About

A One Take is a genre of online videos produced in a single "long take," typically featuring an action sequence or a performance routine that is shown continuously without any cuts in between.

Origin

The first example of a one take appeared in film as the 1948 movie Rope; however, this movie was only edited to look like a one take.^[1] The first example of a film that was a real one take and not simply edited to look like one was the 1982 movie Macbeth.^[1] Bob Dylan's 1965 music video titled bob dylan – subterranean homesick blues was the first known example of a one take used in a music video (shown below).^[2]

A defining one take, which is simultaneously a lip-dub, is the Flagpole Sitta office video, created by a company called Connected Ventures; together, they are responsible for some of the bread and butter of the internet: CollegeHumor, Busted Tees, Vimeo, and Defunker.

Film

Though difficult to do, there are notable examples of the meme applied in the film industry, one of the most notable being the 2014 movie Birdman. The online show Frame by Frame on The Film Theorists YouTubechannel did an episode explaining how the film was edited to look like a one take (shown below).

Notable Examples

The most popular examples of a one takes are typically done in music videos.

Related Memes

Rube Goldberg Machine

A Rube Goldberg Machine is a contraption, invention, device or apparatus that is deliberately over-engineered to perform a simple task in a complicated fashion, generally including a chain reaction. Videos of them are mostly done in one shot.

Search Interest

External References