Music videos filmed in 'one shot'

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Is Massive Attack's 'Unfinished Sympathy' still the most celebrated? I also love the video for New Order's 'World' but am not sure if it didn't in fact involve two or three shots (changing for the chorus), could be wrong either way there.

What others are there?

― Sven Basted (blueski), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:25 (twenty years ago)

spice girls: 'wannabe'
coldplay: 'yellow'

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:26 (twenty years ago)

Nothing Compares 2 U? Can't remember!

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:27 (twenty years ago)

'nothing compares 2 u' is intercut with lots of 'arty' shots of paris.

i think 'amazing' (or something recent) by george michael was done in a single take.

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:28 (twenty years ago)

That REM one where it's less than one take?

(i.e. the same scene viewed from different angles/perspectives, that's 30 seconds long)

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:34 (twenty years ago)

haha chemical brothers 'star guitar' (it is all real!)

― NR_Q, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:37 (twenty years ago)

'Yellow' is so dull and such a cop-out (slooooow motion). 'Wannabe' would never have occurred to me though which is odd, it's done really well.

― Sven Basted (blueski), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:38 (twenty years ago)

i think Macy Gray's 'Still' mimicked 'Nothing Compares 2 U' with the close up facial shot, with no interspersing of other material but can't recall.

Gareth Gates & Will Young's 'The Long And Winding Road' is another one, but ultra dull.

― Sven Basted (blueski), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:40 (twenty years ago)

Massive Attack's "Protection" vid by Michel Gondry is one shot too, I think. There might be a cut at the very beginning or end, but I'm sure the rest is one swooping, roaming take over the block of flats. Gorgeous stuff.

― Bill A, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:41 (twenty years ago)

i think 'yellow' is impressive, i mean he's lip-syncing yeah? so he had to elongate the words by x4 or something. that's effort.

oh will young's 'leave right now'.

― N_Rq, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:43 (twenty years ago)

saw one on B4 this morning that was filmed in one shot AND backwards. can't remember name of artist though. ends (starts) with him in a room with picture of tree on back wall and is released shortly.

― koogs (koogs), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:44 (twenty years ago)

elastica 'stutter,' also quite dull - there must be loads of cheapo indie performance videos like this, though.

x-post 'leave right now' video is so classic

― pete b. (pete b.), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:45 (twenty years ago)

I think there's a (shit) one (maybe ZZ Top? Glen Frey?? I dunno!) where it starts off with a shot of a speaker cabinet and then proceeds to follow the cable all over the place until it finally get reaches the guitar player at the other end (end of video).

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:46 (twenty years ago)

"The Sweater Song" by Weezer? "California" by Wax (is that the name of the song with the man running to catch the bus while on fire?)? Red Snapper "Images of You"? The Hawksley Workman video where he's on a bike ("I Want to Be Your Cigarette"?)

If I remember my Pop Up Video, "Wannabe" actually has two or three edits.

(Question marks because I haven't seen the videos I've mentioned lately)

― Vic Funk, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:47 (twenty years ago)

The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony (I think)

― Nathan Woolls (regularfries), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:52 (twenty years ago)

are the edits in 'wannabe' invisible? i've never noticed them. verve changes angle at end when the rest of the band joins slick rick.

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:53 (twenty years ago)

Wannabe definitely has edits - it's "fake" one-shot.

Alanis Morissette - Head Over Feet
Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories - Stay
Nick Cave/PJ Harvey - Henry Lee

Lots of others, I have a list somewhere.

― edward o (edwardo), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:53 (twenty years ago)

Pixies - Velouria (about 10 seconds of footage slowed right down to excruciating length).
And also there's Will Smith's Miami video, which uses a lot of computer trickery to give the misleading impression of a one-take video held together by a series of abrupt changes of location focused around Will Smith himself) and whatever the French rap video from which the technique behind it was ripped off.
Anyone know the video I mean? All I can remember is French, rap, black and white, includes fake metro footage, done in the manner described above...

― M Carty (mj_c), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:55 (twenty years ago)

...and that bollocks U2 video, but that one's meant to have an edit or two where the camera moves up to the sky, I think.

― M Carty (mj_c), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:56 (twenty years ago)

'the sweetest thing'?

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:58 (twenty years ago)

I'm fairly sure Knives Out by Radiohead is one take

― Nathan Woolls (regularfries), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:59 (twenty years ago)

oh, 'no surprises' too.

― N_Rq, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 08:59 (twenty years ago)

dj format - vicious battle raps (you can watch here - http://ruben.fm/videos.html)
cibo matto - sugar water (gondrys one take video palindrome)
lucas - lucas with the lid off (more gondry wonderfulness)
pharcyde - drop (spike jonze directed promo - one take but shot backwards!)

― zappi (joni), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 09:01 (twenty years ago)

If we're having all these Gondrys, then Come Into My World counts too. YES.

― Alex in Doncaster (Alex in Doncaster), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 09:03 (twenty years ago)

Jonze and Gondry got it locked down, but i wouldn't count 'Star Guitar' or the Kylie one (one take done several times != one take) tho i guess it's still worth mentioning

More frontal facial promos - Bjork's 'Hunter' and 'Hidden Place' - 'Pagan Poetry'?. 'Big Time Sensuality' is one camera but with obvious edits (speeding up, slowing down, fade to later time etc.).

― Sven Basted (blueski), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 09:07 (twenty years ago)

The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony (I think)

correct. Walter Stern repeating his 'Unfinished Sympathy' approach somewhat. i think Massive Attack's 'Be Thankful' is also one take.

― Sven Basted (blueski), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 09:08 (twenty years ago)

oh no wait, there are several camera changes in 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' - one to show what he's seeing and a closer view of his face at one point iirc

― Sven Basted (blueski), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 09:09 (twenty years ago)

xtina: 'the voice within'.

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 09:12 (twenty years ago)

iron and wine's naked as we came is filmed in one shot.

― WE ARE THE KATE!!!! (papa november), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 09:20 (twenty years ago)

Wasn't there an early Jamiroquai video in the 'frontal facial' style mentioned above? It was in black and white and he kept moving in and out of the field of focus. No idea of the song title...

― M Carty (mj_c), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 09:38 (twenty years ago)

underworld's "underneath the radar", back when they were industrial funk (according to a radio station it was recently played on)

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 09:40 (twenty years ago)

M Carty that was 'Half The Man'

― Sven Basted (blueski), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 09:45 (twenty years ago)

Nine Inch Nails - "March of the Pigs"
The Replacements - "Bastards of Young"

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 09:53 (twenty years ago)

Manchild by Neneh Cherry might be a one-take, I can't remember anything eventful happening in it but I think the camera stays put and she wanders around a bit and those guys swing in and out of shot and her baby is in a big towel and things (also, is it in 3D?)

― Alex in Doncaster (Alex in Doncaster), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 10:00 (twenty years ago)

i think 'Manchild' is more just a collage of various bits and bobs - ocean in the background, Neneh superimposed with a towel on her head, other elements popping in and out of the picture.

― Sven Basted (blueski), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 10:11 (twenty years ago)

one (maybe ZZ Top? Glen Frey?? I dunno!) where it starts off with a shot of a speaker cabinet and then proceeds to follow the cable all over the place until it finally get reaches the guitar player at the other end (end of video).

Arrrgh, it took some trawling through childhood memories, but I'm almost certain this is... John Fogerty's "Old Man Down the Road".

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 10:12 (twenty years ago)

another face-on one: Fatboy Slim's 'Everybody Needs A 303' but again it's really boring (weird juxtaposition with the track i suppose)

― Sven Basted (blueski), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 10:13 (twenty years ago)

Yes Nag! Nag! Nag! It was JOHN FOGERTY. Thank you!

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 10:18 (twenty years ago)

Fatboy Slim, "Praise You"?

― the todster (the todster), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 10:19 (twenty years ago)

That Jay-Z song about girls.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 10:48 (twenty years ago)

Fatboy Slim, "Praise You"?

mostly (there are separate into and outro bits with Spike talking)

― Sven Basted (blueski), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 11:09 (twenty years ago)

Back in the early nineties, wasn't there a video for a Neil Young song called "Piece of Crap"(?), where a an stationary video camera films a messy warehouse, and in the background you can see some murky figure (Neil Young?) pacing back and forth, and that's it! The camera never moves, and nothing else happens. That must've been the cheapest video ever to shoot...

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 11:15 (twenty years ago)

bruce springsteen, "brilliant disguise"

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 11:17 (twenty years ago)

One-take split screens:
Cibo Matto - Sugar Water
Semisonic - Closing Time

coldplay: 'yellow'
You mean "The Scientist."

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 11:40 (twenty years ago)

Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues

― M Carty (mj_c), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 11:46 (twenty years ago)

joseph -- no i don't. 'yellow' is geez walking on a beach. 'scientist' is geez walking backwards towards a car crash. one has chris martin moving his mouth very slowly indeed, the other has him mouthing words backwards.

― N_Rq, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 12:01 (twenty years ago)

ah. i should really stop posting before i actually wake up.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 12:08 (twenty years ago)

Morrissey, "The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get"

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 12:17 (twenty years ago)

Tommy Shaw, "Girls With Guns"

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 12:21 (twenty years ago)

Wax - "Caifornia"
God Lives Underwater - "From Your Mouth"
Jamiroquai - "Virtual Insanity"
Kylie Minogue - "Come Into My World"

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 12:38 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 6 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2004/12/17/subterraneanhomesickblues_wideweb__430x345.jpg

― DaveQ (daveq), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 15:42 (twenty years ago)

I always forget how great "Lucas With The Lid Off"'s video is. Supposedly, Lucas broke his leg part-way through the take and was hobbling around from set to set in like rip-roaring pain to finish the take.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 16:00 (twenty years ago)

Jonathan Demme's video of "The Perfect Kiss" for New Order. i'm actually quite shocked it wasn't already mentioned. =O

― janni (janni), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 16:00 (twenty years ago)

Primus - "Mr. Krinkle"
Guns n Roses - "Garden of Eden"
The Ramones - "I Wanna Be Sedated"
Madonna - "Love Don't Live Here Anymore"

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 16:03 (twenty years ago)

Scarface - on my block, i believe. i could be pulling that one outta nowhere though. i can't remember anything in the video except for a choir or something.

― Will M. (Will M.), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 01:56 (twenty years ago)

The Fogerty video is pretty cool, but there are several obvious edits in it.

― Curious George (1/6 Scale Model) (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 02:02 (twenty years ago)

Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues

INXS - "Mediate"

― buck van smack (Buck Van Smack), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 02:07 (twenty years ago)

They were utterly huge in South Africa back then, you know

huge in australia and south africa. them and Rodriguez!

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 02:12 (twenty years ago)

janet jackson's "when i think of you" is another fake one-shot (julien temple right?)

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 02:19 (twenty years ago)

for some reason i think janet's "alright" was also fake one-shot (temple directed that too i think)

― j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 02:20 (twenty years ago)

Mother Mother - Tracy Bonham

I dunno if anyone remebers it though.

― elgolfo (elgolfo), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 02:48 (twenty years ago)

Back when MTV used to do that "All Time Top Ten" show, one episode was dedicated to "one shot" videos. This might have been the list, but it's probably all screwed up...

10 California - Wax
09 Head Over Feet - Alanis
08
07
06 Lucas With The Lid Off - Lucas
05
04 Wannabe - Spice Girls
03
02
01 Virtual Insanity - Jamiroquai

ummmmm... ok i can't remember the rest.

"Lost Cause" by Beck
"Numb" by U2 - this might have been in the list actually

― billstevejim, Wednesday, 6 April 2005 03:19 (twenty years ago)

Julez Santana - Santana's Town. Awesome video. It's doesn't really qualify, of course, it's another pretend one-shot, and actually some cutting in the chorus I guess, etc., but same idea.

― Zed Szetlian (Finn MacCool), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 03:20 (twenty years ago)

Back when MTV used to do that "All Time Top Ten" show, one episode was dedicated to "one shot" videos. This might have been the list, but it's probably all screwed up...

Oh jeez, I remember this. Good times.

Miss that show.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 03:23 (twenty years ago)

the new D4 video... pretty cool too

― chris andrews (fraew), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 03:25 (twenty years ago)

There's a Bailter Space video that does the backwards-in-one-take thing. I forget which song, but I'm pretty sure it's from "Wammo."

― m.e.a. (m.e.a.), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 03:26 (twenty years ago)

'retro'... i think

― chris andrews (fraew), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 03:29 (twenty years ago)

actually a lot of NZ video's are one-shot due to budget restraints...

― chris andrews (fraew), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 03:29 (twenty years ago)

Tom Petty - "You Don't Know How It Feels". He is sitting still while a bunch of theatrical backdrops rotate in the background.

Wow, this is a very illuminbating thread - it exposes something I have been automatically considering a novelty as a complete and utter cliché.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 03:51 (twenty years ago)

there's some music playing during the course of 'rope'...

― chris andrews (fraew), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 03:56 (twenty years ago)

ahem. "illuminating." x-post

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 04:09 (twenty years ago)

actually a lot of NZ video's are one-shot due to budget restraints...

That recent one by Scribe was wasn't it?

― WE ARE THE KATE!!!! (papa november), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 04:11 (twenty years ago)

Smashing Pumpkins - ava adore, right?

― Lethal Dizzle (djdee2005), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 04:13 (twenty years ago)

Fatboy Slim, "Praise You"?

mostly (there are separate into and outro bits with Spike talking)

I'm pretty sure there are cuts in this - doesn't the camera angle change a couple times?

― The Yellow Kid, Wednesday, 6 April 2005 04:17 (twenty years ago)

I'm fairly sure Knives Out by Radiohead is one take

Also: "No Surprises"

"Levity" by Ian Thomas? (it might be "fake" one take, like "Wannabe)(I have no idea why I remember that video)

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 05:13 (twenty years ago)

Yes to "Ava Adore," and I think the Tom Petty video was in that Alltime Top Ten as well.

― billstevejim, Wednesday, 6 April 2005 05:50 (twenty years ago)

The Peter Wolf one is an all-time classic, but there are two or three obvious edits in it.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 10:24 (twenty years ago)

subterranean homesick blues is meant to have been the first pop video ever made in one take, right?

the cure - 'friday i'm in love'.

that naff u2 one was definitely edited.

― emsk, Wednesday, 6 April 2005 11:02 (twenty years ago)

Mirawis- Naive Song

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 11:07 (twenty years ago)

the pharcyde - "drop" video has a cut in it. it was meant to be one shot, but they didn't have time to perfect it.

― Cheek0 (Cheek0), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 20:31 (twenty years ago)

"old man down the road" has some visible edits.

that one radiohead vid wherein yorkie's gonna drown?

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 20:34 (twenty years ago)

Drop has an arseload of cuts in it, every verse is shot in a different location!

Also Numb by U2 pushes Dave Edgevans out of shot in the middle so they can cut without you noticing.

And The Perfect Kiss is one-take but multiple camera, so cuts all over the shop. Who can forget the angled shot of Hooky's determined face when he stick the plectrum in his mouth to play on those alfoil drums?

The Reels' version of Bad Moon Rising does a nice play on the one-take slow-motion thing, where the camera dollies along with Dave Mason as he slowwly runs past a row of people standing by a seafront, but you realise by the end he's run past the same people three or four times.

― kit brash (kit brash), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 21:54 (twenty years ago)

I'm pretty sure that Radiohead video has more than one cut.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 21:56 (twenty years ago)

poss/prob fake: xzibit - what you see is what you get

― Sym Sym (sym), Thursday, 7 April 2005 02:19 (twenty years ago)

That recent one by Scribe was wasn't it?

-- WE ARE THE KATE!!!! (kat...), April 6th, 2005.

which one?, he's got like 8 vids now... Ali's debut comes out soon

Of course, he's at the expensive end of the NZ equation, his video's could cost up to $30,000! (seems impossibly small but international standards, doesn't it?)

― chris andrews (fraew), Thursday, 7 April 2005 02:27 (twenty years ago)

five years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsQXQGaasUg

― An Artily Shot Sesame Street (Eazy), Sunday, 30 January 2011 20:04 (fifteen years ago)

Oops, wrong link. I meant:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYH7F_A_wh0

― An Artily Shot Sesame Street (Eazy), Sunday, 30 January 2011 20:04 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABYnqp-bxvg

― Maltodextrin, Monday, 31 January 2011 00:42 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6bNKS8QAjM

― Maltodextrin, Monday, 31 January 2011 00:45 (fifteen years ago)

Scarface - on my block, i believe. i could be pulling that one outta nowhere though. i can't remember anything in the video except for a choir or something.

― Will M. (Will M.), Tuesday, April 5, 2005 9:56 PM Bookmark

This is a great video, but iirc it is merely cleverly edited to look like it's one continuous panning shot

― hey boys, suppers on me, our video just went bacterial (Hurting 2), Monday, 31 January 2011 01:19 (fifteen years ago)

Probably edited as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJHsYcRI6t8

― An Artily Shot Sesame Street (Eazy), Monday, 31 January 2011 01:51 (fifteen years ago)

Ugh, wrong link, wait

― An Artily Shot Sesame Street (Eazy), Monday, 31 January 2011 01:52 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbSGMRZsN4Q

― An Artily Shot Sesame Street (Eazy), Monday, 31 January 2011 01:52 (fifteen years ago)

omg ive never seen that jonze ikea ad before. I larfed.

― Citizen SNPs (Trayce), Monday, 31 January 2011 10:08 (fifteen years ago)

Scarface - on my block, i believe. i could be pulling that one outta nowhere though. i can't remember anything in the video except for a choir or something.
― Will M. (Will M.), Tuesday, April 5, 2005 9:56 PM Bookmark
This is a great video, but iirc it is merely cleverly edited to look like it's one continuous panning shot
― hey boys, suppers on me, our video just went bacterial (Hurting 2), Monday, 31 January 2011

never knew there was a video for this, but I love the song, so I looked it up. uh, this is about thirty or forty different shots in separate locations. it even cuts from indoor to outdoor locations and from daytime to nighttime scenes (via matte wipes, but they're not really trying to hide that they're cuts)!

― basically just a 2/47 freak out (sic), Monday, 31 January 2011 11:29 (fifteen years ago)

I believe the video for "That's All" by Genesis is one long take.

― Nate Carson, Monday, 31 January 2011 11:37 (fifteen years ago)

no need to post them because you've seen all of them roughly 24,116,940 times each, but obviously ok go have several videos that fit here.

― fact checking cuz, Monday, 31 January 2011 20:31 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xpVTUy4zDc&feature=fvst

― Vast Halo, Monday, 31 January 2011 21:31 (fifteen years ago)

Not strictly speaking a single shot, but too beautiful to omit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKSM-jyQh3o

― Vast Halo, Monday, 31 January 2011 21:35 (fifteen years ago)

Morrissey's "Tomorrow" is pretty damn close, but I think there's an edit or two in the beginning.

Yes--it feels like a single shot, and 95% of it is. One of my favourite videos ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Turi6yKfhPM

― clemenza, Sunday, 6 February 2011 00:39 (fifteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.