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

Given the similarity of the long take to live drama, in preparation and execution if nothing else, it is only appropriate that Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman is largely set either onstage or behind the scenes of a Broadway theatre. The director utilised both extensive takes and a degree of digital string pulling to achieve this effect for what seems like most of the film’s runtime. Taking the technique fully into the digital age by using small Arri Alexa cameras that could shoot for long durations and in tight confines, the director planned and rehearsed every element of the production down to the second – exactly as one would when directing a play.

Featuring only sixteen (barely) visual cuts and leaning on similar, but far more technologically advanced filmmaking techniques to The X-Files’ Triangle, Iñárritu’s sequencing is both lengthy and not strictly purist, using clever camera work and pans to mask the gaps and create something clean and seamless. But this is far more than just a clever bit of movie magic. What the audience is left with is a meticulous and carefully considered piece of metafiction, surpassed only by Synecdoche, New York. Birdman’s long takes blur the lines between stage, screen and reality, underpinned by career-topping performances from Edward Norton, Emma Stone and Michael Keaton, the latter whose Birdman/Batman dynamic adds another layer to the cake.