A long take is a filmmaking technique in which a single, continuous shot is sustained for an unusually extended duration without cutting to another shot, letting action, camera movement, and staging unfold within one uninterrupted take rather than being assembled from multiple shorter shots in editing. Associated with directors including Alfred Hitchcock, whose Rope (1948) was constructed to simulate a single unbroken take across the entire film through concealed cuts, and later with directors such as Orson Welles, whose opening shot of Touch of Evil (1958) is a celebrated example, the long take is often used to build tension, sustain a performance, or emphasize the real, continuous passage of time and space within a scene.
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Hitchcock used extended long takes as a defining device, most famously in Rope.
Film, Art Forms long take is a technique of the film art form.
Orson Welles, Artists Welles opened Touch of Evil with a celebrated unbroken long take.
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Wikimedia FoundationLong Take, Wikipedia summary leadQuote, Long Take, Wikipedia summary lead
In filmmaking, a long take is shot with a duration much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general. Significant camera movement and elaborate blocking are often elements in long takes, but not necessarily so.
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