A one-shot film (also known as a one-take film, single-take film, or continuous shot feature film) is a full-length movie filmed in one

long take In filmmaking, a long take (also called a continuous take, continuous shot, or oner) is Shot (filmmaking), shot with a duration much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general. Significant camera mov ...

by a single camera, or manufactured to give the impression it was.

Use and theory

In a 2019 article, discussing the award-winning film ''1917'' (2019), Eric Grode of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote that very long takes were becoming popular in more mainstream films "as a sobering reminder of temporality, a virtuosic calling card, a self-issued challenge or all of the above", also citing the

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winner from several years prior, ''Birdman'' (2014).

History

Grode notes that before such films as ''1917'' and ''Birdman'', the idea of experimenting with long uninterrupted takes had a history of over 80 years, with

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

being a pioneer. Aside from early experiments like ''

Young and Innocent ''Young and Innocent'', released in the US as ''The Girl Was Young'', is a 1937 British Crime film, crime thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Nova Pilbeam and Derrick De Marney. Based on the 1936 novel ''A Shilling for Candl ...

'' and '' Notorious'', the most famous early example of a film that extensively uses long takes is the 1948 ''

Rope A rope is a group of yarns, Plying, plies, fibres, or strands that are plying, twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have high tensile strength and can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger ...

'', which was shot in mainly seven-to-ten–minute continuous takes (the physical limit of

film stock Film stock is an analog medium that is used for recording motion pictures or animation. It is recorded on by a movie camera, developed, edited, and projected onto a screen using a movie projector. It is a strip or sheet of transparent pl ...

at the time) that appear as four

s of around 15 to 20 minutes each, close to the maximum length allowed by the cinema projectors of the time. Reportedly,

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morali ...

, star of ''Rope'', did not like the long takes and apparently muttered on set that the cameras were more important than the actors. Hitchcock intended to shoot the film as if it were a

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

, and timed five of the ten segments to allow for hidden edits behind furniture; elaborate camera and actor

choreography Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

was used. He wrote ''Rope'' this way because he felt "if time passed between cuts, the suspense of whether the body was still in the trunk would be lost". Grode also examines the 1958 film ''

Touch of Evil ''Touch of Evil'' is a 1958 American film noir written and directed by Orson Welles, who also stars. The screenplay was loosely based on Whit Masterson's novel '' Badge of Evil'' (1956). The cast included Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Jose ...

'' as an example, though only its three-minute opening sequence is shot in real time. However, the use of a real time ticking bomb through the single shot is seen as a standard. '' The Wolf House'' (2018) is a deconstructed example of (

stop-motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animation, animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appe ...

) animation that presented in a form of single, unbroken shot sequence.

Notable examples

Actual "one shot"

Edited to appear as "one shot"

References