he begins to walk outside. The swagger of the character is still swinging to the music as he calmly walks outside, in order to grab a gas can from his trunk to light the cop on fire alive, all the while he's still kind of moving the tune in the back of his head, taking in his surroundings, then he walks back in, music kicks in and he starts pouring gas on the cop.

chilling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJfORxWsZUY
 
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