Tracking shots

S

scottfs

Well-known member
OK, I'll confess, I love tracking shots, where the camera moves to follow the action.

My favorite is from a film called, 'The Passenger', a little seen 1975 film starring someone named Jack Nicholson. He plays a reporter who takes over the identity of a dead man, only to get in way over his head in the illegal weapons trade. The film ends with a magnificent 7 minute tracking shot that starts in a hotel room, goes THROUGH a locked grate over a window, into a courtyard, the back into the hotel room. I cannot figure out how they did this shot in the days before CGI.

Another favorite is a long tracking shot in 'Once' that follows Inglova Market from a bodega out into a street, leads her to her apartment, and ends with a crane shot, all while she is singing or listening to a song.

Any other fav tracking shots to copy, if one can cite one?
 
Oh thank you, David! After I saw the film years ago, I tried in vain to find out how this shot was done. I liked the movie, the cinematography was stunning, the story involving, but that tracking shot! I just couldn't get it out of my mind.
 
I love the one near the end of "Atonement" - a long trip following James McEvoy up the beach of the evacuation of Dunkirk in WW2.
 
I have massive respect for the filmmakers who attempted incredible tracking shots before technology made such things much easier (the Steadicam, the stabilized head, CGI marrying of multiple takes etc). Epic crane shots like "Touch of Evil", the ending of "Gone with the Wind", "The Player" are all great filmmaking. The handheld sequences in "I am Cuba" are miraculous (more recently, I am a huge fan of those in "Children of Men"). I grew up studying every frame of legendary Steadicam shots like the Copa shot in "Goodfellas" and lesser known ones like the Grand Central chase in "Carlito's Way". Emre's suggestion to visit steadishots.org is well-taken, it contains many of the legendary Steadicam shots. I was lucky enough to be around for what appears to have been the golden era for episodic Steadicam in the late 90's, when shows like "ER" and "The West Wing" had sets specifically designed for long Steadicam takes (similar to how the Overlook was constructed for "The Shining")--if you thought that shot roaming house to house on "True Detective" was groundbreaking, take a look at what Dave Chameides did on "ER" nearly twenty years ago (davechameides.com, "ER One'r").
 
My favorite sequence in "I am Cuba" is the one during the parade that moves through the cigar factory--the scope of that is breathtaking. I hope to watch that movie projected someday.

Another obscure shot that today would be "simple" to pull off with Steadicam or even gimbal but in 1972 was pretty impressive was this one from the musical 1776. The massive dolly descended on a scissor lift through the center of the staircase and then rolled off and was driven into main room--impressive enough (and, sure, bumpy) but the subtlety of the following 360 move is pretty great too. Operating with finesse while clambering around the platforms on a dolly is always a little dodgy, and back then with what was presumably a Mitchell BNC on a Worrall head, no small feat.
 
CharlesPapert said:
My favorite sequence in "I am Cuba" is the one during the parade that moves through the cigar factory--the scope of that is breathtaking. I hope to watch that movie projected someday..
Click to expand...

Project this!


By the way, the movie was banned in the USSR because the "capitalist Cuba" was shown to be far too wealthy by the Soviet standards. When you think that Havana back then kind of looked like Miami Beach and the top Soviet resorts like ... eh, like crap, the ostentatious Havana needed to be shelved. Mikhail Kalatozov, however, got other projects, specifically the "Red Tent", with the international cast.
 
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BTW, here's a famous stairway shot from Kalatozov's (Sergey Urusevski DP) "Golden Palm" winning, "The cranes are flying"

 
Okay, these aren't super-fabulous or extravagant virtuoso shots, but the ones that always come to mind for me are the tracking shots featuring Tippi Hedren in THE BIRDS and MARNIE, especially in the former where Tippi is walking on the dock toward the Brenner house. I think these were what got me turned on to cinematography as an art form when I saw them as a kid.
 
And for sheer scope there's Russian Ark by Sokurov - a one hour and 39 minute film from 2002 that's all one shot. Filmed in one day at the Russian State Hermitage Museum, cast of 2000, 33 rooms. The first three tries were aborted due to problems, got it on the fourth attempt.
 
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