It seems this thread doesn't want to end so I'll weigh in with a few comments. Deep focus and lengthy takes are two different things that should not be confused. Both are associated with realism and neorealism but they have nothing to do with each other besides this. Associating a long take with real perception is misleading at best. Normally, we don't experience the real world as one long take. The closest approximation to real perception would be the zip pan. This is discussed a little in How To Read a Film. Films with long takes (Rope being the champ) are as highly stylized as films with complex montage sequences. Then you have to differentiate between the long take with a static camera (no big deal) and the lengthy tracking shot. That said, the long tracking shot is probably the supreme technical/artistic feat of filmmaking, like a quadruple double reverse back flip (or whatever) in diving. I can't think of any montage --including Eisenstein (Potemkin), Hitchcock North by Northwest), Kubrick (2001)-- that comes close. The reason is you have to plan it out and you have to execute it. By definition, you can't fix it in the editing. Numerous famous lengthy tracking shots have been mentioned in this thread. But the all-time champ is the opening sequence of Robert Altman's The Player. It is probably the greatest tour de force in the history of film. If you don't know this shot you owe it to yourself (and your students) to pick up the DVD. It is also available, in its entirety, on the How To Read a Film DVD-ROM. It lasts more than eight minutes, sets up the whole film. and comments on long tracking shots as it goes along. You could teach a whole film course from this one shot. More recently, I noticed a stunning "flying shot" (you can't really call it a "tracking" shot) in Panic Room. We move from the third floor to the first floor of the house, then the camera flies through the handle of a coffee pot. It doesn't last very long but it is worthy of being added to the pantheon list. Does anyone have info on how this was accomplished? And who else has additions to the pantheon of tracking shots? Don't forget Antonioni's track through the window bars in The Passenger (also on How To Read a Film), which was the precursor for Fincher's coffee-pot trick in Panic Room. (You are welcome, Gloria!) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- James Monaco Harbor Electronic Publishing 80 East 11th St New York NY 10003 212 777 5463 sales: 800 269 6422 http://HEPDigital.com On Mar 15, 2004, at 10:22 PM, gloria monti wrote: > I am surprised that the name of Jean-Luc Godard has not come > up in this thread. Especially considering his relationship with > André Bazin. And Italian Neorealism has only been mentioned in > passing. > I would also like to point out the difference between a long > take (a shot of considerable length) and a sequence shot (an entire > sequence made of one shot). For example, the uninterrupted backward > tracking shot in Pasolini's *Mamma Roma* and then lateral tracking > shot (with pans) in Godard's *Weekend* are examples of the long take. > But Welles's *Touch of Evil, * Jancso's *The Red and the White* and > (the entire) *Russian Ark* are sequence shots. As are the opening > of Anderson's *Boogie Nights,* and the walk through the night club in > Scorsese's *Good Fellas.* > Finally, thanks to James Monaco for clarifying the difference > between POV and eyeline match. > > Gloria Monti > ______________________________ > gloria monti, PH.D. > cinema studies program > oberlin college > 10 n. professor st. > oberlin, OH 44074 > phone: 440-775-6015 > fax: 440-775-8684 > e-mail: [log in to unmask] > ________________________ > Hasta la victoria, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero! > > ---- > Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite > http://www.ScreenSite.org > ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html