8 Brilliant Uses Of The Long Take In Movies & TV Shows

Creeping along in the footsteps of Hitchcock, The X-Files’ season six episode, Triangle, pays direct homage to Rope. As part of the episode is set in the 1930s, aboard a boat that vanished in the Bermuda Triangle, showrunner Chris Carter wanted it to have a look and feel similar to Hitchcock’s classic, of which the film and theatrical source material bookend this time period. Under Carter’s direction, and the cautious hand of editor Louise Innes, the season’s third episode is presented in what appears to be four roughly equal long takes, incorporating subtle transitions, split screen and blends to achieve a largely uninterrupted look and feel.

While neither the purest nor the most technically advanced example of the long take on this list, Triangle is nonetheless notable and admirable for the scope of the idea and the trickery, or perhaps camera and editing wizardry, necessary to pull it off. Shot almost entirely on a Steadicam, with limited film, the cast and crew went through marathon sessions of long and physically exhausting takes to film the episode – having to reshoot an especially difficult elevator transition scene many times over before the speed of the quick-change set dressing synchronised with the lift’s journey.