Use of Long Takes in Film.

Long Takes are shots in films that follow a certain scenario or scene without a single cut. It allow the scene to play our more naturally and makes the scene stand out as the audience can appreciate the effort of the cast and crew to not make a mistake for long periods of times. Long Takes have many uses and I'm going to explore these through the use of certain scenes of Children of Men, Birdman, Atonement, Shaun of the Dead and Avengers Assemble. 

With the long take in Children of Men, I was surprised at just how easily they could have not made it into a long take. There are plenty of opportunities to cut in order to show off the oncoming attackers or show off just how big a threat the characters were under however the film makers decided to do a long take. I feel the purpose of this was to capture the reactions of everyone in the car as well as let the scene escalate naturally. We go from friendly banter to murder and yet it feels like it progressed at a good pace. Had it cut every know and then, the scene would lose tension and would probably feel too fast paced. The scene benefited from having a long take. 

I could use any scene from Birdman as the entire film is shot to look like one take. As one might expect, there are very subtle cuts or transitions however every individual scene flows from one to another. The scene I picked in particular has a good sense of location as the audience follows Riggan and Mike through every step of the way, therefore making them more immersed in the natural feeling that the film is conveying. Even their petty fight is in the same take with no cuts. This is also more likely because of the more comedic tone of the fight as opposed to what one might expect from an action film. Despite being one take, we do get a good variety of shot types such as an intense close up as Riggan pins Mike against a locker before stepping away so that both actor's bodies are in shot for their fight. The moves are so subtle that it feels very natural, like a person is watching the entire scene play out. 

The 2007 war/romance film Atonement features a beautiful long take that captures the moment of soldiers waiting at Dunkirk in 1940. It starts off by simply following Robbie as he starts walking through the beach before the camera takes a tangent in order to see the soldiers. It takes its time and there is never a dull moment in shot. The moment that really emphasizes the beauty of the scene is the pan across the soldiers singing the hymn 'Dear Lord and Father of Mankind' as it shows a humanised side to them and is wonderfully mixed with the background music that had already been playing throughout the shot. The shot finishes with the camera reuniting with Robbie as he walks up stairs and looks out at the beach we had walked through. We now see a far out view of the beach and the entire shot summarised, the soldier still heard singing in the background. The purpose of the long take is about capturing the scope and feel of what it would be like waiting on the beaches of Dunkirk.     

Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead saw a great use of a long take. Interestingly, the shot was used twice (the example above is the second time) as it created great contrast due to the fact that they were the same sequence with differences added in order to emphasize the zombie apocalypse. I really appreciate how steady the shot is as most shots in film that follow a character try to emulate more realistic movement however the clarity of the shot allows the audience to notice each detail of the sequence in order to get the changes between each version. 

It is expected of action films to have their big action sequences shot close with shaky cam however this was averted in Avengers Assemble which, albeit prominently CGI, is still worth noting. The aim of the film was the bring together existing characters and have them face a threat together and this shot easily captures this. The way the shot tracks different subjects in the image is satisfying as we get to see every Avenger fighting with their special skills. The shot effortlessly captures what the film was out to accomplish as well as deliver on showing what the characters are capable. The 2015 sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron opens with another long take to accomplish the same thing and start off the film with the same sensation we were left with 3 years prior.