A good example of a film which utilizes long takes is ‘Children Of Men’ (By Alfonso Cuaron, 2006). There is around three long takes in this film, which is a great achievement; considering how challenging they can be for a director to produce. It can be agreed that when done right, a long take can provide an interesting visual and can also be integral to the plot because it sets the tone. With action, thriller or horror genre; they can be used primarily to create suspense and keep the audience on the edge of their seat

However, despite the obvious pros, there can be a lot which can go wrong with a long take. They require lots of hard work, dedication and commitment to get right, so therefore I think that they should just be used if the director thinks it will work or is necessary

Since it is all filmed in one shot, everything comes down to timing. If an actor misses their cue, or a car drives in at even a fraction of the wrong second, the whole thing will need to be restarted. This can be frustrating for both directors and actors, especially if the take was working extremely well prior to the error. Long-takes require persistence and the ability to bounce back and continue onwards

There is also the possible issue of a lack of film. Some films intend on using long-takes but their cameras cannot hold enough film to make it work. A notable example of this is the film ‘Rope’ (By Alfred Hitchcock, 1948). Hitchcock intended for the film to have a continuous long-take, but the cameras could hold no more than 1000 feet of 35 mm film. As a result, each take used up to an entire roll of film and even lasts up to 10 minutes. In the end, the film consisted of only eleven shots

In this film, the usage of multiple long-takes were aided by CGI but still looked effective and worked well. Cuaron had also experimented with long-takes in several other movies including ‘Gravity’. Most of his work is influenced by varied different shots and takes which ensures that his work is as unique as possible. As well as the interesting plot, this film is mainly famous for it’s long-takes because of how unique they are. It is not a surprise that it grossed 70 million dollars at box office, due to its sucess