# One-shot film

A one-shot film (also one-take film, single-take film, continuous shot feature film) is a full-length movie filmed in one long take by a single camera, or manufactured to give the impression it was.

## Use and theory

In a 2019 article, discussing the award-winning film 1917 (2019), Eric Grode of The New York Times wrote that very long takes were becoming popular in more mainstream films "as a sobering reminder of temporality, a virtuosic calling card, a self-issued challenge or all of the above", also citing the Academy Award-winner from several years prior, Birdman (2014).

## History

Grode notes that before such films as 1917 and Birdman, the idea of experimenting with long uninterrupted takes had a history of over 80 years, with Alfred Hitchcock being a pioneer. Aside from early experiments like Young and Innocent and Notorious, the most famous early example of a film that extensively uses long takes is the 1948 Rope, which was shot in mainly seven-to-ten–minute continuous takes (the physical limit of film stock at the time) that appear as four long takes of around 15 to 20 minutes each, close to the maximum length allowed by the cinema projectors of the time. Reportedly, James Stewart, star of Rope, did not like the long takes and apparently muttered on set that the cameras were more important than the actors. Hitchcock intended to shoot the film as if it were a play, and timed five of the ten segments to allow for hidden edits behind furniture; elaborate camera and actor choreography was used. He wrote Rope this way because he felt "if time passed between cuts, the suspense of whether the body was still in the trunk would be lost".
Grode also examines the 1958 film Touch of Evil as an example, though only its three-minute opening sequence is shot in real time. However, the use of a real time ticking bomb through the single shot is seen as a standard.
Although animated films are not included in a list of one-shot films, The Wolf House (2018) is a deconstructed example of (stop-motion) animated film that presented in a form of single, unbroken shot sequence.

## Notable examples
### Actual "one shot"

| Year | Title | Length | Director | Nationality |
| 1982 | Macbeth | 57 min. (longest shot) | Béla Tarr | Hungary |
| 1998 | Big Monday | 74 min. | Michael Rehfield | United States |
| 2000 | Timecode | 97 min. | Mike Figgis | United States |
| 2002 | Russian Ark | 96 min. | Alexander Sokurov | Russia |
| 2003 | Sábado [es] | 65 min. | Matías Bize | Chile |
| 2007 | Alternation | 11 min | Mehdi Fard Ghaderi | Iran |
| 2007 | PVC-1 | 85 min. | Spiros Stathoulopoulos | Colombia |
| 2008 | Still Orangutans' | 81 min. | Gustavo Spolidero | Brazil |
| 2011 | Reversing Circles | 21 min. | Mehdi Fard Ghaderi | Iran |
| 2013 | Rati Chakravyuh | 102 min. | Ashish Avikunthak | India |
| 2013 | Fish & Cat | 134 min. | Shahram Mokri | Iran |
| 2013 | El triste olor de la carne | 87 min. | Cristóbal Arteaga | Spain |
| 2013 | Ana Arabia | 85 min. | Amos Gitai | Israel |
| 2013 | Somebody Marry Me | 98 min. | John Asher | United States |
| 2013 | Daikuko | 98 min. | Mitani Koki | Japan |
| 2014 | Agadam | 123 min. | Mohamad Issack | India |
| 2015 | Victoria | 140 min. | Sebastian Schipper | Germany |
| 2015 | Anino sa likod ng buwan | 120 min. | Jun Lana | Philippines |
| 2015 | The Story Of A Rainy Night | 24 min | Mehdi Fard Ghaderi | Iran |
| 2015 | Daksha | 142 min. | S. Narayan | India |
| 2016 | Paint Drying | 607 min. | Charlie Shackleton | United Kingdom |
| 2016 | Eight | 81 min. | Peter Blackburn | Australia |
| 2016 | Immortality | 145 min. | Mehdi Fard Ghaderi | Iran |
| 2016 | King Dave | 99 min. | Podz | Canada |
| 2017 | Ice Cream and the Sound of Raindrops | 74 min. | Daigo Matsui | Japan |
| 2017 | Fourplay | 77 min. | Dean Ronalds | United States |
| 2017 | The Wedding Party | 119 min. | Thane Economou | United States |
| 2017 | One Shot-Fear Without Cut | 140 min. | Haroon Rashid | India |
| 2017 | Watch The Sunset | 83 min. | Tristan Barr & Michael Gosden | Australia |
| 2017 | Lost in London | 103 min. | Woody Harrelson | United Kingdom |
| 2018 | Heegondhu Dina | 106.11 min | Vikram Yoganand | India |
| 2018 | The Silent Pasture of Sparrows | 20 min. | Qmars Mootab | United States |
| 2018 | Utøya: July 22 | 90 min. | Erik Poppe | Norway |
| 2018 | Blind Spot | 98 min. | Tuva Novotny | Norway |
| 2018 | Jaalo | 101 min | Araaj Keshav Giri | Nepal |
| 2018 | Tatort: Die Musik stirbt zuletzt [de] | 88 min. | Dani Levy | Switzerland |
| 2018 | A Boy. A Girl. A Dream: Love on Election Night | 89 min. | Qasim Basir | United States |
| 2019 | El Amor No Puede Esperar (Love Can't Wait) | 76 min. | Juan Carlos Carrasco | Mexico |
| 2019 | Last Call | 77 min. | Gavin Michael Booth | Canada |
| 2019 | Shonibar Bikel | 83 min | Mostofa Sarwar Farooki | Bangladesh |
| 2020 | Limbo [de] | 89 min. | Tim Dünschede | Germany |
| 2020 | City Lights | 102 min. | Malte Wirtz | Germany |
| 2020 | Let's Scare Julie | 83 min. | Jud Cremata | United States |
| 2021 | Santhoshathinte Onnam Rahasyam | 85 min. | Don Palathara | India |
| 2021 | Rendez-Vous | 105 min. | Pablo Olmos Arrayales | Mexico |
| 2021 | Roaring 20's | 85 min. | Elisabeth Vogler | France |
| 2021 | Boiling Point | 94 min. | Philip Barantini | United Kingdom |
| 2021 | Causalidad | 115 min. | Who (Marcelo Politano) | Argentina |
| 2022 | Iravin Nizhal | 98 min | R. Parthiban | India |
| 2022 | Yuddha Kaandam | 90 min | Bose Venkat | India |
| 2023 | Tales from the Neighborhood Café | 41 min. | Al Hallak | United States |
| 2023 | The Night Inside | 23 min | Antonio Cuesta | Spain |
| 2023 | Failure! | 87 min. | Alex Kahuam | Mexico - United States |
| 2024 | MadS | 88 min. | David Moreau | France |
| 2024 | Assemblage (film) | 92 min. | Sofiene Mamdi | France |
| 2024 | An Order From the Sky † | 72 min. | Karthi Radhakrishnan | India |
* ↑ One five-minute shot and the film's opening credits precede the film's 57 minute main shot.

### Edited to appear as "one shot"

| Year | Title | Length | Director | Nationality | Notes |
| 1964 | Empire | 485 min. | Andy Warhol | United States | |
| 2002 | Irréversible | 92 min. | Gaspar Noe | France | An experimental film combines with one-shot and reverse order. |
| 2010 | The Silent House | 86 min. | Gustavo Hernández | Uruguay | |
| 2011 | Silent House | 87 min. | Chris Kentis, Laura Lau | United States | An American remake of the 2010 Uruguayan film The Silent House. |
| 2014 | Birdman | 119 minutes | Alejandro González Iñárritu | United States | |
| 2019 | 1917 | 118 min. | Sam Mendes | United Kingdom | Actually edited to appear as two shots, with the camera cutting to black as the protagonist gets knocked out half-way. |
| 2020 | Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes | 70 min. | Junta Yamaguchi | Japan | |
| 2021 | One Shot | 97 min. | James Nunn | United Kingdom | |
| 2022 | Soft and Quiet | 92 min. | Beth de Araujo | United States | |
| 2022 | Medusa Deluxe | 100 min. | Thomas Hardiman | United Kingdom | |
| 2023 | Shttl | 114 min. | Ady Walter | Ukraine | |
| 2024 | One More Shot | 102 min. | James Nunn | United Kingdom | |