20bits

Reading the comments on the recent digg story about the "most dangerous long-take scene ever" got me to thinking about famous long-take scenes in general. Many of the commenters didn't understand what consituted a long take or wanted to see other examples of long takes in film. So, here's my best to come up with a list of long takes. Some of them are famous and other are just good examples. Here's my list.

1. Touch of Evil

   Any student of film knows this shot since it's basically the textbook example of a long take. Because of this film many modern movies use long takes for their opening expository shots. The first cut is at around 4:05 into the film.
   
   

2. Children of Men

   The long take is still used to great affect today. Children of Men, a 2006 film which was nominated for its technical achievments in cinematography, made good use of the long take. A special contraption had to be built in order to film the following sequence in one take:
   

3. Rope

   Rope is a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock loosely based on the real-life story of Leopold and Loeb (go Maroons!). The whole film is shot in ten-or-so takes and most of the cuts are disguised by a camera zooming into someone's black suit coat or focusing on some minor set piece for a few moments. The story is that Hitchcock wanted it to be one single take, like a play, but the limitation of film prevented it — reels of film could only hold so much footage. Rope is also noteworthy as Hitchcock's first color film. The only video I could find isn't very impressive since it's just a bunch of people sitting around having a conversation, but it will suffice:
   

4. Russian Ark

   A 2006 2002 film for which I have no clip, largely because the whole movie was filmed in one single take. Unlike Rope, which was produced in the late 40s, Russian Ark was not limited by the properties of "analog" film. Instead the movie is a single 90-minute DV Steadicam shot. God knows how many times they had to redo this.

5. Serenity

   Joss Whedon loves hit long takes. They're all over his TV shows (Buffy and Firefly), but he also uses one for the opening sequence of Serenity. There's one well-hidden cut; see if you can find it.
   

6. Pulp Fiction

   The scene where John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson's character discuss the connotations of a foot massage while on the way to collect some money is a long shot. The "walk and talk" is a common place to use long tracking shots and shows like The West Wing make extensive use of them.
   

Those're all the good clips I could find on the internet, but there are many more examples of films with long takes:

1. Citizen Kane

   The "union forever!" flashback scene to Charles' childhood is both a good example of a long take and deep focus.

2. 2001: A Space Odyssey

   This movie is filled with long takes, particularly the space-walk scenes.

That's my list. I tend to wax academic so I'll spare everyone this time and let the shots speak for themselves. Cheers!