Long takes and Louis C.K.

In the contemporary age of Hollywood, where Michael Bay's average shot length is a measly 3 seconds and the general average is only a second or two longer, it's really refreshing to see a film or TV show that has an appreciation for the long take. Obviously, Alfonso Cuaron is the first director that comes to mind - at least in this day and age - for his incredibly long takes in both Children of Men and the more recent Gravity (7 mins and 17 minutes, respectively). Also headline-worthy was Cary Fukunaga's elaborately choreographed 6 minute True Detective shot, featuring Matthew McConaughey bursting through houses and just generally kicking ass in one of the coolest TV scenes of the year.

Long takes don't have to be all violence and space-floating, though. In fact, some of the more iconic long shots are during simple (albeit equally well-choreographed) sequences. Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 thriller Rope took place in real time and was edited to appear as one extremely long take, even though it was made up of only 10 separate shots. One of the bi
ggest reasons that filmmakers use long takes is to provide exactly this sense of real time, whether to create suspense or to add an extra element of realism to a film. Cutting from shot to shot can sometimes take away these elements and can create a less fluid experience. 

One man who makes statements with long takes is Louis C.K. Going into the fourth season of his TV series 'Louie', FX has allowed him even more freedom in regards to his creative process, and he certainly took advantage of it. Forrest Wickman, a staff writer for Slate, went so far as to call Louie "the most cinematic show on TV." (read the whole article, which I'll elaborate on further, here) 

C.K., for whatever reason, loves long takes. In fact, the third episode of the most recent season ended with a shot that lasted an incredible seven and a half minutes. This isn't HBO. This isn't even an hour long drama we're talking about. This a low budget comedy on FX. A seven and a half minute shot equates to almost a full act of the story, which means that almost the whole thing is bookended by commercials. That's a big chunk of TV. The shot in question is nothing particularly special. No fights, no guns, no exploding space stations, just Louie doing what he does best: going on an awkward date and the raw, brutally honest, and beautiful conversation that ensues. People love to throw around the phrase "it's like nothing else on television," but this is literally like nothing else you will find on television, let alone in any hollywood films. 

Louis - the real Louis, not the character - uses these long takes to create an atmosphere of real, honest, everyday life. It can be awkward, sure, but it can also be close and familial (see the living room scene with Louie's two daughters and then-girlfriend Amia), odd and unexpected (a model drives up to Louie and tells him to get in her car), and beautiful and special (Louie's daughter plays the violin). C.K. has proven himself to not only be one of the funniest comedians alive today, but also one of the most adept directors and showrunners on television. Not to mention the most cinematic. 

Gravity

It's been seven years since Alfonso Cuaron graced us with a film. His previous effort Children of Men was critically praised, so expectation for his follow up Gravity were high. Let me say they delivered. The film had some of the most beautiful cinematography ever. In the average film there are over 5000 cuts, action films have upwards of 80,000 however in Gravity there are only 156, in the entire film. The film utilizes many long cuts as we follow the characters action in the vacuum of space. The film's opening shot is 17 minutes long, but when I watched the film, I only realized how long the shot was when the camera finally cut. The plot of the film is very simple, Academy Award Winning Actress Sandra Bullock (try saying without laughing or smiling) plays Ryan Stone an astronaut on her first mission. When out on a spacewalk with George Clooney (actor's name not the part me played) their spaceship is struck by destroyed by debris. Bullock and Clooney must then attempt to make their way to a nearby space station before the debris comes back. For a film taking place in something as vast as space I felt very claustrophobic watching it. Going into the film I was worried that it would be just 90 minutes of Academy Award Winning Actress Sandra Bullock hyperventilating in space. While there was a lot of that there was much much more, a story of grief and accepting that grief and moving on. If you see one 3D film this year make it Gravity. While making the film they didn't have any technology to properly show how light is in space, so Cuaron had his crew create it. Gravity is truly, and I'm sorry for the pun I'm about to use, breathtaking.

Camera Movement in "Children of Men"

If you have ever gotten the chance to see the film Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuaron, then you are well aware of how few cuts there are in regards to each scene. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki has received worldly acclaim for his work with this movie. Each shot is extremely well choreographed, and rather long, but not in a negative way at all. One scene that struck me as incredible in particular is the infamous car scene. Words cannot describe it, so I have posted it above.

The first thing I wondered was how in the world did they film something like that? Regardless of the timing and special effects that were used, I was intrigued on finding out how they were able to film inside the car during the whole scene even while it is moving. It turns out that there was way more thought put into the scene than I could ever imagine. To give you an example, this is the rig that was created just for that single shot.

This not only allowed them to be tracked throughout the whole shot, but also allowed the cinematographer to capture things happening inside and outside of the car at the same time. What took me by surprise even more was that there was another rig which you can see on top of the camera which peered into the car from above. As the camera swung around to shoot different actors, the others would have to pull the seats down all of the way, which allowed the camera to swing over them without hitting them. The amount of effort that was put into this shot really spoke to me in the sense that if you have a particular vision on how you want something to look, then you shouldn't accept anything less than what you have in mind, even if it means building something like this.