Aaron, There is at least one cut in the first, seemingly one-shot sequence. The duration of the sequence is a bit of a giveaway. At thirteen or so minutes, it's just beyond the eleven-minute constraint of the standard 35mm magazine. The first two minutes encompass a shot that tilts down from the Millennium Dome to a reporter, pans away and zooms in on the owner of the casino, tracks left to a monitor, then pans away and centres Rick (Nic Cage) in frame. This shot involves integrated tracking, panning and zooming all from one camera position. Now there is a wipe-by cut made just as (or just before; I'm putting this together from old notes) Rick walks down the stairs. Across the cut the camera position jumps back a few feet and it looks like a wider lens is employed. Once you know what to look for it should be quite easy to spot. When you see it a few times you and your student may not even think the cut is all that subtle! The second and much longer shot is a mobile Steadicam shot following, and occasionally disengaging, from Rick. During this shot there are a few pillars that pass through the foreground of the frame. I've looked long and hard at those moments and I don't think there are any convenient cuts made. But given how smooth those wipe-cuts can be, I could easily be wrong. Regards, James Brown Flinders University -----Original Message----- From: Film and TV Studies Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Delwiche, Aaron Sent: Thursday, 6 October 2005 4:20 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [SCREEN-L] Length of opening shot in SNAKE EYES Hi, During this morning's lecture on cinematography, I showed the opening of SNAKE EYES (Brian De Palma, 1998) as an illustration of an extremely long tracking shot. It seemed to me that the opening shot is sustained, without cuts, until the assassination scene. However, one of my students insisted that he noticed some subtle cuts. I've been watching the clip closely, and was wondering if anyone else has looked into this topic. Exactly how long is the opening shot? Thanks, Aaron ****************************************** Aaron Delwiche, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Trinity University Department of Communication 715 Stadium Drive San Antonio, TX 78212-7200 Phone: 210.999.8153 Fax: 210.999.8355 e-mail: [log in to unmask] ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html ---- To sign off Screen-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF Screen-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]