Uninterrupted camera shots

Don't forget The Rope


In a website I know and I love this trope is called "Leave the camera running" here is the article about it:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LeaveTheCameraRunning

examples:

Film
2001: A Space Odyssey. Ooh, I went there.
The driving scenes at the start of Manos: The Hands of Fate, there because the director forgot the opening credits.
Every scene in the French movie Cache. The movie is about someone sending video of the guys apartment to him so we as the viewer are treated to two minute long shots of the characters watching video of an apartment building with people walking past. Other choice shots include three minutes of random kids swimming laps and two characters talking without audible dialog.
The movie Escape 2000 received the MST treatment. The original film begins with governmental Mooks implying residents to "Leave the Bronx!" They said it so many times, however, that alone it's a Leave The Camera Running and with Mike and the Bots riffing it becomes an Overly Long Gag.
The highway scene in Solaris.
The first Star Trek movie had that damn endless bit with the Enterprise flying over V'Ger while the cast stare awestruck at the screen. Obviously supposed to cause oohing and awwing, it generally just causes yawning. Note that in the DVD release they added some CGI sequences that give you a better idea of what V'Ger looks like, but it makes an overly long sequence even longer.
The rave from The Matrix Reloaded.
That, and the accompanying, ahem, extended "touching moment" between Neo and Trinity that was interspersed amid the raving. Some of this editor's classmates described it as "the sex scene that wouldn't end." These are adolescent males talking.)
Once Upon a Time in the West opens with three Mooks chasing away a ticketman at a train station, then waiting there, doing nothing, for most of ten minutes. Say what you will about some of Leone's other scenes, at least they had good music.

I love long shots:

Children of Men -- there were two: one in the jeep when they were ambushed, and the other a 6-minute battle scene that is just mind-boggling.

Atonement -- a 5-minute uncut tracking shot through the devastation of Dunkirk.

The Player -- the opening shot through the backlot of a movie sound stage.

The Birdcage -- flying over water then to South Beach, FL then (with the help of CGI) into the nightclub then to the stage in one smooth shot

Panic Room -- a CG-enhanced shot through the house, into the kitchen, etc. etc. Really well-done and set the stage of the film perfectly.

"Ugetsu."

Husband comes home after absence to his home. Camera follows his stumbling walk around his house, and when he returns to the hearth, his wife (her ghost, anyway) is suddenly there cooking dinner. Way cool.

You Are Not Alone!

The one that springs to mind is Serenity. Actually, they do the same thing in the pilot of Firefly. For the same reason.
Mal walks through the ship to give you an idea of the layout.

But, if you really geek out on long single camera takes, watch Children of Men (that's not the onl reason to watch it).
They do several really long takes. The more impressive thing is that they do it with action scenes.

I geek with thee, III!

I hate Hate HATE the 3-second cut herky-jerky vertigo-inducing camera work that passes for cinematography far too often these days. If the scene isn't exciting enough with the camera kept static, YOUR SCRIPT SUCKS!!! Shaking the camera won't make crap smell good.

I, for one, loved that long look at V'Ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Some peeps forget that movie hit the big screen at a time when Pong was the state of the art in video games. I was awestruck by that and some of the other scenes in that film.

One of the best moments in the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie was after Superman rescued the cat from the tree and gave it to the little girl, then flew off. The shot wasn't that long, but the camera stayed perfectly still as Superman bent his knees a little, then eased into the air and floated away. It was beautifully done.

2001: A Space Odyssey had some good shots too. The Pan Am ship 'dancing' with the space station as it came in to dock ... incredible. I'd have to watch it again to see how long they held a shot before they cut to another angle, but the entire sequence was pretty long.

Thought of a really long one: the opening scene of Snake Eyes where Nicholas Cage arrives at the arena for the fight. The camera follows him all the way from outside to his seat at ringside and even through to the fight itself, if memory serves.

III said:

The scene in Goodfellas where Henry walks Karen from the car, through the kitchen, and into the club.

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We studied that one in a film class. I love the long shots.

ChunkyC said:

I hate Hate HATE the 3-second cut herky-jerky vertigo-inducing camera work that passes for cinematography far too often these days.

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Can you say Bourne Ultimatum?

Are you still dizzy from that one, Rog? I am, hehe.

Wow. I haven't seen ANY of those films! No wonder I had no idea what III was talking about.

Except Star Trek, I saw that when it first came out and we DID ooh and aaah because at the time that was really cool looking. Now it's boring.

ChunkyC said:

I, for one, loved that long look at V'Ger in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Some peeps forget that movie hit the big screen at a time when Pong was the state of the art in video games. I was awestruck by that and some of the other scenes in that film.

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I agree about V'ger, but the long, drawn out first shot of the Enterprise in that movie was boring. All it said to me was, "Hey, we spend a ton of money on making this model and we want to get our money's worth."

Roger J Carlson said:

I agree about V'ger, but the long, drawn out first shot of the Enterprise in that movie was boring. All it said to me was, "Hey, we spend a ton of money on making this model and we want to get our money's worth."

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Actually, for those of us who'd waited over a decade to see the Enterprise fly again, that scene was "coming home."

Shadow_Ferret said:

Actually, for those of us who'd waited over a decade to see the Enterprise fly again, that scene was "coming home."

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Hey, I was one of those, too. But I would rather have seen it do something than float around it for ten minutes, up one side and down the other.

I loved the Enterprise fly-by too. That's the Scotty in me talking, though. I loves me my machines.

Best one evah is in Serenity - camera follows Mal from the cockpit, through the ship all the way down to the hold, speaking to several crewmembers on the way and having an arguement halfway through down to the hold. It was our first real understanding of the entire inner bits of the Firefly, and the dialog went completely unbroken.

'Twas a beautiful thing.

III said:

You're thinking of the beginning of Spaceballs

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Would the opening scene in Star Wars where we see the humungous cruiser go by and then the little transport go by, would that count as an uninterrupted camera shot? Because that was pretty cool, too.

"Did a piece just fly off my gorram ship?"

MidnightMuse said:

Best one evah is in Serenity - camera follows Mal from the cockpit, through the ship all the way down to the hold, speaking to several crewmembers on the way and having an arguement halfway through down to the hold. It was our first real understanding of the entire inner bits of the Firefly, and the dialog went completely unbroken.

'Twas a beautiful thing.

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That was a great scene.

Magnolia: the TV studio shot.

I saw the preview of There Will Be Blood -- looks AWESOME. Some even say it's going to be Best Picture frontrunner, together with No Country for Old Men and Atonement.