The long shot
From: TheVergePublished: December 12, 2025 at 09:14 PM
The long take, the unbroken tracking shot, "the oner" - whatever you want to call it, filmmakers agree that it's one of the most difficult technical achievements in cinema. It's a feat of creativity, but also great coordination and choreography when a single, tiny mistake can ruin a shot. Some famous examples: the casino scene ...
The long take, the unbroken tracking shot, "the oner" - whatever you want to call it, filmmakers agree that it's one of the most difficult technical achievements in cinema. It's a feat of creativity, but also great coordination and choreography when a single, tiny mistake can ruin a shot.
Some famous examples: the casino scene of Martin Scorsese's GoodFellas; more recently, the action sequences in Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men and the entirety of Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman. Even a recent episode of The Studio titled "The Oner" - which captures the difficulty of filming a long, unbroken shot - was itself presented as a oner. Se …