One of the more subtle things that absolutely seduced me to the earlier seasons of West Wing was - similarily to Joss Whedon's use of them - precisely the long takes. The earlier seasons - primarily 1 and 2 - of West Wing is absolutely filled with long long takes, where the staffers talk to each other during walks through the White House, and the actual actors on screen change completely three-four times in a single shot.
In one of the comment tracks, one of the actors comment on the absolutely horrible pressure put on the people finishing such a shot - after the whole walk, the last one on screen tends to end up in some office or other, where the resident character tends to bring something completely unrelated just before the cut. And screwing that line up would mean quite a lot of work on everyone to redo the take.
Ryan of the RSL
· 2 years ago
Wonderful entry. I just watched the Children of Men clip for the first time. Wow. Very powerful. Thanks for the thought put into this!
John K
· 2 years ago
The opening of the "The Player" was a famous Altman homage to the long take from "Touch of Evil", which is mentioned during the dialogue.
Phantom Contender
· 2 years ago
When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
Fish&Chips
· 2 years ago
Just as a note, the video for the Serenity sequence was taken down. Hopefully it will be back up soon.
Clayton Nash
· 1 year ago
How could you miss the opening shot of 'The Player'? Some 8 minutes in a single shot.
Jesse
· 1 year ago
Clayton,
I have failed at my duties! Hah. I should write a follow-up post to this. Since I wrote it several other blogs wrote articles with an even more comprehensive list. 15 examples! 30 examples! 5,000 examples!
I'm forever behind the times.
Michael Brown
· 9 months ago
I'm very surprised you didn't mention the end of Carol Reed's "The Third Man". More than a minute long (even with the cutaway to the Brit colonel in his jeep), and absolutely filled with regret, sorrow, anger, contempt, existential conflict, absurdity, despair -- it sums up the entire spirit of the film. Plus it's still up on YouTube, so people who've never seen it can enjoy it, and you can write a note explaining what it means in context: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es3gBldyR4k.
All Comments
In one of the comment tracks, one of the actors comment on the absolutely horrible pressure put on the people finishing such a shot - after the whole walk, the last one on screen tends to end up in some office or other, where the resident character tends to bring something completely unrelated just before the cut. And screwing that line up would mean quite a lot of work on everyone to redo the take.
I have failed at my duties! Hah. I should write a follow-up post to this. Since I wrote it several other blogs wrote articles with an even more comprehensive list. 15 examples! 30 examples! 5,000 examples!
I'm forever behind the times.