How To's
Breaking Down One-Shots in Cinematography
The Oner – A cinematographer’s boss fight that really tests one’s ability to choreograph a scene from front to back and expertly flex their skills with a camera. While the Oner (or commonly called a one-shot) was certainly always a novelty, with recent technological advances and current trends in cinematography, the Oner has pushed itself back into the spotlight, particularly with recent shows like Adolescence and The Studio. So let’s look at some of the most recent Oner shots and talk about how it was done and how modern technologies and gear have made them possible.
What is an Oner?
An Oner, often also known as a ‘one-shot,’ is the process of shooting an entire scene without any cuts to the camera. This often involves complex camera movements, actor choreography, and precise timing from the entire crew, and when done correctly, it can help evoke emotion from the viewer and better establish the story. By shooting something in one continuous take, you can build immersion with the viewer and the screen, giving the feeling of physically being in the shot and adding a sense of realism. While we’re likely in the golden age of ‘The Oner’, the concept of a one-shot is nothing particularly new.
The History of The Oner
Perhaps one of the earlier and most notable Oners comes from film legend Alfred Hitchcock with his groundbreaking film Rope. At one hour and twenty minutes, this movie isn’t an Oner in full but instead consists of 10 different long takes, cleverly hidden throughout the film. These cuts were necessary because of the technology at the time, where rolls of film needed to be switched out after every 8-10 minutes of footage.
The Oner broke ground once again in the iconic 1990 film Goodfellas, with the scene now known as the Copacabana Scene. This 3-minute scene follows the actors as they walk through a restaurant, interacting with staff, patrons, and everyone in between. While this is just a three-minute scene and inherently pales in the technicalities of shooting an entire film using this style, this one is particularly special, as the camera movement really brings you into the scene – making you feel as if you’re part of Henry Hill’s crew, as you walk through an entire restaurant, getting seated for dinner.
There are thousands of examples of well-implemented ‘Oner’ shots, but in recent years, they’ve really started to show up more and more on TV and in film. Two recent shows in particular, The Studio (Apple TV) and Adolescence (Netflix), have brought new attention to the Oner, so let’s talk about the latter and break down how they were able to shoot what seems like impossible—an entire mini-series TV show in a single shot.
How Adolescence Redefined The One-Shot
Adolescence is an admittedly heavy series on Netflix about a child and his family as they go through the process of an arrest for a violent crime committed against a classmate. The story is heavy and, at times, difficult to watch, but the filming style will bring you in and put you in awe as you watch them shoot each episode in seemingly a single take. From drone shots to perfect 360-degree pans around the characters, Adolescence is a masterclass of filming and choreography between the filmmakers and actors.
The entire series (four one-hour episodes) is shot as a single take per episode, which is impressive in its own right, but the creators behind the show make it even more remarkable by using a large variety of shots throughout the series. From dolly cams to handheld chase cams to straight-up drone shots throughout, the series relies on an incredible amount of choreography and coordination from the cast and the crew. While it’d be impossible to go through all of the impressive shots in the series because, frankly, it’s four hours of incredible shots, there are a few I want to touch on to show you the level of organization of this production.
Handheld to Drone Transition
Using the DJI Ronin 4D camera system, the camera walks with the actor and pans away as he enters his car and drives away. Meanwhile, other members of the crew are waiting just outside of frame with a drone system, that effortlessly locks onto the camera’s gimbal system before a drone pilot takes over the camera control, and the camera takes flight, giving us a wide shot of the schoolyard. The entire shot is only 30 seconds or so long, and tailends the 60 minutes of continuous shooting that happened before it.
The Chase Cam
In another shot, the scene starts with a pan in a classroom, as the detectives come to arrest the child suspect. The shooting style quickly changes, and the kid jumps out of the classroom window and begins to run. During this uncut transition into action, the camera passes through the adjacent window and is quickly changed to handheld, where a proper chase cam begins, and the actors weave their way through the schoolyard, where the camera quickly follows close behind. Eventually, the chase cuts through traffic (just imagine the coordination and timing on that alone), and across the street until the detective is able to catch up with the suspect. While we don’t have proper BTS footage on how this was filmed, we do have a blocking shot that gives us a little insight into how they pulled this off.
The entire series is packed full of these types of shots, so much so that Netflix actually released its own mini-documentary about the filming process (posted below, though it does contain a few spoilers to the story). These shooting styles require an immense amount of pre-production, but the results are truly inspiring.
These are just a few looks into what is likely the most interesting cinematography for the year. Cinematographer Matthew Lewis and director Philip Barantini put together a true work of art in this series, and it’s worth watching for the cinematography alone (though it’s a pretty interesting series regardless). While Adolescence was putting together these incredible one-shots, The Studio on Apple TV was doing the same, although with a comedic undertone. If you want another look into an incredible One Take, be sure to watch The Studio episode entitled ‘The Oner’, to see both an episode shot in one take, while also diving into the behind-the-scenes look into how trouble must go into shooting a Oner.
