Imagine a single shot, where a movie unfolds uninterrupted from beginning to end with just one camera, almost as if the camera itself becomes a third character in the story.
We’ve been eager to share one of our favorite movie techniques with you, and now the time has come to dive into it. In this article, we will explore continuous single-shot Movies, also known as one-take or one-shot Movies But what exactly is this shooting method? What kind of impact does it have on the audience? And what technical challenges shape the success of one-take Movies? We’ve answered these questions and included some interesting facts about continuous single-shot Movies in the following paragraphs.
To start, let’s clarify a few key terms: in the context of moviemaking, a specific portion of the story, made up of individual shots, is referred to as a scene. Multiple scenes together form a narrative sequence.
When several scenes are presented using a single continuous shot without any cuts or breaks, it becomes a one-shot sequence. This shot must perform several tasks simultaneously, including changes in camera angle, framing, and sometimes even a shift in location. Let’s dive deeper into the technical details.
1.The Silent House / La Casa Muda
The movie won both the Golden Camera and CICAE awards at the Cannes Film Festival for its outstanding cinematography and editing.
The story is based on real events set in a small village in Uruguay in the late 1940s. It centers on Laura, who is determined to escape from a haunted house unscathed. Laura and her father, Wilson, move into a rundown shack that they need to renovate, as the owner is planning to sell the property soon. They intend to spend the night in the shack and begin renovations the next morning. Everything seems normal until Laura hears a strange, loud noise from outside, which gradually becomes louder upstairs. Unable to bear waiting alone downstairs for her father to return, she decides to go upstairs to investigate.
Information about The Silent House
- Title: The Silent House (La Casa Muda)
- Director: Gustavo Hernández
- Cast: Florencia Colucci, Gustavo Alvarado, and Víctor Gojman
- Release Year: 2010
- Duration: 85 minutes
- Country: Uruguay
- Genre: Horror, Thriller
- Available Platforms: Amazon Prime Video
- IMDB Rating: 6.3/10
- Language: Spanish
- Trailer: Watch the Trailer on YouTube
- IMDb Link: The Silent House on IMDb
2.Timecode
The movie features four simultaneous action frames, which ultimately converge into a single shot. It alternates between the passionate dynamics of a head-over-heels lesbian lover consumed by her partner’s mind games and the intense operations of a Hollywood film production company.
Information about Timecode
- Title: Timecode
- Director: Mike Figgis
- Cast: Stellan Skarsgård, Saffron Burrows, Holly Hunter, and others
- Release Year: 2000
- Duration: 97 minutes
- Country: USA
- Genre: Drama
- Available Platforms: Amazon Prime Video, Google Play
- IMDB Rating: 6.6/10
- Language: English
- Trailer: Watch the Trailer on YouTube
- IMDb Link: Timecode on IMDb
3.PVC-1
The movie won the Golden Camera, Roma, and CICAE awards at the Cannes Film Festival for its powerful cinematography and script.
PVC-1″ is a real-time thriller that tells the story of a woman who becomes the target of a brutal kidnapping in Bogotá, Colombia.
The entire movie unfolds in a single take, following her harrowing experience as she struggles for survival while bound by a PVC pipe bomb. The movie explores themes of violence, desperation, and the human spirit’s resilience.
Information about PVC-1
- Title: PVC-1
- Director: Spiros Stathoulopoulos
- Cast: Marcela Mar, John Leguizamo, and others
- Release Year: 2007
- Duration: 80 minutes
- Country: Colombia
- Genre: Drama, Thriller
- Available Platforms: Amazon Prime Video, Google Play
- IMDB Rating: 6.5/10
- Language: Spanish
- Trailer: Watch the Trailer on YouTube
- IMDb Link: PVC-1 on IMDb
4.Running Time
Director Josh Becker mentioned on his website that he was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Death Sentence (1948) and its one-take performance while creating this movie.
Carl is released from prison after serving 5 years and immediately sets out to execute his next robbery. His plan is relatively simple, but timing is a crucial element. Unfortunately, he didn’t account for bad luck or the incompetence of his accomplices. What was meant to be a smooth heist turns into a chaotic series of housewarming events.
Information about Running Time
- Title: Running Time
- Director: Josh Becker
- Cast: Bruce Campbell, Jeremy Roberts, and others
- Release Year: 1997
- Duration: 80 minutes
- Country: USA
- Genre: Thriller, Drama
- Available Platforms: Amazon Prime Video, Google Play
- IMDB Rating: 6.3/10
- Language: English
- Trailer: Watch the Trailer on YouTube
- IMDb Link: Running Time on IMDb
5.Fish & Cat / Mahi va Gorbeh
The movie won the Special Prize at the Venice Film Festival and was also honored with the Venice Horizons Award for Best movie at the same festival.
Based on true events, ‘The Fish and the Cat’ follows a group of students who travel to the Caspian region to participate in a kite-flying event during the winter solstice. Near their camp is a small restaurant run by three cooks who are preparing to go hunting, as they are in urgent need of meat. However, there is no one around except the students. Shahram Mokri’s second feature movie merges formal experimentation with elements of terror and a sly sense of humor, resulting in a unique and highly unconventional piece of Iranian movie history.
Information about Fish & Cat” (Mahi va Gorbeh)
- Title: Fish & Cat
- Director: Shahram Mokri
- Cast: Aref Lorestani, Kaveh Alikhani, and others
- Release Year: 2013
- Duration: 134 minutes
- Country: Iran
- Genre: Horror, Drama
- Available Platforms: Amazon Prime Video, Google Play
- IMDB Rating: 6.5/10
- Language: Persian
- Trailer: Watch the Trailer on YouTube
- IMDb Link: Fish & Cat on IMDb
6.Enter the Void
Enter the Void, which was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, also won the Special Jury Prize, the Best Cinematography award, and was nominated for Best movie at Sitges.
Oscar and his sister Linda have just arrived in Tokyo. Oscar is a small-time drug dealer, while Linda works as a stripper in a nightclub. One night, Oscar is caught in a police raid and is shot. As he lies dying, his spirit—true to the promise he made to his sister that he would never leave her—refuses to leave the world of the living. He begins to wander through the city, seeing more than he ever had before. What he witnesses becomes increasingly nightmarish, as the past, present, and future start to blur in a vortex of hallucinations.
Information about Enter the Void
- Title: Enter the Void
- Director: Gaspar Noé
- Cast: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, Cyril Roy, and others
- Release Year: 2009
- Duration: 161 minutes
- Country: France
- Genre: Drama, Fantasy
- Available Platforms: Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Apple TV
- IMDB Rating: 7.3/10
- Language: English, French, Japanese
- Trailer: Watch the Trailer on YouTube
- IMDb Link: Enter the Void on IMDb
7.Utøya – July 22
Nominated for the Golden Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival, Utøya 22. Juli is an impressive production.
The story follows a teenage girl who must fight to survive and find her younger sister during a mass murder at a summer camp for the Norwegian Social Democratic Party youth on the Norwegian island of Utøya in July 2011.
Information about Utøya: July 22
- Title: Utøya: July 22
- Director: Erik Poppe
- Cast: Andrea Berntzen, Aleksander Holmen, and others
- Release Year: 2018
- Duration: 92 minutes
- Country: Norway
- Genre: Drama, Thriller, History
- Available Platforms: Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Apple TV
- IMDB Rating: 7.4/10
- Language: Norwegian
- Trailer: Watch the Trailer on YouTube
- IMDb Link: Utøya: July 22 on IMDb
8.Russian Ark
Nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Russian Ark was also nominated for Best movie at Sitges and won the Vision Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
An unseen man wakes up, unsure of who he is or where he came from. Judging by the clothing of those around him, he believes he is in 18th century Russia. He appears to be invisible to everyone except a man in black, who seems just as lost as he is. They find themselves inside the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg, and together they wander through various rooms, each one leading them into a different era. The man in black interacts with the people he encounters and comments on the works of art they pass.
Information about Russian Ark
- Title: Russian Ark
- Director: Alexander Sokurov
- Cast: Sergey Dontsov, Leonid Mozgovoy, and others
- Release Year: 2002
- Duration: 96 minutes
- Country: Russia
- Genre: Drama, Historical
- Available Platforms: Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Apple TV
- IMDB Rating: 8.2/10
- Language: Russian
- Trailer: Watch the Trailer on YouTube
- IMDb Link: Russian Ark on IMDb
9.Birdman–The Unforgettable Virtue of Ignorance
Birdman, which won the Oscars for Best movie Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography, and was nominated for 5 other Oscars, also won awards at the BAFTA and Golden Globe Awards.
Riggan Thomson is an actor who portrayed the iconic superhero Birdman over 20 years ago. Now, in his middle years, he is directing the premiere of a drama called What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, based on a Raymond Carver story. Hoping that this risky but creative endeavor will prove that he is a true artist and not just a washed-up movie star, Riggan is shaken when one of his cast members gets injured as opening night approaches. Forced to hire an actor guaranteed to bring excitement to the show, Riggan must also navigate challenges involving his girlfriend, daughter, and ex-wife. His struggles with critics, along with the unexpected voices of his old character Birdman, begin to strain his sanity.
Information about Birdman: The Unforgettable Virtue of Ignorance
- Title: Birdman: The Unforgettable Virtue of Ignorance
- Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
- Cast: Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Emma Stone
- Release Year: 2014
- Duration: 119 minutes
- Country: USA
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
- Available Platforms: Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Apple TV
- IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
- Language: English
- Trailer: Watch the Trailer on YouTube
- IMDb Link: Birdman on IMDb
10.Rope
Created at a time when most movie awards were not yet established, Rope is one of Hitchcock’s most famous classics.
Brandon and Philip are two young men who share an apartment in New York City. Considering themselves intellectually superior to their friend David Kentley, the duo decides to kill David. Together, they strangle him with a rope and hide his body in an old trunk to host a small party. Among the guests are David’s father, his fiancée Janet, and their former teacher Rupert, whose ideas they inadvertently borrowed. As Brandon becomes increasingly audacious, Rupert grows more suspicious of the duo…
Information about Rope
- Title: Rope
- Director: Alfred Hitchcock
- Cast: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Edith Evanson
- Release Year: 1948
- Duration: 80 minutes
- Country: USA
- Genre: Crime, Thriller, Drama
- Available Platforms: Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Apple TV
- IMDB Rating: 7.8/10
- Language: English
- Trailer: Watch the Trailer on YouTube
- IMDb Link: Rope on IMDb
11.1917
The movie, which won a total of 3 Oscars, including Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects, was also nominated for 7 Oscars, including Best Picture. Winning 7 BAFTA awards, including Best Picture, and two Golden Globe awards, 1917 is a renowned production with a total of 135 movie awards and 206 movie award nominations.
Set in April 1917, two British soldiers are tasked with delivering an urgent message to a regiment on the Western Front of World War I. If the message is not received in time, the regiment will fall into a trap and be completely massacred. The soldiers must pass through enemy territory to reach the regiment, racing against time on this perilous journey.
Information about 1917
- Title: 1917
- Director: Sam Mendes
- Cast: George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden
- Release Year: 2019
- Duration: 119 minutes
- Country: UK, USA
- Genre: War, Drama, Action
- Available Platforms: Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, Apple TV, Netflix
- IMDB Rating: 8.3/10
- Language: English
- Trailer: Watch the Trailer on YouTube
- IMDb Link: 1917 on IMDb
Main differences between one take and long take
One of the terms that can be confused with a single shot is the long take technique, which refers to extended shooting. In long takes, the director or operator lingers on a specific part of the scene for a while, whereas movies shot using the one-take technique continuously define multiple scenes and sequences in a single shot.
Consider the movie Birdman, where the subject is filmed continuously as they leave the stage, enter the dressing rooms, or exit the arena, with the camera consistently capturing the main character in single shots. It does not linger; on the contrary, it constructs the movie around a single shot. More than just extending the duration, it requires superior editing performance and meticulous post-production work to produce a single continuous shot.
Since Sam Mendes’ 2019 military drama 1917, the “one shot” technique, also known as a continuous take, has sparked considerable debate. With this technique, directors can movie an entire movie in one continuous take, or at least make it appear that way. This is exemplified perfectly in the 2014 Best Picture-winning movie Birdman.
Every scene from Birdman was shot fifteen to twenty times and then meticulously stitched together to create the illusion of a single take. It’s an ingenious technique, but also a very difficult and tedious way to produce a movie. However, when executed well, it offers great viewing pleasure. This is evident in the fact that Birdman director Alejandro González Iñárritu expanded the horizons of 21st-century filmmaking with his innovative approach.
The effect of one-take movies on the audience
Some moviegoers are captivated by this ambitious shooting technique, which aims to make the viewer feel as though an action scene is unfolding in real time. This immersive experience draws the audience deeper into the narrative, allowing them to engage with the actions of the characters being filmed. The actors move in real time, without interruptions, speeding up or slowing down as needed, creating the sensation that we accompany them through all the events and situations that unfold throughout the movie‘s plot. This immersive quality is one of the main reasons why long takes and one-take scenes excite many viewers.
Mastering this technique is no small feat, which is why only a select few directors have attempted it. Nonetheless, it is undeniable that some have achieved remarkable success. By exploring these movies that were shot in a single shot or crafted to appear as such, you can experience genuine cinematic artistry and viewing pleasure. Here are the 11 best one-shot / one-take movies!
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