One of the biggest surprise for me in the last Oscars was when Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance won best directing over Boyhood. I saw both films and they were both what I thought were one of the best films of the year. But I had the belief that Richard Linklater would win the Oscar in the "Best Director" category over Alejandro Innaritu. I understand that the one-take filming concept of Birdman was well done and creative.
But its been done before!!
One example of a one take film is Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope"
What Richard Linklater did has never been done. For me, Boyhood was ingeniously well made and the dedication of the director to spend 12 years to make it was also astounding. What really sold me was the transitions of the characters getting older were really subtle. And the story, was relatable. I can't even imagine the careful planning that was necessary to create a film like this scheduling wise as the movie had casted actors like Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke who had prominent roles.
We follow a story of a 6 year old Mason and by the end of the film, he's all grown up going to college in a span of a 3 hours. This was a movie not only about the subtle rising speed of growing up and the roller coaster of ups and downs called life, but it also had an effect to the audience to reminisce about their past, their parents, and their childhood.
Why the only Oscar was given to Patricia Arquette for best supporting actress is beyond me. But I believe this movie shouldn't just be known for its nominations.
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.
