Scatterflix Documentaries
  • Welcome
  • Workshops
    • Live Classes UK
    • MENTORING
  • Portfolio
  • News
  • Contact
  • Scrapbooking your Soul Desire

15: The Long Take in documentary - understanding film language

2/18/2021

0 Comments

 
THE LONG TAKE
(Don't confuse with the Long Shot)

This workshop will help you understand WHAT is the Long Take, WHY we use it, and HOW to use it


  • What is the Long Take? 

It is a camera take longer than the normal 10-15 seconds. (There is also the extreme Long Take which I will discuss in a moment.)

  • Why do we use it?

In cinema language it gives us the chance to really engage with a scene and the subjects in that scene because we are kept on the subject for longer. We really have the chance to 'feel' the atmosphere. 
  • What does it do?

It allows the viewer to have the feeling that we are really involved in the moment, and it often gives a deeper sense of drama, due to the fact we are kept longer in the scene eg. a woman giving birth, a runner running a marathon, a child playing.

(In fiction the Long Take is very complicated and a lot of skilled technique are involved. In documentary none of this is really implied, unless it is a staged documentary.)


  • How to use the Long Take?
You, the director-camera person, will leave your camera on the subject/s for a longer than the normal time without cutting away to a new scene.

Within the Long Take you can use different movements as you follow the flow of the subject/s.
PictureBread Day. Photo: Sergei Dvortsevoy,











One of the best examples of an extreme long take is by Sergei Dvortsevoy, the Kazakh filmmaker, who uses the Long Take throughout his 1988 ethnographic documentary Bread Day.

It is handheld, shot on 35mm, and the epic opening scene lasts 7.48 minutes! A short in itself.

The D.P. is Alisher Khamidkhodjaev, from Tashkent, Uzbekistan.


What Dvortsevoy and Khamidkhodjaev
do for the viewer is  bring us intimately into the lives of a few people who need to push a train carriage along old snow bound tracks.

When the static camera pans at 2.40 mins, a complete, 360
°, it is like a dance as we follow on the face of one of the women.







Picture










Bread Day is a wonderful example of the Long Take as much of the documentary is slow and reflective; a life lived on the outskirts of life, where once a week bread comes to a small isolated community of elders by train. The pinnacle of the hamlet is the bread shop itself.

This story cannot be rushed. It is a story of routines, rituals, habits, old people, countryside, snow, winter months, and therefore the Long Take allows us to enter into this hard, rough and wild snowbound life. We have the chance to observe the difficulties the inhabitants face. We hear their banter and how it took two of them ten hours the day before to push the train carriage to the hamlet.

The opening scene allows us the time to settle into our chairs, sit back, and wander slowly into this different world.


It is, for me, a beautiful work.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR PASSING
BY. HAVE A GREAT WEEK.

PLEASE SHARE IF YOU ENJOY.

Jeanne





0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Jeanne Pope

    Filmmaker, teacher, traveler and storyteller

    RSS Feed

    Links to the Workshops
    1. How to find your documentary idea
    ​2. How to find your documentary approach
    3. Understanding the documentary genre
    4. Creating hybrid documentaries
    5. Understanding narrative storytelling
    ​6. How to film an unscripted documentary
    7. Tips and techniques for interviewing
    8.Why you need a release form
    9. How to use free public domain archives 
    10. Why write a documentary synopsis?
    11. Find funding for your documentary film 
    12. What documentary film equipment do you need? 
    13. Camera shots and techniques
    14. The Long Shot
    15. The Long Take
    16. Why you should use your cellphone
    17. Documentary film ethics
    18. Ways to fund your documentary
    ​19. Research or No research ?
    20. Digital storytelling Part 1
    ​21. Don't-overthink-your-documentary
    22. Ten tips to fine-tune your documentary
    23. Don't let your idea slip slide away 
    24. Give us more creativity for 2022
    25. Ethical code for documentaries
    26. Why a Pitch Deck is essential 
    27. Scrapbooking your memory
    28. Scrapbooking podcast 
    29. Digital-Storytelling Part 2
    30. The Paper Edit
    31. Location Scouting
    32. Genealogy and Documentary
    33. Reflecting on why we want to make documentaries
    34. How to make your documentary journey exciting 
    Other Links
    Picture
    Substack non fiction Jeanne Pope Family Soaps & Sagas
    Picture
    National Film Board of Canada for fiction, non-fiction and animation
    Picture
    Journal for the homeless nation of Montreal
    Picture
    British Film Institute, UK

    Picture
    Tips to help you find funding, grants and great film festivals
    Picture
    JEANNE POPE - Documentary China Blog 2015-2019
    Picture
    Stanley Lewis Sculptor appreciation website by the FRIENDS OF STANLEY LEWIS
    Picture
    Rusthall Community Cinema

    Picture
    Andrew's Art History Blog
Picture
Thank you dear Jeanne. It is an honour to have your creative thoughts which are printed in this film. With your love energy, passion and creative thoughts and encouragement this film can have its own soul finally. Thank you so much". ​Tao Gu - Taming the Horse
Cheapie Doc Streaming
DOCPLAY

​Regarder en streaming Français
Kubweb - 100 documentaires
Imagesen_docotheque
Bestofdocs.fr
Picture
"Jeannette taught me the tools I needed, never having made a documentary before. She gave so much time, patience to show me, guide me and share her creativity and skills with me."  Dr. Zou Qialing, Beijing Film Academy, Qingdao Campus
Free online streaming: English
ONF-NFB - National film Board
Top Documentary Films
Documentary Heaven
Documentary Addict
Documentary 24

​
Picture
Picture
Jeannette helped me find a path and create energy with my material which I first found so difficult to handle. With her help to become interesting and wonderful. She is interesting in class, lively in class, often in communication with students, very popular with students. Jeannette is a very conscientious documentary teacher." TianHui Li,  award winning filmmaker, Beijing Film Academy graduate. Concordia University graduate




  • Welcome
  • Workshops
    • Live Classes UK
    • MENTORING
  • Portfolio
  • News
  • Contact
  • Scrapbooking your Soul Desire