If you haven't seen it already I'd highly recommend Children of Men, if only for it's technical prowess. It's been justifiably lauded for the use of long takes; play the clip above as an example.
Highly influenced by the Hué City scenes from Full Metal Jacket the visceral power and tension in the scene above is amazing. While I doubt that the clip is actually one take, (notice how the blood on the lens disappears - and the frames of black as Theo enters the building), it still has to be the high water mark today for actor/effects/camera work choreography; in fact the blood might actually be CGI added to create multiple shot continuity - nice touch!
While I still haven't been able to see this movie (being a responsible parent sucks!)(;>) <--just kidding)...the director claims the blood was an accident - splattered onto the camera via exploding packet, but they did not want to have to re-shoot the whole take.
I'd tend to believe your statement that they probably did cut it somewhere...
Posted by: Phil | March 19, 2007 at 10:05 AM
The 'blood' seems to disappear as the camera looks up the stairwell - perhaps it's still there but can not be seen clearly due to the low resolution of the YouTube clip?
Posted by: Jett Loe | March 19, 2007 at 10:13 AM
Yeah I noticed that after I watched it (I have a propensity to comment on things I have not yet seen or read) - I think it was digitally removed...but can't say for certain w/o seeing the movie on dvd.
Posted by: Phil | March 19, 2007 at 01:37 PM
This one is a hefty chunk of the 'Making of' documentary... about 2:00 in you get to see exactly how the car chase seen in the forest was made, which really impressed me. I remember thinking that there was no something not quite right about the way the car moved through the forest, but now I know how they did it my respect and admiration is enormous...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A55xTYXMpI
Top film (and contrary to what Jett said, a great first date movie!)
*j*
Posted by: James | March 19, 2007 at 05:51 PM
PS, the blood on the lens wasn't digitally removed, the whole scene is actually spliced together from at least two component parts. Sorry to piss on everyone's praise, but the director explained that was how they managed it in one of his interviews. Still, those takes are at least two to three minutes long, and involve a hell of a lot of work.
*j*
Posted by: James | March 19, 2007 at 05:58 PM
It was skeptical praise - thanks for the info, James. It's a hell of an editing job.
Posted by: Phil | March 20, 2007 at 09:36 AM