1917 and 5 other films that appear to have been recorded in one take

The shooting sequence, as the name suggests, is the succession of a scene without cuts (at least visible) and which, throughout the history of cinema, this technique has been used by many directors for different purposes. With the arrival of “1917” on Netflix, these other films also appear to have been recorded in one take.

1917

Directed by Sam Mendes and one of the most acclaimed war action films of recent years, ‘1917’ appears to have been recorded in one take thanks to the efforts of cinematographer Roger Deakins. But the truth is, if you look closely, the story of the soldiers has a couple of moments where you can see their cuts. Available on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

Birdman

One of the most acclaimed sequences, which gave Alejandro G. Iñárritu the Oscar for best film, was that of ‘Birdman’, a drama starring Michael Keaton, who, with some camera tricks, manages to compose the story of this theater actor as if it were an uncut section of his life. Available on Amazon Prime Video and Star +.

Sons of men

Although Alfonso Cuarón’s dystopian sci-fi film isn’t shot entirely in a single shot, one of the best uses of this technique is in the ambush scene for the characters of Clive Owen and Julianne Moore, among other plot highlights. Available on Amazon Prime Video, via Starzplay.

The rope

When the technique was not yet refined in the cinema, and with even more merit given the limitations of celluloid coils, Alfred Hitchcock recorded ‘The rope’ entirely in one takeObviously with some tricks. Since the tapes only allowed 10 minutes to be recorded at a time, the director would move the camera closer to an object, until the screen went black, and there he made a thin cut.

time code

In many film universities, and especially when we start talking about sequences, one of the most recurring examples is that of ‘Timecode’, directed by Mike Figgis, an independent and experimental film with Salma Hayek, Stellan Skarsgard, Leslie Mannm, among others. The screen splits into four sections to show not one, but four 90-minute uncut scenes.

The silent house

Finally, this technique is not very common in horror films, except at a few moments, but “The silent house”, a Uruguayan horror film, relied entirely on this technique. The story is based on a real case and is entirely recorded in sequence to tell the story of a young woman and her father in charge of restoring an old house.