A one-shot cinema, one-take scene, continuous shot feature film, or a “oner”, is a full-length movie filmed in one long take 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 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-winner from several years prior, Birdman (2014).
History
Grode notes that before such films as 1917 and Birdman, the one-shot had a history of over 70 years, from 1948’s Rope, which was shot in 10-minute continuous takes (the physical limit of film at the time) that appear as a one-shot. Reportedly, James Stewart, star of Rope, did not like the long takes and apparently muttered on set that the cameras were more important than the actors. The director, Alfred Hitchcock, intended to shoot the film as if it were a play, and perfectly timed each 10-minute segment to allow for hidden edits behind furniture; elaborate camera and actor choreography 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 as an example, though only its 3-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.
Examples
Actual “one shot”
| Year | Title | Length | Director | Nationality | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Empire | 485 min. | Andy Warhol | United States | |
| 1974 | Model | 105 min. | Kostas Sfikas | Greece | |
| 1976 | C’était un rendez-vous | 8 min. | Claude Lelouch | France | |
| 1982 | Macbeth | 57 min. (longest shot)† | Béla Tarr | Hungary | |
| 1998 | Big Monday | 74 min. | Michael Rehfield | United States | |
| 2000 | Timecode | 97 min. | Mike Figgis | ||
| 2002 | Russian Ark | 96 min. | Alexander Sokurov | Russia | |
| 2003 | Sábado, una película en tiempo real | 65 min. | Matías Bize | Chile | |
| 2005 | The Magicians | 96 min. | Song Il-gon | South Korea | |
| The Circle | 103 min. | Yuri Zeltser | France | ||
| 2007 | PVC-1 | 85 min. | Spiros Stathoulopoulos | Colombia | |
| 2008 | Still Orangutans’ | 81 min. | Gustavo Spolidero | Brazil | |
| 2011 | 21 Brothers | 96 min. | Michael McGuire | Canada | |
| 2013 | Rati Chakravyuh | 102 min. | Ashish Avikunthak | India | |
| Fish & Cat | 134 min. | Shahram Mokri | Iran | ||
| El triste olor de la carne | 87 min. | Cristóbal Arteaga | Spain | ||
| Ana Arabia | 85 min. | Amos Gitai | Israel | ||
| 2013 | Somebody Marry Me | 98 min. | John Asher | United States | |
| Daikuko | Mitani Koki | Japan | |||
| 2014 | Agadam | 123 min. | Mohamad Issack | India | |
| 2015 | Victoria | 140 min. | Sebastian Schipper | Germany | |
| Anino sa likod ng buwan | 120 min. | Jun Lana | Philippines | ||
| Daksha | 142 min. | S. Narayan | India | ||
| “Tom Lennon Wears Black Slacks and a Black Skinny Tie” (Comedy Bang! Bang!) | 22 min. | Stoney Sharp | United States | ||
| 2016 | Eight | 81 min. | Peter Blackburn | Australia | |
| Immortality | 145 min. | Mahdi Fard Ghaderi | Iran | ||
| King Dave | 99 min. | Podz | Canada | ||
| 2017 | Fourplay | 77 min. | Dean Ronalds | United States | |
| The Wedding Party | 119 min. | Thane Economou | |||
| Lost in London | 100 min. | Woody Harrelson | |||
| One Shot-Fear Without Cut | 140 min. | Haroon Rashid | India | ||
| Invasion | 90 min. | Shahram Mokri | Iran | ||
| Watch The Sunset | 83 min. | Tristan Barr & Michael Gosden | Australia | ||
| 2018 | The silent Pasture of Sparrows | 20 min. | Qmars mootab | United States | |
| Utøya: July 22 | 90 min. | Erik Poppe | Norway | ||
| Blind Spot | 98 min. | Tuva Novotny | |||
| Tatort: Die Musik stirbt zuletzt | 87 min. (Swiss German version) | Dani Levy | Switzerland | ||
| 88 min. (Standard German version) | |||||
| 2019 | El Amor No Puede Esperar (Love Can’t Wait) | 76 min. | Juan Carlos Carrasco | Mexico | |
| 2020 | Limbo | 89 min. | Tim Dünschede | Germany | |
| Autumn (The Third Day) | 720 min. (TV episode) | Felix Barrett | United Kingdom | ||
| Let’s Scare Julie | 83 min. | Jud Cremata | United States | ||
| 2021 | Santhoshathinte Onnam Rahasyam | 85 min. | Don Palathara | India | |
| Rendez-Vous | 105 min. | Pablo Olmos Arrayales | Mexico |
†One five minute shot and the film’s opening credits precede the film’s 57 minute main shot.
Edited to appear as “one shot”
| Year | Title | Length | Director | Nationality | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Rope | 80 min. | Alfred Hitchcock | United Kingdom / United States | |
| 1991 | Homework | 85 min. | Jaime Humberto Hermosillo | Mexico | |
| 1997 | Running Time | 70 min. | Josh Becker | United States | |
| 2002 | Irréversible | 97 min. | Gaspar Noé | France | |
| 2009 | Enter the Void | 161 min. | |||
| 2010 | La Casa Muda | 86 min. | Gustavo Hernández | Uruguay | |
| 2011 | Silent House | 87 min. | Chris Kentis, Laura Lau | United States | |
| 2014 | Birdman | 119 min. | Alejandro G. Iñárritu | ||
| 2017 | “eps3.4 runtime-error.r00” (Mr. Robot) | 43 min. (TV episode) | Sam Esmail | United States | |
| Bushwick | 94 min. | Cary Murnion, Jonathan Milott | |||
| 2018 | “Two Storms” (The Haunting of Hill House ep. 1.6) | 57 min. (TV episode) | Mike Flanagan | ||
| 2019 | 1917 | 118 min. | Sam Mendes | United Kingdom |