OCTOBER 10 — The “oner” or the single, unbroken continuous shot, is hardly a new phenomenon in cinema.
Film historians and cinephiles have been obsessing over the technique for decades, tracing its lineage back to masterworks like Alfred Hitchcock’s grand illusion in Rope or the legendary, pulse-pounding opening sequence of Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil.
In the modern era, the single-shot sequence has become the ultimate calling card for directors eager to flex their technical bravado.
We’ve seen it elevated to breathtaking art in Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men, deployed with inventive kinetic energy in the iconic tracking shot from Episode 4 of Season One of True Detective, and used to quite astonishing effect in Sam Mendes’ 1917.
